Gas

[1995AvaIon]

Do you ACTUALLY put premium gas into your Avalon?
Whats your MPG?
Do you use fuel savers?
Like this performance chip.
It states, well here look for yourself.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOT...33218266QQrdZ1
Something like this would be PERFECT for an avalon since it already uses premium fuel.
Seems almost too good to be true?
Are these vortex generators the future of automotive industry, or the biggest scam to hit the market?

[cexsiman]

i was wondering the same thing, would premium gas or even 89/91 octane really make a mpg difference in the 1mzfe??

Also that ebay thing, my friend bought the same sort of thing, claiming retail value is like $400 but they sell it for $15 and all it is, is a resistor that is supposed to "trick" your computer by plugging into the air temp sensor and or MAF and sending a signal to your ECU saying that the air coming into the engine is cooler and/or denser than it auctually is, which causes your engine to i believe run richer and probally make close to those numbers based upon the fuel being fed into the engine. we didnt even want to try it in his car because it seemed kinda fishy and didnt want to break anything.

thats my two cents.

[toyomoho]

The issue of cheap improvements to gain MPG is very old. One way to look at it is if these items worked as good as claimed, auto manufactures would be leaping to use them.

Check past TN posts about these items, you will find they gain nothing.

[jon456]

I have a 98, and I use premium. I do notice a difference in gas mileage, I get terrible mileage with regular and ok with premium. This car really doesn't get good gas mileage, I only get about 200-250 miles out of a tank.

[edbro]

I use regular only in my 2000. I have never had any knocking, which is the only thing a higher octane will help with. It should make no difference in the mpg. The only thing that will make a difference in mileage is whether there is corn (ethanol) mixed in. I've heard others state that they get lower mpg with an ethanol mixed fuel. But, I can not verify that myself.

[cexsiman]

you are only getting 200-250 per tank? do you have A LOT of stop and go city traffic? on the tank i am on now i have 250 on the clock and 1/4 left in the tank on regular pump gas. i'm not looking for magic outta the car, i just want to keep the rated fuel economy on the avy.

[smuook]

For the 2005+, The owner manual states to use premium unleaded of 91 or more for increased performance. I've read that the only difference between the ES300 at 272hp and the Avalon at 268hp is that the ES is rated for 91 octane and the Avalon is rated at 87 octane.

[mtsumedi]

I usually put 89 in the car to prevent knocking. In the end it equates out to be like $1.50 or so per fill up. I figure the car is older (1995) and DOHC so it's a little tweaked to make better power.

[1995AvaIon]

Well actually, I did some digging of my own, and NOT ONLY DOES IT PREVENT FROM KNOCKING, but also "you SHOULD (very strong should) put premium in your car if it says premium" why? Because certain cars have different combustion levels of gas, instead of a slow burn in your avalon when using premium, you get a small explosion when using regular gas. Lower octane ratings have higher combustion levels. But I'm just a kid. Do your own research and see what you find

[1995AvaIon]

Does anyone use the ethanol gas? Here in the heartlands of the USA we get it cheaper because we are the #1 producer of corn. (I believe) The octane rating is 89 but I don't know about that corn mixture and what it could do to my car. I think I will just stick to good ol' premium. The 2-3 dollar extra per pump, will save me hundreds of dollars in damages to my engine in the long run. (sources from an AAA specialist.)

[cexsiman]

no corn gas available in the sooutheast, but even so, your car isnt made to run on that, thats why ford has the FFV tarus's and gm has all of those flex-fuel vehicles. toyotas are not meant to be corny, keep it outta the tank, lol.

[jon456]

Yeah, I mean I often just drive around town. Usually not during rush hour, I am a pretty aggressive driver though. I don't floor it but I accelerate at like 2000-3000 RPM usually. My dads 02 ES300 gets better mileage, and he drives the same way. I just figured it out and 250 MP tank, thats only like 13.5 MPG. That is terrible. What do you get per tank?

[1995AvaIon]

I dont know yet, I just got my Avalon recently and I forgot to ask the dealer if he filled it with premium. But so far I'm at 86 miles, and still pretty damn full.

[silverxls]

jon, your mileage should be much better. altho many things can affect fuel mileage, octane isn't one of them. premium will only result in a little better performance if your inclined to lay heavy on the gas at times. i've used both on long hiway trips, around town and many different situations and have never really seen a diff in mileage. on the hiway i can get over 30 with both reg and premium, but increase speed to 80 to 90 and that drops to 23. what you may need to do more than anything is run a good fuel injector cleaner thru it like PB 44K, or chevron techron. dont mess with the cheap ones like stp...they're worthless. if the injectors are really bad, they may need 2 treatments. i'll bet this helps you alot.

[KeepItSimple]

I agree with silverxls about the Chevron Techron Fuel System Cleaner. I bought my '95 avalon xl with 144k on it last year and the mpg was about 22-26 with ok but slightly sluggish acceleration. One treatment with Techron and the power NOTICEABLY increased. I've put the Techron through 3 times now (at every oil change) and last week I drove from Sacramento to Reno (up through the Sierra Nevada mountains) and back and got 29.2 mpg which included some around town driving. I'll take it.

EDIT: That was using regular gas. I've TRIED real hard to see a difference between regular and premium in this car but I can't.