Does low octane fule affect my car performance?

Question

Does it affects the life of my motor or fuel system?

Answer 1

Nope. Doesn't matter one bit except in high-performance engines.

However, one thing that WILL affect your car is mixing grades. So, if you decide to grade up or grade down, make sure your tank is pretty low when you do.

Answer 2

Basic answer is this:
If the car is supposed to have premium than yes.
If it is set to run on basic unleaded than no
These guidelines are listed in the owners manual of on the gas tank door.

Now if you modify a car that uses 87 then it may require 91. But factory ignition and fuel systems do not benefit from higher than stock octane. MPG can actually decrees.

Higher octane is only used to prevent detonation, the act of the fuel burning before the spark plug ignites it. =Very harmfull for motor.

Higher octane can also be used to increase performance when ignition is advanced, heat is very high, a turbo / supercharger is added, or if the motor is rebuilt with higher compression.

Hope that helps,
KC

Answer 3

Agreeing with Nate. If the minimum octane is 87 and you use 87, you should not notice any difference. Using 91 octane would only lighten your wallet more.

But if your car's minimum octane was 91, and you used 87, then the knock sensor would detect pinging and would retard the timing. Then you will notice a drop in horsepower. An engine with a higher minimum octane rating probably has higher compression. This makes it necessary to use higher octane gas to prevent detonation which could damage the engine.

One exception is for high altitude. You can use lower octane in higher altitudes. If you lived above, say, 4000ft elevation and your car's minimum was 87, and you used 85 octane, then you'd still be fine.

On a side note, using spark plugs that are too hot (rated heat transfer from the center electrode to the threads) can also cause knocking.

Answer 4

If you have a vehicle designed for high octane, then you need to use that fuel. Not using will adversely affect your cars performance.

The few cents you save by using cheap grades will come back to cost you more in the long run.

If your car is designed for a low grade of gas, using higher octane will not give you any benefit and might make performance worse.

Answer 5

The octane rating is a measure of the autoignition resistance of gasoline and other fuels used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines. It's a measure of anti-detonation of a gasoline or fuel.

Octane is measured relative to a mixture of isooctane and n-heptane. An 87-octane gasoline, for example, has the same octane rating as a mixture of 87 vol-% isooctane and 13 vol-% n-heptane. It simply means that it has the same autoignition resistance as the described mixture.

The most common type of octane rating worldwide is the Research Octane Number (RON). RON is determined by running the fuel through a specific test engine with a variable compression ratio under controlled conditions, and comparing these results with those for mixtures of isooctane and n-heptane.

So basically, if the manufacturer recommends you use 87 octane fuel, use it. The engines compression ratio is designed to burn that amount of octane in the fuel.

Answer 6

No if your engine was designed for it, it won't effect your gas mileage either. If your car was designed for 87 octane then use 87, if it was designed for 89 or 91/92 then use that. Use what the manufacturer suggests. The only exception may be that you can use lower octane in a higher octane engine in an emergency if that is all that is available for some reason but be gentle on the engine. But just stick to the manufacturer's suggestion.

Answer 7

Whatever the manufacturer recommends is fine. Increasing your octane will not increase your fuel mileage or even your power. If your car is designed to run on 87 and you add 92, you're simply wasting money.

If your engine is experiencing knocking or pinging (pre-detonation) then you can try increasing the octane rating of your fuel one step and see if that solves the problem. If it does not, go up one more step.

Pinging and knocking can indicate other problems such as incorrect ignition timing, carbon deposits in your combustion chambers or an overheating problem.

Answer 8

Depends on the octane rating and the rating your car requires. Check your owner's manual for the octane rating required for your car.
Using a gasoline with too low an octane rating will cause knocking in the engine and can result in internal damage. If you notice your engine knocking, kick up to the next higher octane gas. It may cost you more to fill up, but it's cheaper than a new engine.

Answer 9

Octane is further to gasoline to retard the value of burn interior the cylinder for this reason removing pre-ignition or "spark knock" as that's frequently observed. decrease octane has a greater acceptable potential content cloth than greater octane gasoline. In a be conscious it may impression your motor vehicle's overall performance. Too low and the gasoline ignites uncontrolled and could reason a soften down of the engine. Too extreme octane and you're in basic terms overspending for gasoline that may not income every physique however the gasoline agency. In automobiles that the engine nevertheless has a distributor, fill the gasoline tank with the grade gasoline you opt to function on, then strengthen the distributor timing till you get spark knock on acceleration, in spite of this it off till not greater spark knock and shield the lock nut. Your timing is now set.

Answer 10

that depends on what sort of engine you have...older ones need more octane to run well... to be cheap about it...I guess you would be OK using the lowest octane gas that will keep you from having that pre-ignition knocking sound...this is a bad thing, and it leads to all sorts of piston, and head damage...not right away, but eventually.