Hi all,

I was wondering what grade gasoline do you use in your Lexus.

I was getting a little pinging & knocking using regular, but now i'm running regular and it's ok. What caused the pinging to begin with????


Sheldon.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=gasoline



-Anthony

 

premium grade only!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Would only use Premium unless I was in the middle of nowhere and had no option (happened to me once in Mexico).

I pay $2.80 a gallon for Premium here and laugh at my friends North of the border. My friends in Europe join in the laughing as my friend with an RX over in Italy pays a whopping $6.85 a gallon.

 

I use Premium in my new GX 470.

 

93 Octane, as per the owner's manual I shouldn't use anything below 91, and mid-grade here is 89. I suppose I could mix 89 with 93 half and half but I suppose I can handle the extra 5 cents a gallon.

The thing I am really picky about is brand of gas. I only use BP/Amoco (same exact gas) or Chevron.

Chevron is great to use if you want to clean your motor out as it contains techron (10 gallons contains 10% of the contents of a full bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner, so repeated use will negate the necessity of a fuel system cleaner every so often to boot! You should use BP/Amoco is great if your motor is already clean and you just want to keep it that way with as few contaminanats and additives as possible.

I tend to switch up between the two depending on what's the most convenient when I need gas, but I make sure I use Chevron at least one out of every 4 or 5 tanks just to keep things maintained. And if not I use Techron additive in BP/Amoco fuel from time to time.

 

BP/Amoco actually gave my car so more kick, better response when I used it up in the States. Chevron is always good, but feels a little hard (not fluid). Shell felt really nice, but I think it has a high sulfur content. Some people told me they had a good experience with Sunoco.

 

is there any damage to my 91 LS400 if I put in anything higher than 91 octane? like 100 for example. I've always been curious about that

 

High octane racing fuel, like 100 or 106, could give your engine carbon deposit. Higher octane fuel are more resistant to burning. Unless you have a supercharged racing engine designed to drink 100+, the unburned fuel will end up being carbon deposit on your valves or pistons.

Over time, the carbon deposit will reduce the burn chamber size (or increase compression) to the point that your car will need the higher octane fuel to prevent engine knock. You won't be able to use the normal fuel. It's like being hooked on drugs and can't get off.

Amoco (now BP) tried to push its Ultimate 93 to drivers who only needed regular. The idea was to get their cars hooked on the Ultimate. Ultimately Amoco was fined and agreed to pull the deceptive ads.

I still use BP/Amoco gas because I have their rebate credit card, but only the 87. My RX300 runs fine with BP 87, no knock, no hiccup, no nothing. However, I believe all other Lexus models require 91 octane.

 

Sunoco Ultra 94! It has the lowest sulphur content ppm of ANY other gasoline on the market! which means cleaner burning & much better for your emissions control equipment as well.

 

Thanks all. I was originally using 87 and the vehicle was working a-ok, then I got some pinging & knocking and now 93 has taken care of it.

 

87, never even tried 93 in the ES but maybe for kicks to see a performance or mileage gain but I doubt it.

CdeFabio
the GX runs the same on 87 as premium, once you get passed the mental block your fine

 

Almost any car these days will run on 87, even if the manual specifically recommends 93. The reason is because most modern day motors have knock sensors that retard the timing if they detect predetonation.

It keeps bad gas or the accidental use of low-octane gas from damaging your motor over the short-term by reducing the degree at which the advanced spark timing fires, but this also should decrease power output and gas milage. But consistant use over the long term of the car is not a good idea, as you're basically making a system designed to get you through in a crutch, work every minute the car is running for its entire life.

Likewise, using high octane gas in a car that is designed to use low octane is just as bad, but this topic has already been covered.

Manufacturers recommend octanes of gas for a good reason.

I could see if the Lexus ES required premium but the Camry V6 only required 87... then it'd be obvious that Lexus was just trying to pretend like since your car is a lexus, it needs 'premium' fuel when it really doesn't.

 

The ES V6 and the Camry V6 are tuned differently. The ES V6 makes 210 HPs (or more now), the Camry V6 is tuned for 192 HPs on regular fuel. Putting 87 in ES V6 probably won't damage the engine short-term, it'll just give less performance.

 

The owners manual says 87 is fine added performance with premium, the only lexus vehicle that the owners manual says to use premium is the IS300, have not really read any others, it says use premium and if you have to use a lower octane just take it easy with the car till you can get some 93

I use whatever the owners manual suggest, but Im also not into this whole cause it's a Lexus you got to use Premium

As for the using a lower octane gas will shorten the life of an engine designed for higher octane, my friends father drives a 98 maxima with 180k on it the car requires premium, car drives like new cause he does all the maintenance and it's a city car so it gets driven hard, maybe the engine life has been shortened to 250k