Do you want regular or premium?

[msethhunter]

I’ve tried a few times with Shell’s 91 in my Corvettes in the past. Different stations. Ping bonanza no matter what. Chevron or 76 no matter what. So ingrained at this point, I even put it in rental cars.

Mine seems to only like Shell.

 

[TheRobSJ]

Anyways. If your vehicle says “91 recommend” then sure you can probably get away with 87 if you’re being cheap. As long as you don’t hear any audible pinging, then it’s fine. The computer is doing its job. There is probably some pinging starting, but the knock sensor is picking it up, and the computer is retarding timing to compensate. Sure you lose a bit of power and efficiency when this happens, but you can get away with 87.

Now. If your vehicle says “91 required” then you really ought to just put in premium. This label tends to be on very high performance vehicles where the engineers with sitting around a table and discussing “what cheap fucker would pay $75k for a M3 and then put the cheapest gas in it?” The ability of the computer to compensate for pinging can only go so far. When it can’t overcome it and pinging occurs for extended lengths of time, say hello to burned valves and other costly forms of major engine damage.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me. I have customers at Acura who brag to me that they think they know better than the engineers and they have been getting away with 87 for years. Nooo. Not really. What they’ve been doing is restricting performance for years. A new Acura MDX and Honda Pilot have mechanically identical engines. Same compression ratio. Yet the Honda has 20hp less than the Acura. The Honda’s computer is tuned for 87 octane. The Acura for 91. The Acura says 91 recommend on the fuel door. But you can probably get away with 87. The computer with just pull out timing and reduce power. So now you essentially have a Honda Pilot that you paid an extra $10k to buy. Smart money I’d say.

 

[TheRobSJ]

Mine seems to only like Shell.

Lol. Go figure.

 

[250mL]

My high compression (19.5:1) vehicles seem to like 45+ Cetane.

 

[Abacinator]

I recently recommended a customer to switch from shell to chevron. Her hard starting problem went away.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

:wtf I have put tons of LoName including a small percentage of Arco(*). However.. premium.... never problems. Anyone wanna link a video with 'pinging'?

BTW valve cover had failed. Seems like it happens > 100K miles. Is it related? I guess if my service advisor weren't a little bit curt, he'd tell me what gas to put.. they definitely got a lot of money for the work.. ...

 

[madsen203]

Costco Premium anyone?

My car falls under a "recommended" for premium. Definitely noticeable when it had regular once or twice.

I only top it off with Chevron when I'm leaving town and I have at least half a tank.

I think the big thing whether it is a top tier fuel/detergent and if they are a high volume/newer (tank) station.

I used to use shell but I effin hate those TV's on the gas pump.

 

[Blankpage]

My car and bike both recommend/require premium. For the car I'll get gas almost anywhere, for the bike only Chevron. Yet I'm not buying that there's really a difference. Not everything I do makes sense.

 

[littlebeast]

howler spits gas back at me like a colicky infant. i feel like i have to practically give him a BJ every time we fuel up. temperamental motherfucker. growlie was the same.

 

[Junkie]

What's the typical cost for a garage to do that?

Having a shop pull the head and mill it is going to be expensive, but this was about manufacturers and new engines.

I doubt milling another .015 off the heads, in a production environment where they're already being milled (to make sure they're flat), would reach double digit dollars.

 

[Mike95060]

howler spits gas back at me like a colicky infant. i feel like i have to practically give him a BJ every time we fuel up. temperamental motherfucker. growlie was the same.

wait wut?

 

[SM610]

wait wut?

She has names for her vehicles, and apparently provides services for them in order that they behave as intended. Sound legit to me! I had a few motorcycles that might have responded to such things, but my catholic upbringing got in the way without a formal marrage.

:teeth

 

[bpw]

Having a shop pull the head and mill it is going to be expensive, but this was about manufacturers and new engines.

I doubt milling another .015 off the heads, in a production environment where they're already being milled (to make sure they're flat), would reach double digit dollars.

I really doubt they are going to just mill the heads a bit more, this would get phased in as entirely new motors are designed to take advantage of higher compression ratios and different gas formulations.

Re-tooling isn't really a cost since they do it anyways every time a new motor comes out.

 

[Kornholio]

Bike manual says 89...I put in 89. Truck manual says 87 (even though it's turbocharged) I put in 87. I ran 91 in my truck for a couple cycles just to see if it'd make any difference in perceivable performance as well as MPGs...it didn't. I went back to 87 and have stuck with that ever since. No reason to piss away more money than is necessary.

 

[Climber]

Cracks me up, all of the people over the years that I've run across who put in the highest octane fuel, despite it being higher than their car needed, because they were convinced it was better quality fuel and would keep their engines and injector's cleaner and extend the life of their engine. :rofl

 

[Charles R]

Iirc, the reduction in California from premium's 92oct rating to 91oct was because they couldn't keep up with the production that would allow the higher number. They talked about the increased number of cars at that time that required premium as a factor that required the reduction. It was something about the "purity" that was required to produce the 92 level.

I can imagine just what would happen if all cars started to require the "extra purified" fuel.... $10.00/gal anyone?

 

[Eldritch]

howler spits gas back at me like a colicky infant. i feel like i have to practically give him a BJ every time we fuel up. temperamental motherfucker. growlie was the same.

 

[250mL]

Iirc, the reduction in California from premium's 92oct rating to 91oct was because they couldn't keep up with the production that would allow the higher number. They talked about the increased number of cars at that time that required premium as a factor that required the reduction. It was something about the "purity" that was required to produce the 92 level.

I can imagine just what would happen if all cars started to require the "extra purified" fuel.... $10.00/gal anyone?

Something similar happened with diesel formulation and pricing. The switch to the low-sulfur diesel began the change from diesel always being lower in price versus gasoline (all seasons), to the pricing we have now (lower than 87 in summer, equal to 91 in winter).

 

[msethhunter]

:dunno

Lol. Go figure.

:dunno

 

[TheRobSJ]

I remember years ago when I got my RC51, the sticker on the tank said 93 octane. I, living in CA, said well this is kind of a shitty deal here.

A couple times I put half a tank of 100 octane in just to see if I could feel a difference. And maybe placebo...but I swear that think felt like it had just a little more power than normal.