Can a 4 cylinder engine take premium fuel / gas?

Question

Can that type of engine take premium gas without damaging the engine or any parts? 4cyl. 2.2L

Answer 1

Read your owner's manual for the reccomended fuel type. Contrary to popular belief, premium fuel will not make your car any more powerful. Premium fuel has a higher octane rating, meaning it is less "explosive" than lower octane rating fuel. Engines will high compression (high performance engines) or forced induction may need less explosive premium fuel to prevent detonation or pinging. If you car doesn't require premium, you are completely wasting money by putting it in your car.

Answer 2

lj1 has the best answer so far. Interlude has given some bad info.

As a general rule higher compression ratio engines benefit from higher octane. Premium fuel is premium only because of octane. All fuels have roughly the same set of detergents now, as they are regulated by government. Octane is defined as the ability of the fuel to avoid engine knock. So as a general rule if you are not knocking don't waste your money.

On the other hand, some engine control systems (computers) will exploit higher octane by advancing the spark until knock is heard by the knock sensor, which are pretty much installed on all modern cars. With the higher spark you get more peak torque and horsepower.

There is no particular trend where V6 or V8 engines have higher compression ratios than I4 engines, so your I4 may benefit.

As lj1 says check what your owners manual recommends. If it says premium fuel mandaory then use it. If it says "premium recommended" then you might get more torque and horsepower with higher octane. If it says "regular fuel" then I'd use regular octane (87 pump) unless you hear engine knock.

Where interlude went wrong was where he suggested it was harder to combust premium fuel. This is false. All levels of octane avaialble at the pump can be combusted equally well in your engine.
There is a trend where higher octane sold in the US tends to cause hesitation problems when cold in some cars because ethanol or other oxygenated additives are used as the octane booster. But the hesitation is due to reduced volatility, not due to lack of combustability.

Answer 3

Yeah, higher octane almost never actually hurts anything. But the number of cylinders has absolutely nothing to do with what fuel you use.

Some 4 cylinders call for premium, some call for regular. Check your owner's manual, or ask us again, this time specifying what year, make, model, and trim level your car is.

The only situation in which you really should use premium in a car that doesn't call for it is if you have preignition, and you want to keep driving the car. Otherwise, it's just a waste of money.

Answer 4

The manufacturer states in the owners manual what "grade" of gas to use in the car...in general (very general), it won't hurt any engine to run premium gas for like "one occasional tank full" just to clean the engine out. But be careful there, since premium gas is more highly refined, and usually burns hotter in each cylinder. This can sometimes cause a condition called "pre-detonation", before the intake valve fully closes...I would stick with the recommended grade, imply because it is what the engine was "engineered" to use...

Answer 5

The ONLY reason a engin will ever need premium fuel is if the engine is high preformance, which means it has high compression cylinders. If you know your engine is high compression then lower octain fuel will actually hurt your engine under a load, but if your engine isn't a high comression engine than it doesn't need higher octain fuel. The only thing putting high octain fuel in a lower compression engine will do is waste your money. Dispite what some may say about more power or better gas milage, it does almost completely nothing.

Answer 6

There is a possibility that your fuel has gone bad. If you store a car for extended periods of time, it's recommended that you put in a fuel stabilizer so that it is still usable when you crank the engine again. You can try to put some fresh fuel in the tank if there is any room in there and hope that it will mix enough to catch a spark. Also listen for the fuel pump. if you turn on the power but don't crank the engine, sometimes you may hear a faint whine of the fuel pump. You can usually hear it better if you are indoors with the doors open. check to see if fuel is making it to your injectors as well.

Answer 7

An engine with any number of cylinders can take premium gas. However, unless it is a high-compression engine, the higher price gas is a waste of money. Contrary to popular myth, premium gas does NOT increase your gas mileage.

Answer 8

Most cars CAN take premium, and will gain a little benefit, but it is not necessary. Premium is only necessary if your compression ration is too high for regular gasoline (or if you have a turbo or supercharger.) With regular gas, the ECU will retard your ignition to avoid pre-ignition (sometimes called knocking), but slightly more power can be made with the ignition timing advanced. The main benefit is that premium fuels do a better job keeping your fuel lines and injectors clean.

Answer 9

Not for very long.
Premium fuel has additives that cause the fuel to burn just a very little bit slower than regular fuel because engines that premium fuel is made for have a much higher compression ratio and longer stroke than a four cylinder.

Answer 10

premium fuel is needed for high compression combustion engines. for the most part, 4 cylinder engines don't need it. it wont do any harm but it wont increase your performance either. check your gas tanks lid. it should say what type of gas you should use. some engines don't produce enough pressure to effectively combust a higher octane gasoline. so it's best to stick with what your car recommends.