NewHilux.net

Hi Guys,
Just wondering what petrol grade you guys use on 4.0L V6 hilux.
I found that after running 91 octane the engine started to ping at low revs. I'm now running 95 and the problem isn't there, but i'm not happy running premium fuel in a 4WD. I ran 91 octane for 15000 kms and no sign of pinging until just recently,,,

91 octane is regular unleaded isn't it?

If so I only ever used that and never had a problem

right from the start i have run 95 unleaded....no probs

I have always ran 91 octane but have recently starting using Caltex E10 fuel, 10% ethanol blend.

The E10 makes the car perform like it is on the higher octane fuel but it is 3 cent per litre cheaper than regular unleaded.

One of my mates is a Chemist and was second in charge at an Oil Refinery Lab and he said that the Ethanol adds an extra 3 to 4 octane when it is blended.

If you also check your warranty book it states that you can run a 10% ethanol blend fuel without voiding your warranty.

The 1GR-FE engine in our lux is a good candidate for Premium due the the 10.0:1 Compression ratio aswell.

Mine has a sticker in the fuel filler saying E10 OK!.

That being said i have only used Caltex Vortex Premium Unleaded 95 octane, since purchasing the vehicle.



has been great lots of power, and after 3000km now, i feel the fuel economy is getting better, making the difference between 91/95 in cost negligible. Manual states tojo recommends 95 Unleaded for best performance aswell.



on a recent long highway drive, i had fuel down to 10/11L per 100k/ Sitting in between about 105/110km/h



Stop and start city im getting about 12/13km (as advertised by tojo).

which imo is still pretty good. 1 tank gets me to and back from work for a month =].

315km/per f/n (not far to work)





I would be interested in trying E10 fuel but i dont want to undo the all the work in getting the ECU working nicely with the Vortex, and it takes around 2500++k/m for it to aparently start to fully appreciate a change in fuel.



I use Caltex only too, no woolworths petrol plus, etc. if there are no Caltex then to BP.

I've allways run optimax. Recently I gave it a bellyfull of regular and noticed it pinging so I'm back on optimax. As Jcarter said the ecu apparently adjusts timing etc to suit over a few thousand K's. I'd be interested to know a bit more about the ethanol option. It would be a lot easier on the wallet.

Could it be a bad fuel you picked up at some stage, water in the tank ??



It happened to me in my old lux



A bottle of metho fixed it (old farm trick)

Give the E10 a go I feel that it performs like the high octane fuel and appears to be more constant in mileage than normal unleaded.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll stick to the premium fuels from now on,,,,

Toyota did mention on the last service they've seen a few Hilux's coming in with the ping problem, but there has only been a hand full of them where the premium fuel didn't fix it.

On the ethanol, last tank i filled up on was that blend of CSR ethanol of upto 10% and the fuel is quoted at 98 octane. The fuel is about the price of 95 and so far the engine runs really well over the full rev range,,

only problem i see in my changing over to E10 in my case, is that it dosnt seem to be reliably delivered here =/ there can be entire weeks when there is no E10 avail at the servo's.

Id be more inclinded to believe 10% ethanol blends are 94/95 RON.
unless they are being mixed with premium unleaded instead of regular unleaded (which im sure united fuel does IIRC?)