Toyota 5k 1.5 engine OK on unleaded?

[stevek]

Hi from Greece.

I had my first drive of the old Toyota yesterday. I have been told that it needs to use 'Super' not 'Unleaded' or 'Super Unleaded' which could be a problem on the way back to the UK. While I don't doubt that's all its ever been run on here do 'we' think this engine is suitable for unleaded or am I going to have to hunt some additive, something I know little about?

Cheers, Steve

[stevek]

I have been trying to find out what this 'Super' petrol is here. I have kind of assumed it to be Leaded but cannot really be sure. Searching on the web hasn't helped so far.

[chairchild]

Never heard of a plain "super" petrol, so I'm assuming they mean Super-unleaded, which is just a higher octane version of normal unleaded

I've had a car that said it HAD to be run on super-unleaded (J car) and since I was a cheapskate, and the car was free, I just shoved in normal unleaded.....


made diddly-squat difference TBH. A turbo car however, would be an entirely different story!

[markkp30]

I have a 5K and it runs perfectly fine on regular unleaded fuel. And that is with slightly increased compression, hot cam and stuff.

I think Japanese engines were designed for unleaded fuel from the early 1970's.

You're fine with regular fuel.

[xbo11ox]

yeah defo, absolutley no damage wil be done if you run it on ordinary 95-grade pez. Fill it up!

[The Doctor]

just what mark says, Japan switched to unleaded petrol in 1972, so as long as the engine is younger than that, you're fine!

and K-series (are you sure it's a 5K? probably a 1.3 4K or has it been swapped sometime in the past?) run on anything as long as it's liquid and flamable, even the german 'Benzin' (RON91) will be no problem

[stevek]

Ok Cool. Thanks for all the replys. I 'thought' it should be ok for unleaded but wasn't sure, and when I was so specifically instructed on this 'super' petrol I wanted to check. I'll probably just use regular unleaded then I guess.

As for this unknown 'Super' petrol I have seen it listed on the petrol station sign listed separately to 'Unleaded' and 'Super-Unleaded' though it had no price next to it like the other two. I think its uncommon here too.

And for The Doctor yes this car had a 1.3 4k originally. It had a replacement engine due to the old one using lots of oil in 2002 and the 1.5 5k was fitted.

I will get a bunch of pictures and start a thread for it later on.

[hardtop]

they had "super" petrol in Australia, your old toyota could have been headed there i guess.

they had "super" and "standard" petrol, super would have been a higher octane leaded petrol, standard would have also been leaded, but lower in octane

[stevek]

We saw another petrol station selling 'Super LRP' so I guess that answers the question. Its Lead Replacement Petrol that commonly gets refered to as simply 'Super'.

[Hirst]

Yeah they take unleaded no problem, despite being a really old engine design.

Going off memory here, but I think Greek "Super" is regular 95 RON. The non-Super stuff is lower octane, probably 92 RON or something.

[ChasR]

Just check the ignition timing.

The 'B on stock timing would pink now and again on unleaded. Never pinked on Super on stock timing values.

[jrevillug]

I seem to recall that Super was the Greek equivalent of the UK's 4-star - high octane leaded. Super LRP would probably be the lead-free equivalent introduced after leaded was banned EU-wide on 1st Jan 2000.

I'm fairly sure that the normal unleaded there is 95 RON - I'm not aware of lower grades being available. And super unleaded is generally a higher octane rating than in the UK - 98 or 99 RON - due to the heat.

Sounds as though you shouldn't have any trouble running it on anything you can find though.

[goldenwonder]

It's a K series, so alloy head, hardened valve seats as standard & they'll run on almost anything!