Does premium gas extend life of 3.4L?

Water dripping out of the exhaust is condensation from the atmosphere that you live in, even happens in dry Colorado land when a humid front rolls through.

 

Water dripping out of the exhaust is condensation from the atmosphere that you live in, even happens in dry Colorado land when a humid front rolls through.

 

This is twice the cost of AVgas

 

whats AV gas?

 

Glad I found this thread! The higher octane a gas means the more compression it can take before igniting. Therefore higher compression engines (sports cars corvettes lambos all the other shit I cant afford) have to use higher octane gas so it does not pre-ignite and cause damage to the rod, piston or some other part of the cylinder @benrpd said it perfectly.

Better mileage will be from ethanol free gasoline for sure. The content of ethanol between regular and premium arent that much different. Regular is blended from multiple lower octane components as premium is made from fewer components to maintain the octane rating.

Getting gas from a gas station doesnt really matter it depends on how they clean their tanks. All fuel from different companies has to be the same minimum specification or higher to be sold.

All the additives like invigorate from Arco or techron or shell's nitrogen enriched gas are all lubricity additives with their own slight little tweaks but still pretty much the same thing as the specifications are still ran pretty tight. For emissions taking sulfur out of the gasoline removed lubricating components for the engine. They then turned to adding lead which was very hazardous and now you have a very well marketed lubricity additive for the oil companies.

Top tier gas isnt really effected by the refining process directly. To qualify to be a top tier brand a company out of texas sends a truck to load raw fuel (no additives or ethanol) then tests it to see if it meets a certain standard pass or fail. They show up randomly without notice so there is no preparing for it and if your company fails once then you can no longer get back into the top tier group or whatever you may call it.

Well there is my 2 cents from a refinery/terminal operator

 

I think learning about octane should be mandatory before you get your drivers license. To get max hp an engine with x compression needs y octane. If octane is less than y a modern engine will detune to preserve itself but going over y still not supertune and create more than max hp. It only goes 1 direction. Assuming youre not forced induction, youre not high compression, run no higher than required and you can go a step lower to save more. You're mpg and hp change will be negligible and you won't damage your engine but you'll save money.

High octane doesn't contain more energy, its not "cleaner", its not better. If your engine doesnt need it, it's a waste of money. Take the extra $5 and mail. It to me. Your vehicle will perform the same and ill eat lunch. Kind of win win.

 

This question again.

The N/A 3.4 is rated by Toyota engineers for 87 octane. There is no power or mpg advantage to anything over 87 octane on a good running engine.

Using anything other then 87 in your truck is like stuffing dollar bills into your tank and burning them.

 

Always techron.

 

Anything newer than 2001 is supposed to be able to run E15. Flex fuels can run higher ethanol blends. I personally run E15 in my truck and actually saw a slight increase in MPG.

I also work at an ethanol plant, so I am a little biased haha. It's 88 octane and .10 cheaper per gallon where I live. I'm also not trying to sell the stuff. Just giving my personal experience with E15.

 

For the skeptics,LIKE ME, I use Regular ..... this is a good read on Toyota's engine management ,advanced ignition timing advantages,knock sensors, detonation and the POSSIBLE long term advantage of using higher octane fuel.

http://www.lcool.org/technical/prado_high_octane_fuel.html

"When high octane fuel is used, the likelihood of detonation is diminished and the engine management system can advance the ignition timing further than that with standard fuel. Resulting in higher efficiency, greater power and torque as well as reduced fuel consumption."

 

This truck runs like shit from factory. 9.6:1 is not low compression. Detonation does in fact damage the engine over time. In the very least I'd run middle grade fuel once ambient temps are above 80 F.

If you love your truck enough to spend time on a forum dedicated to it you should be spendning the extra $$ for premium IMO.

 

you put e15 into your 1st gen tacoma??

 

My girlfriend's 3.4L had 450k miles on it, and she ran nothing but the cheapest gas she could find. Engine still running strong today. Your fuel type won't make a lick of difference. Save the money and use it for maintenance on other areas that will actually help.

 

No I have a third gen. I'm just saying that vehicles 2001 and newer are supposed to be able to run E15 without problems.

 

Keyword is "supposed." Id never put E15 in our 1 Gens.

 

...yes it is
needs be 10:1 ratio or more to even be considered a high compression engine.

 

I guess this is like Religion if you believe something is so nothing will change your mind .

I hear the higher octane is better sermon I just engage the selective hearing

 

I guess over 10 is the hard cut-off for low to high compression engines then. Thanks for clearing that up! 9.9:1 perfectly safe on the cheapest gas you can find, got it.

 

I think regular oil changes are more detrimental to engine life than the type of gas used.