Low on gas this morning (no bars) so I stopped on my way to work to fill up. I was at the 4 gallon mark when I realized I was putting regular unleaded in the Silver S2k. I said a few choice words, stopped the pump and drove down the street to a station that had a higher octane (93 octane) and finished filling up. Hopefully I didn't do any harm????? My plan is to run this fuel out ASAP.

Please don't flame me too bad. Our other cars all take regular. What was I thinking???? That's the problem, I wasn't.

Barry

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sh2k
[B]Low on gas this morning (no bars) so I stopped on my way to work to fill up.

 

The manual for my car says to use high octane (here it's 98 octane - different measuring system) but that it can if necessary also be driven on lower octane (regular = 95 octane here) if the higher octane is not available. I think what happens is basically that the engine electronics compensate and you will get poorer performance. You may also want to not drive too hard on this tank of gas as there is perhaps an increased risk of pinging. It shouldn't hurt anything though.

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[grey]2000 S2000 - 1998 VFR800 - 2000 Atos[/grey]

 

Don't worry, I almost did that myself yesterday when I was filling up. Fortunately, I caught myself before I actually pumped any gas. However, I've been under the impression that it's bad for the car to mix Octanes. In otherwords, if you put in the incorrect type of gas you should just run with it. As a matter of fact I believe it says in the Owner's Manual that the car will compensate for lower grades of fuel. So, next time you mess up (hopefully never)don't mix the fuels! I'm sure it's fine, though. Hey...you have 2 STOOKS??? Wow, that's a nice deal...

 

Bah, the car should be fine. High-performance cars don't LIKE low octane fuel, and yeah you might get a little pinging, but it'll be fine.

So long as the label on the pump didn't say "Diesel," it's all good.

 

It is not bad to mix octanes. That is exactly what the pump does for mid grade. It mixes (the industry calls this blending) the 87 and 91 to get 89.

For those that are concerned... rest assured that your 91-93 octane may have been blended as well. It is very common for a refined product trader to blend products in the storage tank long before they get to your gas station.

 

i'm sure its no big deal. the car will adjust this tank and you can refill with hi-octane the next tank. you may experience a little less perfomance, but itherwise, I am certain you'll be fine.

 

No harm/no foul!

 

You'll get a little poorer performance and you might notice some pinging. This happens in some other older cars that need the extra octane and don't get it. I used to get that in my old Pontiac LeMans. In my college days, money was tight to the point that sometimes I would fill up with the regular to save some cash. Pinging was only noticible going up hills or when I tried to really get on it (yeah right, not with that boat, but I still tried.)

Will it damage the engine? I'm not a motorhead, but I doubt that one tank will do any serious, permanent damage to the engine.

Run her dry, fill up with the high octane, drive easy for a little bit, and then blow out the engine on a long, straight safe road and have fun!

 

More than you'll ever want to know about the Octane rating on your pump (taken from my freshman chemistry book):

"In 1926, the two hydrocarbons heptane (boiling point 98.4