Gas
03-22-2008, 06:37 PM
#1
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Gas
So, sorry if this quesiton has been answered before...
But, my friend's Grandfather has worked for a oil and gas his entire life. To make a long story short, he said that unless you are taking your car to the track, the use of regular gas rather than premium in street car makes hardly any difference whatsoever.
With gas price skyrocketing, has anyone been using regular? Or has anyone heard of the story above? I know the S is a high performance engine etc. and regular gas will be slightly more dirty, but... can it really make much a difference? Whats the short term harm? The long term?
But, my friend's Grandfather has worked for a oil and gas his entire life. To make a long story short, he said that unless you are taking your car to the track, the use of regular gas rather than premium in street car makes hardly any difference whatsoever.
With gas price skyrocketing, has anyone been using regular? Or has anyone heard of the story above? I know the S is a high performance engine etc. and regular gas will be slightly more dirty, but... can it really make much a difference? Whats the short term harm? The long term?
03-22-2008, 07:05 PM
#2
Lower octane gas will cause detonation which should be picked up by the knock sensor which should cause the ECU to retard the timing... if all works the timing change will stop the knock but reduce power. If it doesn't work as designed you just damage the engine.
If you can't afford premium gas just trade it off for something that takes regular.
If you can't afford premium gas just trade it off for something that takes regular.
03-22-2008, 07:11 PM
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rule of thumb is that you should use the lowest octane that you can run without detonation. on an s2000 this would be premium, but on a majority of cars 87/89 unleaded is suffice. FYI, octane rating has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the fuel.
03-22-2008, 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted by DDuds2k,Mar 22 2008, 06:37 PM
So, sorry if this quesiton has been answered before...
But, my friend's Grandfather has worked for a oil and gas his entire life. To make a long story short, he said that unless you are taking your car to the track, the use of regular gas rather than premium in street car makes hardly any difference whatsoever.
With gas price skyrocketing, has anyone been using regular? Or has anyone heard of the story above? I know the S is a high performance engine etc. and regular gas will be slightly more dirty, but... can it really make much a difference? Whats the short term harm? The long term?
But, my friend's Grandfather has worked for a oil and gas his entire life. To make a long story short, he said that unless you are taking your car to the track, the use of regular gas rather than premium in street car makes hardly any difference whatsoever.
With gas price skyrocketing, has anyone been using regular? Or has anyone heard of the story above? I know the S is a high performance engine etc. and regular gas will be slightly more dirty, but... can it really make much a difference? Whats the short term harm? The long term?
If you use regular gas, and the ecu retards timing, you could end up using more fuel...so your plan for saving money is futile.
03-22-2008, 08:52 PM
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My wife's acura MDX "requires" premium, but we use mid grade. I figure, for one, it isn't a "performance" engine and two, its a gas hog. On the "S" it doesn't do too bad on gas, the tank is so small and gas is so damn expensive already, I don't care about the extra two bucks to fill it with premium, and it is a high compression highly tuned engine. I wouldn't fill it with anything else but premium. Also, why would I buy a performance car and worry about using super unleaded. If that was the case I would have bought a Civic.
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03-23-2008, 05:25 AM
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So, has anyone ever done a gas mileage test on all of the different octanes or you just pulling the better gas mileage on premium out of your A$$??
I just finished with a tank of 87 in my '04, it produced 314 miles from the tank that comes out to around 24 mpg(all city driving).
I have now filled up with 89 octane and will give the results when this tank is gone...same style of driving.
Of course this is based off my style of driving, each person will have different results. I'm sure someone is going to argue this...as these people are on every board.
I just finished with a tank of 87 in my '04, it produced 314 miles from the tank that comes out to around 24 mpg(all city driving).
I have now filled up with 89 octane and will give the results when this tank is gone...same style of driving.
Of course this is based off my style of driving, each person will have different results. I'm sure someone is going to argue this...as these people are on every board.
03-23-2008, 07:04 AM
#10
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I don't get why people are always looking for a way to skimp out of something and be cheap and save a penny or two. Use what is recommended and leave it at that. I use 93 always. Usually don't have 91 by me and going down to regular will raise the chance of detonation.