GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Over here in in cali, premium is usually $0.20 more than regular. So it's about $3.60 more for premium. Which is nothing get picky about.

Ls4Hundred, tell them you'll pay that extra $3.60 out of your own pocket.

jcrome04

I would kill for $3.60 premium...

A Chevron in Port Angeles, WA:
Regular $3.76
mid-grade $3.86
Premium $3.96
Diesel $4.49



I remember when I was younger my dad filled up the family minivan for $0.99 a gallon at the local Costco

phobs

I remember when I was around 3-4 and my parents refueled at 76 for $0.99 a gallon. Goood times, damn inflation and recession.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I would too, but I actually meant it cost $3.60 more for premium vs regular. We just tipped over $4 this week.

haulin79

And don't forget to add to that list the falling value of our US Dollar internationally.

19psi

don't use it. it's worthless. explain to your parents that premium is necessary for the engine to run correctly.

print this out and use it to explain why you need premium: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=334846

PK_Celsior

iTrader: (18)

San Diego is at $4.05 for 91 blahhhh. broke studentness hear i come. yes i would talk to my parents if i couldnt put premium in. i would just pay the difference :]. but i already told my parents that it takes premium only. my dad freaking put in 87 and thing ran like junk. so he knoes whats up now hehe.

Ls4hundred

I talked to my parents, and they said it would be okay for me to pay the difference out of pocket, if our gas card wasn't already maxed out...lol My dad has a 2000 F-250 Super Duty and he spends $400 per month on gas, which leaves little room for my fill ups at all.

phobs

OUCH and I thought my mpg was already horrible.

PhilipMidd

Old thread I know, but I'm curious at a slightly different level.
I've noticed that there is a very negative vibe in this thread about octane improvers.
I have a 89 Celsior (Gen1 LS400), its a JDM import. I've had the car for several years now with very little in the way of problems, nothing serious (not bad for a 33 yo vehicle).
Not long after I purchased my car, I accidently filled up with ULP (RON 91) instead of PULP (RON 95). I'm in Australia so our Octane ratings are calculated slightly differently from the USA, but its close enough to generally compare.
I was about to go for a long drive (about 2000Km over a weekend) so I filled up from almost empty the day before I was due to leave for an early morning start. I didn't notice any difference straight away, but after doing about 10Km on the way home I noticed a knock during low rev acceleration.
I'm a car guy, always done my own work on cars, so I recognised the knock as pre-ignition (pinging). I needed to fix this straight away cos I was going for a longish drive the next morning. Didn't want it knocking for all the trip, tearing up the ring, ring lands etc.
Could not find an electrical problem, no smoke, everything seemed OK, so as a last resort I checked the receipt from the fuel station. Bingo. Accidently used the wrong fuel. Rookie mistake, pissed at self for that one. Trip down the the local speed shop and purchased a bottle of Octane improver (shops recommendation brand once I explained what I had done).
Dumped the whole 300ml bottle in the tank (estimate 70/75L in tank at the time). Rocked the car around and drive like an idiot around a few corners to help mix and after about 15Km the pinging slowly stopped. Clearly the octane rating had increased enough to stop the pinging. This car was built in 1989 so maybe the knock sensor is not working as well as it should (if at all), or maybe they simply didn't work as well back then. Not something I know much about.

Now to my current question:
In Australia, the difference between RON 91 and RON95 can be as much as 40c per L ($1.50 for 91 compared to $1.90 for 95). Its not always that bad, but sometimes it is.
I've fallen on hard times currently and dont want to sell my somewhat thirsty 4L V8 car in favor for a cheaper to run, unknown, second hand possible POS that will run on RON 91.
I now live about 40Km from my nearest RON 95 petrol station, but we have a local Costco Petrol Station that sells RON 91 but not RON 95.
I want to know if I can safely run my car on 91 + Octane Improver to stop it knocking. On my car I already know a $10 bottle of Octane Improver will treat a complete tank of fuel and make it stop knocking, and that works out cost effective, but I'm worried about that thin hard coating on the cylinders (Ceramic?)
I understand that the motor is all Aluminium (no metal cylinders inserts), instead it uses some kind of very thin hard coating (I think its ceramic)).
My engine is still like new (still does 240Kph and creeping up slowly without any worrying noises, new they were reported to do 248Kph). Engine still runs like new except with a little bit of belt noise. Engine & Vehicle completely stock except lowered 2" by previous owner
Is there any likelihood of an issue using the improver with the Cylinders (or anything else with the Engine)?
Gut feeling is should be no issues, but in case someone knows something I dont (haha.. yeah... kinda likely).
Thanks.

YoshiMan

This thread is just a showcase of how toxic this forum used to be on occasion, and it benefits everyone now that a lot of the people responding on this are now long gone and haven't posted in years.

paulo57509

I wouldn't worry about engine damage that may or may not have been done because of low octane fuel use. Never look back; you can't undo what's already been done.

Even with proper octane fuel, the knock sensor has certainly already been retarding spark advance before you ever hear audible knocking. IOW, some knocking is always there. Hook up your scan tool, go for a drive and monitor spark retard and you'll get a pretty clear picture.

I see no reason why you can't run low octane fuel with an octane additive. Just don't get a false sense of security that the additive is eliminating all knocking.

400fanboy

It's the internet. I grew up in my formative years exposed to this stuff nonstop - I'll make the call now.

It's never going to change.

Well, as long as you can be pseudo-anonymous. But that only slightly curtails it. Plenty of *******s in this world even when you know their name or are infront of them.

So - plenty of people on this forum talk about how they run on lower-than-required octane fuel all the time with no issues. If you're experiencing knock symptoms when using lower grade fuel, I would classify that as a-typical and your engine isn't protecting itself. So yes your knock sensor may be bad, considering the moment you boosted the octane the problem fixed itself.

I also find it strange how you ran into issues even just driving... normally. The main tool the engine has to combat knock is to retard timing. That costs horsepower, but it protects the engine. Full throttle sure I can understand, but even low RPM low-load situations you had octane knock issues. I didn't realize the engine was that highly tuned even in that environment.

I don't know of any issues just putting octane booster in the engine, even in the long-term. It's the same thing that's added to the premium gas AFAIK. Just more expensive since you're buying it by the bottle. I've never heard of any long-term issues from running octane booster regularly in a modern fuel injected car.

Agree with the other person. Don't fret about the problems you had. What's done is done, you can't change it now. Engines are more durable than you think - what's important is you rectified the problem as quickly as you did. I think you'll be fine.

YoshiMan

Oh trust me, I've done my fair share of trolling over the years. Just pull up any video related to diesel engines on YouTube and say "I think diesel engines are stupid, I like gas engines better!" And then watch as all the people with the dually pavement princesses lose their minds!

I mainly am referring to people like the guy with the heart avatar on here (who looks like he has been inactive for over a year now) who go out of their way to talk ****** on every single thread and then throw their moderator powers around if people disagree with them. When I was more active on this particular forum with my 95 LS400 back in 2013ish, it got REALLY old when every single thread would just have troll responses on them from the same person.

But to jump back on topic for a moment, one place I can say octane booster does help is with really old cars that don't handle the ethanol blended fuels very well. My old 75 Cadillac has occasional bogging issues with ethanol fuels, and the only pure gas available in my area is 87 octane, which sometimes causes the engine to diesel after being turned off.

PhilipMidd

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I agree. I cant see any reason a fuel octane additive would damage the cylinders, I just wanted to know if anyone knew of a reason it might. I also understand the knock sensor is triggered by the preignition, so knocking is always going to be there under certain situations regardless.
I'm seriously not worried about any previous damage due to my mistake in my fuel choice almost 5 years ago partly because it was extremely short lived (only knocked for about 10Km maybe?) and I have seen no degradation in performance or extra oil usage.
Small note: While OBD (or OBD-1) was available from some time in the 80's, the OBC protocol was only standardised and then called OBD-2 (or OBD-II) and rolled out in 1995-1996. I have a 1989 vehicle and they (due to lack of standards across makes and/or models) require a specific OBD-1 reader not only for Toyota, but specifically for the early Lexus/Celsior. Yamae here on this forum knows a lot more about this cos he was working for Toyota in Japan on the electronics design team when these cars were being designed and tested. When I was a bit flusher with cash, I looked for a OBD-1 reader for my car, but was unable to find one to purchase. I was then told they were worth more than the car IF you could find one, so I learned to read the static values manually by reading a sequences of dash light flashes. But that wont help with engine running real-time diagnostics. Anyway I digress.
Again, Thank you for your reply.