Do you use premium gas?

The following excerpts are NOT from a tacoma manual:


If your car really needs premium, this is the verbage you would see.




If it's recommended that your car gets premium, this is the verbage you'd see:




The second car here is a turbo that only gets its advertised HP numbers on premium gas. It however is smart enough to adjust timing to the premature-detonator grade. Hence, all the literature will recommend premium, but the owner's manual will still say 87 is fine.

The first car is not turbo'd and will absolutely knock if you put the cheap tank in it.

If it is starving on octane, you'll both feel and hear it. If you've never heard it knock, you are probably spending too much at the pump.

 

Note that Toyota explicitly states that E85 should not be used in the '24

 

I am also in NB. Noticed this week at Canadian Tire gas bar all grades now state up to 10% ethanol added

 

Toyota recommends using Top Tier Fuel in there vehicles they sell

 

And E85 is not E15.

They say E15 is okay by saying "use only gasoline containing up to 15% ethanol."

Usually the E15 is not labeled as such, but it's sold as the Unleaded 88, so that's how you can tell the difference. It's usually a bit cheaper than regular 87, but some people don't think the risk is worth the savings (especially on older cars). I believe new cars are designed to run it, and late model cars (2009 on, maybe?) can run it.

 

Not that its super official but the gas cap on the TRD Pro says not to exceed E15. Im a fan of E15, I have been using it exclusively on the Tacomas I have and have had zero issues so far. Not that its a recommendation, just my own way of doing things. At my local gas station (Sheetz) the "Blue Handle " as I would call it (unleaded 88) is selling at $3.29 where as regular 87 is selling at $3.49 per gallon. That is todays pricing. My thinking is that it meets the octane requirement, burns clean and possibly hotter. So for a cheaper price im actually putting in an arguably, better fuel. Especially if the engineers considered this and designed an engine with seals and such than can handle the ethanol. But as another poster said, the engine might very well be able to respond to the higher end fuels. I might have to experiment a little.

Edit** there is an argument for fuel economy when using the E15 blend. So maybe its all a wash! lol

 

I'll never use it but in an interview (TRD Jon's channel?) Sheldon Brown, Toyota's chief engineer said that using 85 octane won't cause knocking in the 2024 Tacoma.

 

E85 is not 85 octane. E85 is 85% ethanol. Your typical pump gas in most places is E10 or E15 at most regardless of Anti-Knock Index rating.

 

Did I say it was?

 

The fuel economy argument is related to the lower energy density of ethanol, vs. straight gasoline.

Straight ethanol has about 70% of the energy of gas, so if Pure gas is 100%,
Regular pump gas (up to 10% E) would be 97%
E15 / Unleaded 88 would be 96%

I don't know if these numbers translate directly to fuel economy, but if you buy E15 instead of E10, you're giving up about 1% energy in exchange for a 3% cost savings from your example, so it's not a bad deal.

 

You quoted a post saying the manual said not to use E85 by saying that some guy said using 85 will not cause knocking.

By context — and common misconception that E85 and 85 octane are the same — it sure seems like you did.

 

You're correct. I did. I didn't mention who made the statement. I'll edit my post, but it was Sheldon Brown, Toyota's chief engineer.

 

Interesting. Is there anything about combustion expenditure or efficiency with the ethanol vs gas? Im sure that info is out there somewhere too. Maybe within the chamber, the amount of ethanol ignited vs gasoline offsets the energy difference you mentioned.

 

I don't know, there's a whole world of internal combustion engine design.

I imagine it comes down to more gas pedal (throttle) on the less energy-dense fuel, but that's just an educated guess.

 

Bass turds.

 

These threads are always amusing. They are about as good as manual vs auto, BFGoodrich vs Nitto, PPF vs Ceramic and the list goes on. Everyone is an expert and if you do the opposite of what they say you will be ruining your car/truck.

 

Last week i thought i would try a tank of no ethanoll. My avg MPG on the cluster registered +3 MPG over the previous tank. That was done driving the same route baxk an forth to work. However no eth fuel did cost 0.30 cents more per gal.

 

I use top tier 87 octane and enthanol free at 91 octane, only use north american fuel

 

I had my 2009 taco for 7 years my 2016 tundra for 8 years using the same gas from the same station other than trips and I had 0 problems with all the miles on them using 87 octane..That station does not sell tier 1 fuel. Not saying to use 87 but I’ve had no problems with my Toyotas using 87

 

I run 91 octane in my Tacoma. IMO, turbo engines like more octane. I also like more performance and the OTT dyno shows that the engine makes more power on 91.