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Do you follow your Car manual fuel recommendations?

R

Remobz

Platinum Member
Hey,

My 2003 Mazda Tribute 3.0 V6 manual says that I should use regular unleaded fuel.


But seriously, would using Premium or that new shell v-power fuel damage my vehicle in the long run? How could it be that bad I wonder?

Do you guys always follow to the letter what fuel the manual recommends?
 
I only use the gas station they recommend and carry a case of octane booster in the trunk in case I have to fill up at a station with less than the required octane rating.
 
Remobz said:
Hey,

My 2003 Mazda Tribute 3.0 V6 manual says that I should use regular unleaded fuel.


But seriously, would using Premium or that new shell v-power fuel damage my vehicle in the long run? How could it be that bad I wonder?

Do you guys always follow to the letter what fuel the manual recommends?
Click to expand...

A higher octane fuel will do absolutely nothing for you. The engine is tuned to regular, premium won't do a thing.
 
Running higher octane fuel will not damage your car/truck.

All internal combustion engines have the potential detonate (knock or ping). This happens when the fuel ignites before the spark plug fires. This can cause damage to the engine over time. Lower octane fuel will detonate before a higher octane fuel. The recommended octane rating for a car/truck is the minimum safe octane you can run without causing detonation.

Modern cars/trucks are equipped with knock sensors. If detonation is detected, the ECU will retard ignition timing to prevent the detonation. This will also lower power and performance, but it protects the engine from damage.

If you live in a place with extreme temps (100+...Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc), your car may ping/knock using the recommended octane, because heat can also contribute to denotation. Running an higher octane in these conditions may result in better ("better" meaning normal) performance, because the ECU isn't retarding timing to prevent detonation. Each car is different and results are not guaranteed.

Some (but not many) cars will advance the timing and provide more power and performance if you run a higher octane fuel. If you don't have a car that can do this, running a higher than recommended octane is a waste of money.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/regular-or-premium-test-results-page-2
 
It shouldn't make a difference, but quality of fuel varies greatly depending on local legislation, etc.

This can be a problem in the US, where fuel quality is typically very poor. Regulations about aromatic and olefin contents, as well as restrictions about vapor pressures, can be troublesome.

This is particularly the case with ethanol blended fuels, especially those using "california reformulated blendstock". These fuels, especially at high octane levels, can have problematic vapor pressures.

A number of manufacturers, for example toyota, do not recommend the use of "premium" fuels in certain engine types for this reason. Some variants of the prius have a warning in the users manual not to use premium fuel, because it may cause problems with engine starting, especially in cold weather.

Top tier fuels are not necessarily much better, because the top tier specification bans the use of organometallic octane boosters, and therefore requires heavier use of olefin or aromatic blendstocks and their low volatilities.
 
Greenman said:
A higher octane fuel will do absolutely nothing for you. The engine is tuned to regular, premium won't do a thing.
Click to expand...


^ This.

Read up on the definition of Octane. Octane is a detonation retardant which means it reduces the chance that the fuel will detonate before it's supposed to. That's why high compression engines require high octane since regular fuel would detonate before the spark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Just use a top tier fuel and you'll be fine. I stick to Shell regular or Chevron regular where I live (in a car that is made to run on regular 87).
 
Fuel quality
If you are experiencing starting, rough idle or hesitation driveability
problems during a cold start, try a different brand of “Regular” unleaded
gasoline. “Premium” unleaded gasoline is not recommended (particularly
in the United States) because it may cause these problems to become
more pronounced.
Click to expand...

Back in those days, Ford generally said not to use premium in it's engines set up for regular.
 
I use 93 and the car is tuned on 93. Stock tune you could get away with cali piss 91. Think the owners manual recommends 93 actually.
 
I can't wait to get a car where it supposedly matters so I can try both.

I'm fine with retarded timing. I don't need the last 13/228hp the 328i provides
 
As the others have said, the only thing high octane gasoline does is prevent knocking in high compression engines. The higher the number, the more the fuel can be compressed before detonating prematurely. It does absolutely nothing to improve performance or keep your engine cleaner.

If the manual says 87 octane, same your money and just buy regular.
 
If your car calls for regular, stick with regular unless your car is older/carboned up and it runs poorly on premium. I've worked on cars that were suppose to put regular but the owner insisted on using premium and it ran poorly. After switching to regular, the car ran much better. Premium fuel is harder to combust so if the car is low compression already, it makes no sense to go with premium. As for the other way around, some cars are borderline knocking on premium (running to the limit) while others can get away with regular if you drive it lightly or if the atmospheric conditions, humidity, ambient temperature, load etc. are such that they're conducive to running regular... So high altitude, high humidity, low temperature and light load could easily be enough to mean the difference between a car almost knocking on premium and running well on 87.
 
Shell says that all of their fuels has the same amount of detergents as their other grades. It's true though that there is a difference between a top tier fuel like Shell or Chevron and the other mom and pop shit that is sold...
 
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