Is it safe to run my car on super unleaded?

[ESDEEZ]

I only really fill up with super because A. It makes me feel better. And B. it says i should on the inside of my fuel filler flap. but is it safe to do so? plus it costs about £1 ($2 USD) per liter!

[A18A]

thats $7.40US a gallon :'( poor you guys

[MessyHonda]

thats $7.40US a gallon :'( poor you guys



outch....i finally saw some gas down to 2.95 a gal out in san jose.

[frantik]

yeah i filled up for 2.99/gal the other day :)

all 3geez is 87 octane right? you only need to put a higher one in if you get knocking or pinging

[MessyHonda]

yeah i filled up for 2.99/gal the other day :)

all 3geez is 87 octane right? you only need to put a higher one in if you get knocking or pinging



yeah i did a test tho since i drive alot. i put in arco 87 gas and it only gave me 280 to the tank. and then the next time i put in shell 87 and im on the half way mark with 180 miles...driving style is still the same with 4k shifts at somepoints. il put in another tank of shell and see what it really gets me.

[2oodoor]

He said his gas door told him to use premium...
what engine do you have in that car???

You can use a blend of premium and regular, if you use at least 30 percent or 4 gallons of premium (12 gal tank) , it will upgrade the whole tank. An no there is no such thing as midgrade.. although they sure seem to be selling it.

In general this works but different parts of the world, or even in the US, this may not always be as effective as it is here where I am in SE US. I am sure this is liable to spark debate, and I will say forefront it will be an unwinnable arguement due to the infiinate amount of variables.
So by saying "In General" I mean that in as rural way as possible. Mixing the fuel that way has given me the desired results consistantly, but there are locations that have premium gas with improper blends of toulene or xylene that may not have an ideal concentration to be able to raise the octane of the present fuel it is added to.

[DBMaster]

Do some ressearch on line. Here is the short version. Buying gasoline that has a higher octane rating than that which keeps your engine from pinging is a complete waste of your money. You WILL NOT get better gas mileage from higher octane gas - lower, in fact, and you WILL NOT have more horsepower - less, in fact. Part of the issue is that pump "octane" is not the same thing as the actual chemical octane in the fuel. Also, gasoline manufacturers have sold us a bill of goods for so long that we actually believe it.

[2oodoor]

Do some ressearch on line. Here is the short version. Buying gasoline that has a higher octane rating than that which keeps your engine from pinging is a complete waste of your money. You WILL NOT get better gas mileage from higher octane gas - lower, in fact, and you WILL NOT have more horsepower - less, in fact. Part of the issue is that pump "octane" is not the same thing as the actual chemical octane in the fuel. Also, gasoline manufacturers have sold us a bill of goods for so long that we actually believe it.
goes on to prove you cant believe everything you read on the internet, or the F'n news... no offense DBMaster but what you say is only half true, as what I said. You cant really count on that to alway hold true depending on the type vehicle, environment, driving habits, and fuel composition. I have had cars that seemed to drink premium way too fast and sipped on regular.. then also I had the opposite. Running premium allows you to tweak your engine with more advance thus giving you max torque at an earlier point, some of us have to if we have higher compression and carbs that are tuned to dump gas.
Pump octane rating is likely much different from one region to the next. It still has to fall into the mandated range. but use an example of alcohol, you can have 90 proof vodka at 20 percent per volume , and up to 40+ percent, still 90 proof. Those figures I am sure are not completley accurate but close you see my point?

[paso100]

Is it safe to run my car on super unleaded?

No, it is not safe. It will cause irreparable harm ... to your wallet.

[bobafett]

Do some ressearch on line. Here is the short version. Buying gasoline that has a higher octane rating than that which keeps your engine from pinging is a complete waste of your money. You WILL NOT get better gas mileage from higher octane gas - lower, in fact, and you WILL NOT have more horsepower - less, in fact. Part of the issue is that pump "octane" is not the same thing as the actual chemical octane in the fuel. Also, gasoline manufacturers have sold us a bill of goods for so long that we actually believe it.

on a 3g yes this is probably true, but on some cars that is definitely not the case. and my 3g needs premium or else i DO get lots of knock. no detectable difference in performance, but i know my motor is happier without the ping ping ping. :D

ie most high compression or boosted cars cannot burn 87 octane without getting too much predetonation (knock) which can kill an engine pretty quickly. in order to combat that you use a fuel with a higher octane rating that is actually harder to ignite and that will delay the fuel combustion to the appropriate time in the combustion cycle.

on cars with computer controlled timing the ECU will usually retard the timing heavily to prevent this engine destroying knock. the result of bad gas is poor performance because your timing is not set to the proper amount of advance...

am I way off here, because this is the way I have always understood it.

if you DONT need higher octane gas, you are wasting your money, but if you DO get pinging and don't want to retard your timing, better gas CAN save your engine.

IMHO...

[mike10562004]

im a true believer of throwing the money down the drain lol the bp knows my normal lol

$20.00 of 93 octane super unleaded
and an octain booster so im runing bout 96 octain my engine loves it but not my wallet but hey im 16 with money to blow wont be able to say that when im in nti =-/ anyways best of luck


93-94 is well worth it if u have the extra $

also next oil change
usehttp://www.amsoil.com/images/amsoillogo_iso1.gif


then ur engine will be ready to make out with ya lol jk i change my ams oil every 1500 miles a lil over kill i guess but i rev the f/*/ out of her =-/

its recomended to change amsoil every 7500 miles

its the shizz

[ryan2107]

i seen as low as gas here as 2.79 in buena park

[mike10562004]

2.86 =-/

[2drSE-i]

2.57 here buaahaha

[ESDEEZ]

ill post a pic of the fuel filler................I've got an a20a4 by the way.....:ugh:

[Hauntd ca3]

What to look for at the gassy is the MON number on the pump.
This stands for minimum octane number. The higher the better.
You wont make better power or better economy but the safety margin before dentonation is greater. It almost true that it is harder to burn. The higher the number the more resistant it is to abnormal ignition or pinging to most people.
As a mechanic i have seen many engines that should run pulp running on regular. It almost always results in Cracked heads,pistons,broken rings and at wosrt case i have seen a snaped crank. The forces generated when an engine pings is better than ten times the force of regular combustion.
And no motor manufacturer builds an engine that will put up with that for long.
So in other words, put the best that you can afford if your engine is modded.
If not ring your local honda dealer and ask what the factory reccommends.
In NZ they reccommend 96 octane for the b20a and all twin cams and vtec motors and 91 for the rest.

[mike10562004]

yaya just broke 3.29 wtf

f* iran

[Ichiban]

Do some ressearch on line. Here is the short version. Buying gasoline that has a higher octane rating than that which keeps your engine from pinging is a complete waste of your money. You WILL NOT get better gas mileage from higher octane gas - lower, in fact, and you WILL NOT have more horsepower - less, in fact. Part of the issue is that pump "octane" is not the same thing as the actual chemical octane in the fuel. Also, gasoline manufacturers have sold us a bill of goods for so long that we actually believe it.

Some people have a pretty twisted idea of what octane actually does. The above statement is totally correct. Low octane fuels have big molecules that have lots of bonds, and hence, lots of energy (breaking apart a bond releases energy). But being a big molecule, they are easier to break apart and more unstable. What does this mean to you? Low octane fuels are more unstable and like to detonate under compression. High octane fuels are more volatile, have less energy due to their smaller molecules, and resist detonation as their smaller molecules are more stable.

So why do race cars demand high octane, less powerful fuel?

Because with it they can pack in more fuel/air into a cylinder, or compress that mixture further to improve the burn without risking engine destroying detonation.

That's right: The increase in compression more than offsets the loss of power caused by running the less powerful high octane fuel.

The moral of the story: Run the lowest octane your engine compression, boost and timing will allow. Using higher octane than you need will waste fuel, and reduce power.

Oh, and one more thing. Higher octane fuels ARE more "flammable" The smaller molecules are more prone to forming a vapour, and will IGNITE more easily, but under compression they are less prone to DETONATE, due to the chemical stability of the smaller molecule.

Oddly enough, some vehicles with carburetion problems will run slightly better on high octane fuel because of it's ability to form a vapour more easily.

Somebody should sticky this because it's a question asked over and over again.