91 Premium Fuel for 91' Toyota Pickup 2.4L (Extended Cab/RWD)

Question

Hello again everyone! I drive a 1991 Toyota Pickup (extended cab/RWD) 2.4L and it just reached 278,000 miles.

I just saw the video about Scotty's "People Say I'm Full of Crap About Premium Fuel" video. The video made me wonder if I really need to use 91 octane fuel to help with the pickup's performance. Ever since I have heard that Premium fuel can help clean up the carbon in the engine and increase performance I have been using premium fuel for I would say the last 3 months. Does it really work, and if I continue to use premium gas forever will it have any negative long term effects on the pickup?? So far the pickup runs perfectly fine using the 91 premium fuel. Let me know your opinions on this! Thank you and have a good one!

Whatchamacallit · Accepted Answer

If the owner’s manual does not require 91, you are just wasting your money.  Stick to what the manual requires, and be sure to use Top Tier gasoline.

MountainManJoe · Answer

long term effects include a decrease in wallet contents, and no noticeable increase in performance

Justin Shepherd · Answer

You're throwing your money out the window using the premium gas if the engine isn't made for it, at least if you're doing it all the time. Run a Top Tier fuel, Shell Regular gas is just fine, but any Top Tier retailer will do. That's my go-to in my '99 Ranger and my '79 Catalina. If you get knocking on regular from carbon build-up, that would be the only real reason to run it constantly.

I only run high test gas in my 2017 Mustang (Shell V-Power, typically) but that's because I had it professionally tuned to run on premium only. Every once in a while I run a tank of V-Power through my truck to get that extra cleaning power, if it actually exists, but very rarely. I have no issues with carbon, etc. I don't put anything other than regular in my carburated Pontiac. That is really just dumping money down the drain. It doesn't adjust for octane and doesn't have high compression.