Is gasoline REALLY all the same???????

585 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Playdrv4me, Jun 3, 2007

realrapbc

Discussion Starter · Jun 2, 2007

I have been wondering this question for a long time and it is .....

Is premium and unleaded just a PHSYCOLOGICAL (i think i spelled it right) TRICK by the government???

Because my dads 2003 jag xj8 needs premium but he puts regular gas in and it runs just fine and it's been 2 years now and he still has not put premium back in.

But i'm wondering because i have a 96 caddy deville and i need premium so it would be great if i could save money on gas.

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Jonas McFeely

· #2 · Jun 2, 2007

No,its not a trick. Some cars really do need premium. Some cars will "ping" if they require premium and you use regular. The premium burns at a higher temp which come engines require. My dads MX-6 V6 will act funny without premium.

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c5 rv

· #3 · Jun 3, 2007

There's octane rating and top tier status.

http://www.toptiergas.com/

Supposedly, if you use top tier fuel, you won't need to do regular cleanings on the throttle bodies.

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illumina

· #4 · Jun 3, 2007

realrapbc said:
I have been wondering this question for a long time and it is .....

Is premium and unleaded just a PHSYCOLOGICAL (i think i spelled it right) TRICK by the government???

Because my dads 2003 jag xj8 needs premium but he puts regular gas in and it runs just fine and it's been 2 years now and he still has not put premium back in.

But i'm wondering because i have a 96 caddy deville and i need premium so it would be great if i could save money on gas.

Most cars of newer years can run on regular due to knock sensors and such. If your dad is running 87 octane, the ECM likely detects it and retards the spark advance in the Jag. However, the Jag will likely run better (not saying it isn't) with the 91 - higher octanes, but should be fine with the fuel he puts in it.

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Kev

· #5 · Jun 3, 2007

Mike! Good to see you post. It's been a long time it seems. How are you doing buddy? :wavehi:

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behind-bars

· #6 · Jun 3, 2007

Yeah as Illumina said most newer cars , probably mid 90s and newer have knock sensors, if they detect knocks they will retard the timing till they stop. My 93 deville has no knock sensor, and believe me you can tell if its got 87 octane in it cause it sounds terrible.

A 96 deville should have a knock sensor, You may be able to run 87 octane at reduced performance and possibly worse economy

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illumina

· #7 · Jun 3, 2007

Kev said:
Mike! Good to see you post. It's been a long time it seems. How are you doing buddy? :wavehi:

I'm alright, just putting up with some God-aweful politics at work that's preventing me from getting a full promotion...

If you haven't noticed under my auto ownership, I also traded my '89 Deville in for a '98 Buick Regal, which I actually enjoy driving every time I get behind the wheel, so thats good...

You?

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Ranger

· #8 · Jun 3, 2007

Octane is nothing more than the fuels ability to resist detonation (knocking), nothing more. It does not burn cleaner, faster, slower, hotter or cooler, nor will it reduce TB cleaning. Carbon build up on the TB comes from EGR and PCV gases. The Northstar has a very effective knock sensor so you can easily burn regular. I did it on my '97 for years and never noticed the difference. If you are going to race it, use premium.

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Kev

· #9 · Jun 3, 2007

illumina said:
I'm alright, just putting up with some God-aweful politics at work that's preventing me from getting a full promotion...

If you haven't noticed under my auto ownership, I also traded my '89 Deville in for a '98 Buick Regal, which I actually enjoy driving every time I get behind the wheel, so thats good...

You?

I'm good. Best day of my life so far. I closed my business just over a year ago, you probably remember. Since then have worked for 4 different contractors in various capacities from basic Journeyman to Project Foreman and Detailer. My last job started out as a 2 week gutter job just before Christmas, it stretched out till 2 weeks ago. That one was interesting, 1R14 at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. Worked the night shift through the outage. 7/12's

Bought another 'fixer-upper' just before Thanks Giving last year. More room, more land. Lots of yard work!

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Playdrv4me

· #10 · Jun 3, 2007 (Edited)

Ranger said:
Octane is nothing more than the fuels ability to resist detonation (knocking), nothing more. It does not burn cleaner, faster, slower, hotter or cooler, nor will it reduce TB cleaning. Carbon build up on the TB comes from EGR and PCV gases. The Northstar has a very effective knock sensor so you can easily burn regular. I did it on my '97 for years and never noticed the difference. If you are going to race it, use premium.

Pretty much spot-on.

The only thing I have to add to this is that Ive learned that if you have a vehicle that REQUIRES and not just RECOMMENDS Premium fuel, and you plan on keeping this vehicle for the long haul, you should probably use what it asks for.

The reasoning for that is because detonation, ANY detonation, even the little bit before the knock sensor kicks it back, is NOT good. Its like little explosions happening rapidly on the top end of your motor... you dont want that. If you keep a car for 2 or 3 years, no biggie, but if your going to keep it along time, you could experience performance degradation or engine damage over many years.

If you have a vehicle that has tuning software readily available for it though, you can just set your tune the way you want it and retard the timing manually and permanently. When you do that, you can run whatever gas you want at the price of a little performance of course.

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