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Old 12-11-2013, 11:12 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by PAB4 View Post
Is your Taco a 4 wheel drive
Yes, our Tacoma is a TRD Sport, SR5, 4x4, quad cab with a canopy on the long box. We have the towing package and have had air bags installed. We were told that the addition of an extra spring leaf was problematic due to some cracking over time. We don't use a WDH and have had no problems. After watching a few people in the campgrounds trying to put them on, I'm glad we don't have one. We try to keep the weight in the box as light as possible because we have two propane tanks and the two 6-volt batteries mounted on the tongue. The only heavy item we have in the box is the Honda generator. The rest is canoeing and hiking gear and our home-made solar array. Oh, and a box for saving all of our returnable recyclables.
And one more thing, we have an aluminum roof rack and carry a 18ft. canoe on most trips.

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Old 12-11-2013, 08:30 PM   #42
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We have the tow package and I talked to my service guy at our dealer about the spring changeover. He recommended against it as he had too many complaints from people who did it and then were sorry they did because of how made the ride much harsher unloaded.

We use a WDH and it takes us about 2 minutes and very minimal effort to put them on and off. I love the way the Tacoma porpoises much less with the WDH than the times I had tried it without them installed.
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Old 12-11-2013, 11:23 PM   #43
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I have towed with a Tacoma, access cab, 4*4, V6, tow package, no WDH, for the past 4 years, first three with a 17B, past year with a 19. Mountains, prairies, high winds. 17B stuck like glue. The 19 has a larger 'sail' area and picks up the wind, not much, but noticeable after towing the 17. Two months ago, I decided (after reading the forum of course) to try the Andersen WDH, and found that it counteracted that little bit of sway in high wind, and also limited the 'porpoising' on rough roads. Easy hook-up and disconnect. Tacoma has lots of power although I do notice the extra 200kg of the 19 vs the 17 when merging or heading up a steep hill. Same fuel economy with both trailers.

Has anyone found a difference in fuel economy or power using premium vs regular gas?
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Old 12-12-2013, 12:07 AM   #44
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Has anyone found a difference in fuel economy or power using premium vs regular gas?
Saw a story on this ( CBC TV I think ).
The answer is that there is no advantage in using premium gas because today's engines are computer controlled. They determine the optimum mix of fuel so increasing octane only inflates your Visa bill.
But, I still top up with mid-grade when heading for the Coquihalla summit. Does it make a difference? Not that I've noticed. Probably not, from the evidence. Not at all if you believe in science.
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Old 12-12-2013, 01:25 AM   #45
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Saw a story on this ( CBC TV I think ).
The answer is that there is no advantage in using premium gas because today's engines are computer controlled. They determine the optimum mix of fuel so increasing octane only inflates your Visa bill.
But, I still top up with mid-grade when heading for the Coquihalla summit. Does it make a difference? Not that I've noticed. Probably not, from the evidence. Not at all if you believe in science.
Trial and error demonstrated the same to me. When I started pulling our pop-up trailer, I would gas up with a medium or high octane fuel believing I would get better gas mileage. However, at some point I filled up with regular, and lo and behold, the mileage was equal or in a couple of cases better. It was proof enough for me.
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Old 12-12-2013, 01:40 AM   #46
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Caveat emptor seems to be the watchword when choosing the grade of gasoline to use in any vehicle. According to expert testing done for CBC's consumer affairs show "Marketplace", using premium fuel in an engine whose manufacturer specifies regular wastes money, creates excess emissions, and does not "clean the engine", as some oil companies claim.
Premium gas in regular-fuel cars not cleaner, expert says - Canada - CBC News
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Old 12-12-2013, 02:04 AM   #47
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If it's okay to deviate from Tacoma's, Ford claims the highest torque on the F150 Ecoboost is achieved with Premium and recommends such for heavy towing, regular for other times. Not that an Escape would qualify as heavy towing.
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Old 12-12-2013, 08:28 AM   #48
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Read you owners manual and use gasoline with the octane rating that is recommended for your vehicle. Higher octane ratings do not relate to more power but resistance to predetonation in higher compression and turbocharged engines. Modern engines have knock sensors that retard the ignition timing to protect the engines from predetonation.
Also: Top Tier Gasoline helps keep your engine cleaner.
Is Top Tier gas better for your car?- MSN Money
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Old 12-12-2013, 08:34 AM   #49
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Reality is rarely so simple...

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
The answer is that there is no advantage in using premium gas because today's engines are computer controlled. They determine the optimum mix of fuel so increasing octane only inflates your Visa bill.
That computer-controlled engine management system controls the air/fuel mixture ratio and the ignition timing, so it can manage different octane levels to some extent. They do this better than old carburetors, but they can't perform miracles, so the power and efficiency are still limited by the fuel. If an engine has characteristics which make good use of higher octane - such as high compression ratio - it will reach peak performance only with higher-octane (e.g. 92) fuel... even though it may run fine on lower octane. If it can run optimally on lower-octane fuel (e.g 87) then higher octane brings no benefit.

This is a question for which the answer is specific to the vehicle; it even varies between individual vehicles of the same model and engine model, due to production tolerances. Location (and thus atmospheric pressure/density and humidity) matter as well... plus the driving type (heavy loads may require higer octane than normal driving).

If the engine doesn't need higher octane to run optimally in the conditions it is being used, then premium fuel is a waste of money, and of the additional natural resources that go into making it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Catchlight View Post
According to expert testing done for CBC's consumer affairs show "Marketplace", using premium fuel in an engine whose manufacturer specifies regular wastes money, creates excess emissions, and does not "clean the engine", as some oil companies claim.
Premium gas in regular-fuel cars not cleaner, expert says - Canada - CBC News
This seems to be prmarily about fuels with high levels of detergent additives, which are completely unrelated to octane. At least in North America, the two are routinely confused, because the fuel companies tend to market "premium" gasoline with both higher octane and more detergent. You can't buy one feature without getting - and paying for - the other.

Also, the CBC testing (and I note that testing for an entertainment business is rarely of significant value) used a car which was deliberately chosen as suited to regular fuel. It should not be surprising that the results are not generally applicable. I'm not criticizing the choice: the article was about claims for optional use of premium fuel, not about octane requirements of different vehicles.

Quote:
Originally Posted by padlin View Post
If it's okay to deviate from Tacoma's, Ford claims the highest torque on the F150 Ecoboost is achieved with Premium and recommends such for heavy towing, regular for other times. Not that an Escape would qualify as heavy towing.
Turbocharging is an engine feature which typically would demand relatively high octane: with lower octane, boost and thus power are limited. Even at less than full power, less boost means higher engine speed is required, so fuel economy suffers. The EcoBoost engines use direct fuel injection to minimize this, but octane is still important to them.
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Old 12-12-2013, 12:01 PM   #50
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Turbo boost is not decreased as a result of octane ratings. If predetonation or pre-ignition occurs and the nock sensor detects the "ping" the timing is retarded and thus less horsepower.
Any time you compress air it’s going to increase in temperature, with a turbo charger it’s no different. The more boost you run the more heat is imparted to the air going into the engine. This heat along with latent heat from the previous combustion cycle can increase enough that the fuel can actually ignite before the spark plug lights it off, which is called pre-ignition or ping. Pre-ignition can be very damaging to an engine if it is severe enough or occurs over a long enough period of time. So higher octane fuels help avoid this.
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Old 12-12-2013, 12:19 PM   #51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thoer View Post
We have the tow package and I talked to my service guy at our dealer about the spring changeover. He recommended against it as he had too many complaints from people who did it and then were sorry they did because of how made the ride much harsher unloaded.
My dealer told me the same thing, and suggested strongly that installing air bags (at my expense, of course) was the solution. I prevailed with the spring upgrade and noticed no difference whatsoever in the ride, although the truck did sit about 1/2" higher in the rear. It's interesting to me that Toyota would issue a service bulletin of that nature, which solved a problem, only to have the dealers try to talk you out of it.
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Old 12-12-2013, 02:59 PM   #52
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I used to think the best way a city boy could clean his engine (of carbon deposits, etc., ) --was to fill it up with high test every couple months and [B]"run your engine clean!" [/B]

Best way, clearly, is to fill it with regular gas as usual and get on the interstate for a steady 4-5 hours at 65 mph, and then do another 4-5 hours. Works even better if you are pulling the Escape.
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