Regular or Premium Gas?

Question

If you put regular unleaded gas in a car that says premium unleaded only, what will happen? Fireworks, explosions, clunking or nothing?

The car REQUIRES premium.

Answer 1

Something called "knocking" will result if you use regular in a car that the manual says needs premium. Knocking is the premature detonation of the gas/air mix by the piston compressing it, before the spark plug can ignite it. This will cause engine damage if it occurs long term. Premium gas has higher octane which prevents knocking, which is its ONLY benefit.

Answer 2

Premium gases- only difference is octane rating, higher octane rating means the gasoline will ignite at the right time, if your engine requires premium and you use regular, the gasoline will ignite Too Early before the spark plug fires and this is detonation, premature ignition, piston is still going up when this occurs and fights the exploding fuel mixture which is trying to force the piston down, this will eventually cause the engine to go bye-bye. Sounds pretty good ha, it may not be right, search Engine Detonation, Pinging, Octane #No's etc.

Check your manual for the octane #number your engine requires and stay with the cheapest gas you can find at or above that octane #number, its on the pump

Answer 3

High performance, high compression cars often require premium. With computers controlling the engine nowadays, a premium drinking engine will most likely operate at reduced performance and efficiency. Sometimes, emergency situations might require using regular. If possible use the middle octane level. Older cars requiring Super don't like regular, and will cough, buck and stall....this can result in burned valves and cylinders from from the irregular detonation of lower grade fuel.
Stick to what the manufacturer says pertaining to fuel and maintenance.
When in doubt, ask your service representative. The "savings" you think you're getting using lower octane, will not equal what repairing or replacing an engine damaged internally will cost.

Answer 4

If your car manufacturer says to run premium only, then only run premium. That's the drawback to some of the import cars today but on the upside, you're getting a getter grade of gasoline. If the engine in your car is designed to run on higher octane, i.e. compression ratio and such, then you may end up doing slight damage to your valves, pistons, piston rings or cylinders. Over a period of time, I honestly don't know how much damage it would do, but at the expense of replacing/rebuilding an engine, well I think I would do as the manufacturer states for that car. Good Luck!!!

Answer 5

Regular in the car and the truck.
Premium in the Sport Bike and the Cruiser.

If it says you need preimium, you should use premium.

Oh yeah, I forgot the why part. In a sport bike it's easier to here. Ping and knocking in the heads. Sounds like little firecrackers or bearings in the engine. esp at high RPM. But then again I am sitting 6" over the engine.

As far as what it sounds like in a car, Same thing I think. I noticed a difference in my truck when I used 93 Octance a while back, when it was cheap...COUGH!

Answer 6

Regular unleaded should work fine, and to keep your engine and piston rings clean, buy some RXP. You can find it at Autozone, O'reilleys, and most other shops like them. Put the RXP in your gas tank and it will actually burn off the carbon buildup in your cylinders and off the piston rings. You will feel an immediate boost to your acceleration and your engine will appreciate the "clean out" that most of our inferior gas is doing to your engine.
try at least 1 bottle per tank and do it for atleast 3 tanks; Then cut back to 1 bottle for every 3 tanks - try it in your lawn mowers or other gas powered engines it is the greatest!

Answer 7

I was just reading an article about this 10 minutes ago. Read your owners manual. If it says "Premium Gas REQUIRED" than you're SOL because you can cause a lot of damage to your engine. If it says it is recommended, than try going with the mid-grade stuff and see if you get a huge drop in MPG. If not, you should be good. If you're driving a sports car, you're probably going to get REQUIRED. IF you're driving a luxery car thats not sports tuned, i.e. BMW 3-series sedan, you should be good for the mid grade for a little bit.

Answer 8

You may get some spark knock ( pinging noise). If you do try the next grade of gas till it quits. I try to run the lowest grade my car will burn but I use a tank of premium ever once and awhile. I think premium has some alcohol or methanol in it. These alcohols will azeotrope (chemically bond) with the condensate in your tank so your engine will burn it. I think it also helps keep the injectors clean.

Answer 9

Why premium unleaded only? Thats one picky car.
Regular works in almost all cars except those with wierd engines and exceptionally strict oil requirements.

Answer 10

If the car requires premium, putting regular in will lead to detonation (pinging). Detonation will destroy your engine in the long run.

However, putting premium in a car that doesn't need it accomplishes nothing (and actually reduces mileage a little bit, premium doesn't burn as well as regular, that's actually what makes it premium).