Fuel: Regular or Super Unleaded on '88 FJ62?

[Drebin]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum as I just bought a '88 right with over 300K miles....engine and trans were rebuild about 100K miles ago. No rust. In good shape inside and out. Solid little girl

I plan to restore her slowly over time.

I've asked two Land Cruiser shops here in Portland and have received conflicting answers from them, thus coming to you.

If I plan to only use this rig on weekends(mostly on tarmac and the occasional drive to the mountains on snow in the winter) and the random ride on a weekday:
- Is Regular unleaded fuel OK or should I put Super Unleaded in it given it's age and supposedly Super is better for cars?

Thanks for any advise. Really appreciate it,
Drebin

 

[DirtRoads]

87 octane is fine. If it will be sitting for prolonged periods (longer than a month or so), you want to top up with ethanol free fuel.

 

[Comet]

If I were in this situation, I would definitely seek out a station with 87 octane ethanol free gas and keep my tank topped off during inactivity. I might also consider using some fuel stabilizer if the mileage is short in between outings and I'm not going through a lot of gas. Ethanol gas breaks down faster and absorbs water quicker. Water is not my friend in the gas tank. YMMV. And welcome to the forum

 

[land crusher]

Oh boy, this one again? Super, premium, whatever they want to call it, is not better, it is just different. Run the the octane rating that your engine requires, otherwise you are wasting money. You will get no benefit from running 89, 91, 92, etc. In your 3FE because it does not have the compression to require the higher octane to prevent knocking. "Regular" is what you want. In Oregon that means 87. If it were 85, I'd run that.

 

[bentonrover]

Like who puts premium in there tractor or lawn mower. Go cheap no ethanol if possible. Save money for maintenance

 

[OSS]

Run two tanks of different grades & compare the mpg & performance. You may be surprised. In my case, (2F) regular 87 octane is the most expensive gasoline per mile giving the worst performance. Per mile, (on my 2F) it's even more expensive than premium gas due to the 15% mpg hit.
I use 89 mid grade gas. Seems to be the sweet spot on this engine.

Your engine may be different.
The octane rating of gasoline that is stored for long periods of time can drop. But driving the car every few weeks isn't 'storing' gasoline.

 

[land crusher]

There is more than enough variation in these mpg experiments to trigger the perceived or recorded difference in fuel efficiency. For accurate data you would need to drive the the same course under the same atmospheric conditions comparing grades of gasoline from the same batch from the same refinery from the same distributor. The vehicle would have to be loaded the same, driven the same and be at the same point in the lifecycle of its consumables (oil, air filter, plugs, tires, etc.)

 

[White Stripe]

It depends on what your base timing is set at. Set to stock timing you cannot regular. Advanced it much past stock and you will need higher octane.

 

[jakerudy]

Run two tanks of different grades & compare the mpg & performance. You may be surprised. In my case, (2F) regular 87 octane is the most expensive gasoline per mile giving the worst performance. Per mile, (on my 2F) it's even more expensive than premium gas due to the 15% mpg hit.
I use 89 mid grade gas. Seems to be the sweet spot on this engine.

Your engine may be different.
The octane rating of gasoline that is stored for long periods of time can drop. But driving the car every few weeks isn't 'storing' gasoline.

Where I live all regular 87 octane gas has ethanol and it wreaks havoc on pretty much everything I have put it in. My '89 beater Toyota truck won't start under 40 degrees on ethanol gas. The wife's Subaru lights up the check engine light as soon as you run regular in it. Chain saws, generator, etc. I've had nothing but problems with ethanol gas and your mpg will drop due to less energy per gallon.

I won't run ethanol gas in anything if I can help it. Just not worth the repair costs.