Motormouth: Do I really need premium gas?

Q: We have a 2015 Subaru Forester XL. The label on the gas cap “recommends” premium gas. Is it really that important to pay for premium?
— K.S., Aurora, Ill.

A: The key word here is “recommends.” Premium gas is not required, just recommended. For most motorists, regular gas is fine.

Q: What is the reason for not squeezing in extra fuel? I do it all the time, no problem that I know of.
— C.D., Chicago

A: There are a few reasons, but the biggest one is that you run the risk of introducing liquid fuel into the vapor storage charcoal canister. The canister’s job is to hold vapors from evaporating gasoline while the vehicle is parked preventing them from entering the atmosphere. When the engine is next run, the vapors are sucked in and burned. A flooded canister is costly to replace.

Q: I have a 2015, six-cylinder, four-wheel-drive, four-door, Toyota Tacoma. The manual says to change the plugs in three years or 36,000 miles. I have only 16,000 miles on it. Do I wait till it has 36,000 miles or do I change them because of it being past three years? No one at the dealership knows, for sure.
— R.M., Las Vegas, Nev.

A: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, a skipping CD or repeated rows of rumble strips, follow the guidelines in your owner’s manual. Change the spark plugs.

Q: I have a 2004 Toyota Camry with about 60,000 miles. My friend says that I need to change the transmission fluid, which he thinks is too dark. His mechanic also looked at my transmission fluid and said that I should have somebody change it. The shop that takes care of my oil changes said that I should not change it. In fact, they said changing it might not be a good thing to do. Why such opposing views?
— N.S., Hartford, Conn.

A: In the olden days, automatic transmission fluid used to be a pretty pink color and if it became dark or brownish, it needed replacement. A burnt odor was also a bad sign. Today, ATF darkens very quickly and darkness is no longer a bad sign. Like I said, follow your owner’s manual.

Q: When we drove our 2016 Toyota Camry XLE from Minnesota in November to our winter home in Florida, we changed the FM radio presets to reflect the local stations in the Fort Myers area. About a week later we noticed all the presets had changed back to the Minnesota stations. We changed them again and several weeks later some of them went back. In the last few weeks, we deleted preset #2 (93.7) – (by moving presets #3-7 up). A week later 93.7 was back in the #2 spot and the others had shifted down, and some Minnesota stations had reappeared! Any clue?
— B.M., Minneapolis

A: Your car is pining for home, much like a lost dog.

Q: I have a 2017 Toyota Rav4. I took it in to Toyota for front brakes a month or so ago. Since I got the car back the brakes now make a clicking sound – kind of like a baseball card in the spokes of a bicycle – whenever I hit the brakes. I had the car back to Toyota twice and they say nothing is wrong. They claim they took everything apart, not the pads or rotors. It didn’t do this before the brake job. Something is obviously wrong. Any ideas as to what they should be looking at?
— C.T., Chicago

A: There are four anti-rattle clips for the brake pads on each wheel, (part numbers 47716 and 47717). Perhaps they were not installed or the old clips were reused and are too weak to prevent the noise.

Bob Weber is a writer and mechanic who became an ASE-certified Master Automobile Technician in 1976. He maintains this status by seeking certification every five years. Weber’s work appears in professional trade magazines and other consumer publications. His writing also appears in automotive trade publications, Consumer Guide and Consumers Digest. Send questions along with name and town to motormouth.tribune@gmail.com.

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