louie427

I am new to this message board and also new to the Lexus world. I have a 2008 ES350 with 88k on it. We bought the car in December 2011 and have put almost 30k on it. I drive 74.5 miles each way to work. When we bought the car we were naive and never told to put premium in it. We have been filling it up with regular. We have been averaging about 26.2 mpg i assume because I drive so much interstate going to work.

This week it finally gave us some problems. All the dash lights came on and it was vibrating so bad it was not driveable. Got it towed to Nalley Lexus in Atlanta and the said it was bad gas. They said the drained it and filled it with good and everything was fine. They are keeping it overnight to make sure all is well in the morning.

My question is: How much damage did we do putting regular unleaded in it for over a year and more importantly almost 30k miles? Are there any additives I can add to a couple of tanks to flush out the gunk?

Does the dealer's report of bad gas sound weird to anyone else?

Thanks guys!

P.S. Will be putting premium in it from now on.

dman00001

Bad gas does not refer to premium versus regular. Bad gas refers to some type of contamination in the gas source. Typically it's water contamination. It could happen with regular or with premium. Search the forum and you'll find endless threads on the premium versus regular debate. The short story is regular will not damage your engine in any way. Changing to premium will not protect you against "bad gas." My personal experience is I've been using regular in my 2007 since I bought it without issue and I know many others who have as well.

RickC5

+1! We use regular in our '08 too--never a problem.

BTW- if you see the tanker truck in a gas station filling the tanks, drive away and find another station. When the tanker pumps the new gas into the underground tank, it stirs up any sediment in the bottom of the tank, and THAT is what you may be putting in your car, which is NOT a good thing.

LexBob2

+2. Well stated dman and Rick. I used regular in my 2007 and 2010 ES350 and all was good. Use whichever you're comfortable with and your car wil be fine.

ndg

+3. I've been using regular in my 2007 for 3 or 4 years. I couldn't tell a difference when I made the switch. By the way, I switched after reading about others' experiences on this forum.

dman00001

Oh by the way. Since you're new you may want to check out Hennessey Lexus. I've found them to be quite a bit cheaper than Nalley for the same level of service.

SW17LS

Running regular won't hurt it. In fact, Lexus stopped recommending Premium on the car in 2011 and instead recommended regular with only slightly diminished horsepower specs. Your 2008 has the same engine as the 2011, as did my 2010 which I ran regular in.

I do run premium in my GS, but its a different motor.

EJC

Ditto on that.
We've been driving ESs since the first ES250. My mother still drives my wife's old '94 ES300 and we currently have a 2010 ES350.
We've all of these on Regular with absolutely no problem and we can squeeze the '10 to 30mpg on the road.

My IS-F and '13 Boxster run 93 octane