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I've had my GX since 2013 and have only used regular (87) gas. Never a ping or pong. I usually buy my gas at Costco.
When I purchased my Land Cruiser in 1999, I was advised to use only premium (93) gas. I did so religiously for about 8 years until the price of gas shot up to around $4 a gallon then switched to regular gas. No change in performance.
We still have the Land Cruiser, its fed exclusively regular gas and it's still an awesome reliable truck.
I guess it boils down to what you're most comfortable doing. Obviously the GX is happy with either.
If you look at the specs on many new cars, they will post different HP numbers based on the choices of octane....so you can assume that running 91+ will give you the full 268 HP, 87 may reduce it....can you tell the difference in a truck? Others will say their fuel mileage is slight higher with premium slightly offsetting the additional cost. The computer is supposed to detect detonation problems and retard the timing, hence the slight drop in HP...either way, there is no harm to the longevity of the engine from choosing 87.
I have a 2005 GX470 and I've only used regular 87 since I've owned it and I know the previous owner was also using 87 the whole time they have owned it as well. So all in all I would say the first 3-5 year probably got premium 93, then the last 10-12 years regular 87 with no issues.
I’ve been driving my stepdad’s old 2009 GX470 around and have been putting premium in it this whole time. I just assumed you had to use 91+ octane like I did in my LS430. I figured the V8 4Runner didn’t use premium though.
If I can use regular gas in it then I might consider keeping this GX or find an older non-navigation GX.
After I logged into drivers.lexus.com, I noticed on the splash image it lists the MINIMUM OCTANE recommended by Lexus; for the 2004 GX470 it's 91 octane. The three most common grades are roughly - 87 (regular), 88–90 (midgrade), and 91–94 (premium). Just thought I'd share what I thought is interesting. 😎 driver.lexus.com
Yet the same Engine in the Toyota trucks says the minimum is 87 octane!! Personally I think they did this just because it’s a Lexus and they want that image of higher end so they say it needs premium it’s called Lexus marketing! This is a lower compression engine and not turbocharged so I would really really be surprised if it doesn’t run exactly the same on 87 octane. I have a new to me 2007 model which the compression ratio is only slightly higher than yours but again the same engine in the Toyota truck for my year calls for 87 octane! I have been running premium with Techron additive right now to clean out the fuel system but after this I am going to try 87 and I bet the mileage is very close to the same and as long as their is no pinging from the engine it should be fine.
Curious what others are running just regular or premium fuel??
I can get premium at Costco pretty close to the price of regular elsewhere, so I'll buy that when I'm doing in-town driving (it feels peppier). For highway trips I'll put regular in since I'm not doing a lot of acceleration.
About "the same engine" between 4runner and GX, the engine can be (and most likely) the same mechanically but ECU can be different with different with different ignition/fuel maps.
What would resolve this debate is the knowledge if ECUs in GX and 4runner are indeed the same.
If part number matches then there is no question, its the same engine, and all recommendations for 4runner can be applied to GX as well.
If ECU is different, it is probably different for a reason, and one of those reason most likely is different fuel/ignition maps tuned for different fuel type.
What years of 4runner supposedly had "the same" engine?
I see for 2006 4runner it is 89661-35B60 and for 2006 GX it is 89661-60D30
But they may match over different years, if we find any match between GX with "premium fuel" requirement and 4runner then i will go ahead and start to put 87 fuel immediately.
03-12-20, 06:05 PM
