Ethanol free question

My 2001 v6 4wd 5 speed knocks/pings, whatever that noise is called, with regular 87 octane gasoline that has the 10 percent (or less) ethanol. I filled up the last couple tanks with ethanol free 90 octane. No knock/ping. But $15 more a fill up. Is the issue the ethanol? Is it the octane? Truck Seems to have a bit more power. It doesn’t sit very long so the ethanol gas doesn’t go bad. Seems to me the $15 per tank is pricey but worth it. I did do a search on this. A lot of opinions.

 

Does it ping on 89 or 93?

 

I would go with the 89 octane and see what ya get, did this all of a sudden occur? part get replaced? ethanol free is not needed in a 2001, ethanol free should go into yer lawnmower, outboard or inboard boat engine,(they sit) any small engine you get the idea. and the 93 is cheaper than the EF run what ya got down, then go 1/2 tank of 89. But again, it should run on 97 ....

 

Ya know I never tried 93. But did try the octane boost with the 87 and didn’t notice a difference. Very good (obvious) question. Clearly I haven’t done my homework on this one.

 

You may have a lot of carbon buildup, but it would need to be a lot to crank the compression up enough to need higher octane. Not sure which engine you have but the 3RZ will run just fine on the worst gas you can find. I would check that your spark plugs are the correct ones and not too "hot" then I would run a bore scope into the cylinders and see how the tops of the pistons look. Carbon stays hot and can increase the compression and cause detonation.

 

Most octane boosters are garbage.

 

Most likely the octane is the issue. The only way is to try the higher octane with and without the Ethanol. You could also try having it tuned on a dyno with all fuel options to determine which would be best. However, that $15 more per tank will be somewhat offset with better fuel economy and if you suffer from knocking/pinging that will only lead to expensive repairs.

 

Octane isn't the issue, something is wrong, it should run fine on regular.

 

Most Murphy gas is garbage
I

It could be the Murphy gas

I tried some of their product once
Never again! Whatta shitshow lol

I think the taco was dryheaving lmao

 

I tried 93 octane and much less ping. Just barely audible if I gun it w the ac on full. 91 octane ethanol free no ping.

 

Interesting. Thank you. Is there any additive that gets rid of the carbon buildup?

 

Drive it like you stole it (Italian tune-up)

 

I've had the same issue on my 2001 w/3.4L engine. Using non-ethanol gas (probably around 91 octane), I don't get the ping. I've thought about carbon build up and asked some well credentialed mechanics who said it can be an issue on direct-injection types of fuel injection but that's not the Tacoma. Also, if one uses Top Tier fuels, they likely keep the combustion chamber clean enough. However, I'm still not able to explain the ping using the lowest octane fuel. Plus, it's worse on hot days. But having never thrown a code for the ping sensors, I'm concluding for now that there's not a fault in the computer's ability to detect the ping.

I do get around 2 mpg better mileage using the non-ethanol if that's any offset to the higher cost. It's well known that ethanol fuels get about 5-10% worse fuel economy.

 

its a pretty complex equation here
CO highest avail octane is 91(IIRC).....maybe other states too
TX is 93
elevation? i dunno im not a engineer or chemist

every vehicle should run correctly on 87
except forced induction vehicles (supercharged/turbo) 93 or highest avail
the 'mid grade' level.....IMO suckers bet

this pinging you hear/feel
typically is caused by running lean....not enough fuel....especially if forced induction

i agree with MadN

something else going on

when is last time plugs changed? condition of current plugs?

 

I agree with the premise that is 'should' work fine, that's the baffling part of hearing some knocking. But I use entirely OEM parts, all the tune-up parts are up-to-date and still hear faint knocking. And that may be the part of this that confounds people is, "how much is too much."

I just got on the original owner's manual and it actually says, "If you notice some light knocking now and then when accelerating up hills, there's no need for concern." So apparently Toyota knew this would happen and determined it's not detrimental to the engine components.

 

wow
That’s interesting

last time I heard knocking/pinging
This is what my plugs looked like:

 

This was only using 93Oct

not the fuel but fuel delivery issue



New short block needed

 

Yikes! That's what worries me about all the repairs I've done, because none of them will account for some bad crankshaft or rod bearing. I'm noticing Toyota is beginning to drop the parts for these 1st Gen Tacomas. Ugh!

 

Not every vehicle. I have a Porsche that requires 93, you can run it on 87 in an emergency but with severely reduced engine power. It has 12.5:1 compression. How they get it to limp along on 87 with that ratio is beyond me. I hear it works, but never tried it. I guess it has a screen that pops up and says "reduced engine power" if you do it. But these trucks should certainly run just dandy on the cheap gas.

 

Some vehicles deliver better gas mileage on higher grades. Might be worth the difference in price.