Yet Anudder Stupid Gas Thread

[Lou]

OK - I need to ask yet anudder stupid gas question.

The book says 91 octane which is not available at the pump in my area.
It's either 89 mid grade or 93 super.

What I've been doing is filling up one time with 93 octane and when it's half empty filling up again with 89 octane.

Does it average out to 91 octane in real life?!?!?:shake::shake:

[Zack]

Stupid Question :rofl:

[Local Boy]

Brutha...Do yourself, and your car a favor...Put 93*...

If you choose to continue your "arrangement"...Can I have first dibs on your rims when the motor goes Kaput?

Seriously, trying to save a little $$$ at the pump, may cost you BIG $$$ in the end...

Take care...

ALOHA

[CRUZTAKER]

Stupid Question :rofl:

Zack!

Comon man....:shake:

Someone else putting 89 in their MM and going wot one too many times means another person begging you for an engine replacement. :lol:


LOU, comon, I realize you are close to a master technician....but it is worth it?
Are you THAT cheap that saving $3.00 per fill up is that needfull?

If that is the case, you should have never bought a high performance v8, and need to sell it immediately and buy a Hayundai...you know,the one that supposedly looks like a jag for half the price, and runs on 87.

Tough love man...;)

[Raudermaster]

Follow what Local said! At least he's not using kerosene though!

[Bluerauder]

Are you THAT cheap that saving $3.00 per fill up is that needfull? ...;)

The savings is probably less than that. In this area, the difference between Sunoco 93 and 89 is only 10 cents per gallon. It's unlikely that you would save more than $1.70 to $1.80 on a max fill-up. At that rate, it would take you a very long time to cover the cost of an engine replacement.

This question appears to fall into the "Pennywise and Pound foolish" category. :o

[FordNut]

It's not as bad as these guys make out...

My wife's stock MM ran 87 octane for 60k miles. It started to develop a little bit of tip-in detonation and we had it de-carboned at Team Ford (I believe they used BG brand). We switched to 93 octane after that, but no permanent damage was done. The car now has 115k.

NOTE, this is a stock car, stock tune. If you have a performance tune, don't try it.

[1stMerc]

And for some of us, you never know when you might get the urge to romp on it, so why take the chance with the lesser octane.

As mentioned above you might be able to get away with if you stay stock tuned and spend the money to decarbon the engine periodically, ooops, there go the minimal savings of the lower octane.

[03blackvegas]

Remember the more expensive gas gets, the less it matters what the difference between the grades are. Just use the highest.

[FordNut]

I just ran the numbers. Assuming regular @ 2.90, premium @ 3.10, 20 mpg, 50k between de-carbonizing @ $200 it works out to a savings of about $400 over the 50k mi.

Now, consider that the de-carbonizing costs less than the $200 and it was more for reassurance rather than a necessity (just barely could hear it on very light throttle increases @ low rpm and I only did it because it was covered under warranty) the savings could be closer to $600 over the 50k mi period. Really not that much $, and some of these guys will be driving for several years before hitting 50k.

[Cordoba1]

Lou: Were you mixing gas grades because you thought you needed 91 Octane and that higher (or lower) octane fuel would cause harm? If so, that is not the case. You can fill up with 93 octane rated fuel all you want.

Incidentally, If I'm out "on the big road" on a road trip, and I know I'm going to be on cruise control for 350 miles, I'll sometimes throw in an occasional tank of regular. As I near my destination, I'll fill up on Premium.

[Lou]

Thanks for the feedback on my stupid question.

[Egon Spengler]

what does "WOT" mean? I see it alot and I still haven't deciphered what it means yet... I will probably kick my own ass when I see what it means!

[arejayesss]

Watch Out Toyotas mode

[fastblackmerc]

Wide Open Throttle

[UncleLar]

Lou,as long as you run 91,92,or 93 octane I think you're fine.I understood your first post and concern about running too high an octane rating
Our modern cars have knock sensors which are pretty sensitive and if we do run 87 like cordoba1 the spark advance and timing should adjust enough to prevent detonation as long as we don't lug the daylights out of the car.Personally I wouldn't do it unless that was the only gas I could get,but that's just me.
I've had 1998,2004,and 2005 Harley's in the past 4 years( and 6 or 7 more in the past 33) and heard guys on different Harley websites get near flaming one another over what octane to run. "Modern Harley's",(there's a paradox for ya) are air cooled engines that in stock tune are programmed to run lean as he!! and really HOT.I ran/run the highest octane available in mine without issues.Some Harley riders swear they run 87 others 91 and some like me run 93 or as close to it as they can get.
IMHO a couple of points higher octane rating isn't going to hurt anything and your ecm should ensure you're getting max timing and spark advance hence max performance and fuel economy.
Pending correction by an actual Ford/Harley engine design engineer that's my two cents. :type:

[Egon Spengler]

:lol:ohhh... see I knew I would kick my own ass for not know what WOT is!!!! What a moron!!!

[fastblackmerc]

Straight from the owners manual:

"Octane recommendations
Your vehicle is designed to use “Premium” unleaded gasoline with an (R+M)/2 octane rating of 91 or higher for optimum performance. The use of gasolines with lower octane ratings may degrade performance. The use of gasolines labeled as “Premium” in high altitude areas that are sold with octane ratings of less than 91 is not recommended. Do not be concerned if your engine sometimes knocks lightly. However, if it knocks heavily under most driving conditions while you are using fuel with the recommended octane rating, see your dealer or a qualified service technician to prevent any engine damage."

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Sounds like some of you guys should be driving crown vics w/ single exhausts...seriously, put 93 in it.

[mclum1]

Put the 93 Octane in....

Buy a performance tune from one of the supporting vendors, then even advance the timing a little, (2 degrees since you have 93 octane available, but ask your tuner vendor), and enjoy the awaken beast...... :burnout:

Thanks,
Mike

[mrjones]

The manual says "The use of gasolines with lower octane ratings may degrade performance." Wouldn't it say that the use of lower octane may destroy your engine and void your warranty if it were required to prevent engine damage? I know of at least one MM that had its engine destroyed by using regular in an engine with a tune on it.

Does anyone know of a stock engine that was damaged by running regular unleaded, and that the regular fuel was determined to be the cause of the failure?

I used to be driven nuts having to buy premium fuel for this car, and lots of times I didn't. Then I got a Lidio tune. I always use premium now, and it doesn't bother me as much!!

The scariest thing about buying regular fuel was the sticker inside the fuel door that said "Premium Fuel Only!"

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

The bigger question should be why someone is driving a Marauder, if they don't need, or want to pay for, performance. There are plenty of cars that run on 87 if you only need something to get you down the road.

[Cordoba1]

The bigger question should be why someone is driving a Marauder, if they don't need, or want to pay for, performance. There are plenty of cars that run on 87 if you only need something to get you down the road.

Sometimes cash is a little tight. If you're gonna run through just 1 tank of the cheap stuff and not go beyond about 3/4 throttle, no harm done.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Okay dokays