mcdanjw

I drove from Austin to Taos, New Mexico yesterday, and from about half way here, the HIGHEST octane fuel I could find was 90.

The car seems to be running fine, but is this going to cause any problems? Do I need to buy some octane booster?

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

If it's just for one tank you should be OK... people have reported knocking and slight performance decreases using below 92 octane, but you only filled up half a tank. Once you fill up switch back to whatever you were using and you should be fine!!

jimcol711

it will not cause any problems whatsoever.....to cause any real problems youd have to run 87 octane for like 30,000 miles and then you would notice a problem....90 is just fine

EdgarFanCLS

If it's just this one time I don't think you'll need to worry too much, especially if you don't hear any pinging. If you want to be safe, mix in some higher octane gas when you get the chance. In the meantime, you may notice less performance.

Chrisbert

You should be OK shorterm. Octane is a rating on fuel's propensity to detonate under compression. A rating of 100 means you can squeeze the crap out of it before it detonates; while 0 means it may detonate if you stomped in a puddle of it.

Your car will retard the timing if it senses pre-detonation.

ShadyUpInSmoke

Only your ego!

scl23

the higher the octane, the lower the engine "knock," sort of like premature ejaculation of the engine. knock is when it prematurely combusts and the timing of the engine is off. 100 octane means 0 knock, and on down. obviously, 92 and 87 isn't that far off but the engine efficiency and gas mileage suffers since the gas isn't combusting fully.

mattg

i've ran plus before a few times and my car has never knocked

CO-CL-S

Our car alters the timing if it detects pre-ignition. You will not have any porblems. You will probably notice a slightly lower MPG. YMMV

EdgarFanCLS

:wackit: :wackit: :wackit:

Smitty02CLs

Me too, all I run is plus, doesn't make a damn bit a difference. fuck paying for 93oct, plus my car is lease so I really don't give a shit. My friend has a 2002 TLS, all he runs is regular 87, no prob's even with that.

CO-CL-S

You might find the loss of MPG overcomes the lower cost of the gas. Sure wish somebody would do a study on that (hit all you college kids!).

Smitty02CLs

impossible, you would have to drive the exact same speed, same rpm, etc. Plus , if you could find a difference, I bet $1 that it wouldn't be close to significant

EricL

I'm suprised. There are folks in CA runing 91-octane with pinging that goes away with a few gallons of 100-octane.

BTW, if 93-octane were available at the pump at my local station, I'd use that in lieu of the 91 I get (and I don't ping). I do notice a difference between 91 and 93 octane. The octane difference and values is based on the mix ratio as defined on 76's "mix-in" tables (on the 76.com web site) and I’ve measured a difference in acceleration. (Hey, I’m in CA, so who knows about your area)

As a note: you can get it trouble for selling 87 as 91, and you might find that some of the 87-octane is better than the pump designation suggests...

$0.02

EricL

Also, consider that you need less octane at high altitudes and low temperatures...