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If E85 is available, you can get away with an E30 blend to help bump up that knock resistance.
Only gasoline recommended for the RC F is 91 octane or greater and ethanol content less than 15%. That means no E85 or E30.
Lexus says:
■Non-recommendation of the use of blended gasoline
●Use only gasoline containing up to 15% ethanol. DO NOT use any flex-fuel or gasoline that could contain more than 15% ethanol, including from any pump labeled E30 (30% ethanol [ ]), E50 (50% ethanol [ ]), E85 (85% ethanol [ ]) (which are only some examples of fuel containing more than 15% ethanol).
●If you use gasohol in your vehicle, be sure that it has an octane rating no lower than 91.
●Lexus does not recommend the use of gasoline containing methanol.
This has always been a worry of mine when buying a used car that requires premium fuel. I imagine some lease drivers wouldn't care about long term reliability, and would rather save money at the pump. I have serious doubts that driving slow with 87 octane would cause engine damage. But WOT probably can't be good. Why does a computer pull timing? If it's in response to knocking, then damage is already being done.
Probably not significant damage though. Timings isn't just dependent on Octane ratings, it also depends on altitude since that affects all gas pressures. You wouldn't worry about driving over a mountain range, would you?
As to where you drive, the average elevation here in Colorado must be high enough that I don't recall seeing an auto gas pump with a higher octane than 91. If there are any, they must be pretty rare.
Of course if I were to hear knocking, I would just take off my hearing aids and that would take care of that.
Only gasoline recommended for the RC F is 91 octane or greater and ethanol content less than 15%. That means no E85 or E30.
Lexus says:
■Non-recommendation of the use of blended gasoline
●Use only gasoline containing up to 15% ethanol. DO NOT use any flex-fuel or gasoline that could contain more than 15% ethanol, including from any pump labeled E30 (30% ethanol [ ]), E50 (50% ethanol [ ]), E85 (85% ethanol [ ]) (which are only some examples of fuel containing more than 15% ethanol).
●If you use gasohol in your vehicle, be sure that it has an octane rating no lower than 91.
●Lexus does not recommend the use of gasoline containing methanol.
That's what Lexus says. Experts say E30 is fine in the modern engines: Link
If he's in the bind, he can mix some e85 with the low-octane gas to prevent knocks until the high octane gas is available. It's not like he'll be doing it forever. Many ISF guys have been using e85 + pump gas blend for years without any problems. I've been doing the same with the tune I have.
That's what Lexus says. Experts say E30 is fine in the modern engines: Link
If he's in the bind, he can mix some e85 with the low-octane gas to prevent knocks until the high octane gas is available. It's not like he'll be doing it forever. Many ISF guys have been using e85 + pump gas blend for years without any problems. I've been doing the same with the tune I have.
Let's see, take advice from an assistant professor with no mechanical engineering background or the mechanical engineers from the manufacurer's level. Yup,i'll stick with real expert advice from the manufacturer.
I don't even understand the basis for this entire debate. If you can't afford premium fuel, you can't afford an RCF.
Like, if the difference between 87 Octane and 91 Octane for every fill-up is going to be too much cost for you to absorb, you really over-extended yourself buying or leasing an RCF and should be making better life choices.
I don't even understand the basis for this entire debate. If you can't afford premium fuel, you can't afford an RCF.
Like, if the difference between 87 Octane and 91 Octane for every fill-up is going to be too much cost for you to absorb, you really over-extended yourself buying or leasing an RCF and should be making better life choices.
This was on my Facebook feed from Lexus..lol
Honestly I know the car requires premium but at the same time if there's a gas shortage and all you can put in it is not premium The car's not going to blow up Don't drive like a buffoon and you'll be fine. We are probably the very small percentage that actually take care of their cars to a point that the majority of people do not and you never know about it and those cars get recycled from dealer to dealer sold and bought and go through many hands etc.
When you can get normal gas put premium back in and you'll be fine lol.
I don't even understand the basis for this entire debate. If you can't afford premium fuel, you can't afford an RCF.
Like, if the difference between 87 Octane and 91 Octane for every fill-up is going to be too much cost for you to absorb, you really over-extended yourself buying or leasing an RCF and should be making better life choices.
The basis is that the OP was making a road trip through two states affected by the pipeline shutdown and was worried about only being able to find 87 octane since premium was harder to find. It had absolutely nothing to do with him being too cheap or too "poor" to afford premium.
And I'm pretty certain it was a moot point and he was able to find premium without a problem. Gas stations are stocked again.
The basis is that the OP was making a road trip through two states affected by the pipeline shutdown and was worried about only being able to find 87 octane since premium was harder to find. It had absolutely nothing to do with him being too cheap or too "poor" to afford premium.
And I'm pretty certain it was a moot point and he was able to find premium without a problem. Gas stations are stocked again.
I think he made a general statement. The situation OP described is fully understandable given the shortage of fuel.
At our destination (Emerald Isle NC) there were no stations with gas the first two days there and only 87 when available. I had to purchase 87 octane where I could find it then topped off with 93 for the final drive home a few days later.
No knock, no ping, no problem. All is well that ends well.
I’ve lived in Seattle, LA, Tucson, Albuquerque, and now No. VA. The West seems to have mostly 91 for premium and 87 for reg (except 85 for reg at higher altitudes). Out here (East), premium seems to be 93…not sure why the difference other than the gas out East is probably from Gulf Coast refineries. OK City had an ethanol free in the same pump as reg and premium with ethanol. I did notice that Costco gas increased power and fuel economy on my LS430 by 1 mpg compared to Shell 93. A boat maintenance guy told me that Costco 93 octane gas out her in No VA is ethanol free.
Yeah 91 is what they recommend here in the states.
Using lower octane fuel can lower performance slightly, and potentially cause parts to degrade a little sooner in the long-term. If you had to fill up with 87 once a year it wouldn't make a difference, but you wouldn't want to do that regularly obviously.
As far as 0-60 times, there's a LOT more variables there than fuel octane. Not to mention there seems to be a hidden "self-protect limiter" for the first ~700 miles or so that you haven't broken through yet. Wait until you put a couple thousand miles through it and learn the car and I'm sure you can squeeze out better times. There are some other threads on here about the limiter and about tricks for getting best 0-60 times, but that's definitely a bit of an art to perfect.
Good luck.
octane has nothing to do with quality of fuel, not sure why you say that lower octane will cause parts to degrade sooner...
05-14-21 | 08:38 AM
