Recently my friend and I were driving around and needed to fill up on gas. I was curious as to what Super Unleaded would do for my car and she said not to use it. She claimed that Super Unleaded is only for bigger trucks and will ruin my engine. Needless to say, I'm a little confused as I've heard that even though most cars can go on Unleaded, Super is just the Rolls Royce, if you will, of gasoline. I've heard it's better for your car but not mandatory to use in most cases and that using it wouldn't be detrimental. I have two different opinions and am curious to which one is correct...
2007-04-26 06:57:58 · 7 answers · asked by Bodhi 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Super Unleaded will not do anything for your car. It will not hurt it either. The super only means that the octane rating is higher. It still has the same amount of energy per unit mass and is just as clean.
The higher octane is for higher compression engines. When the air fuel mixture in the engine is compressed the spark is supposed to ignite it. If the octane rating is not high enough the air/fuel mixture will ignite from the heat generated by compression. This is called "knocking". Your owners manual will tell you what to use. My guess is your car will need just 87 octane. Use that, but don't go lower.
2007-04-26 07:01:20 · answer #1 · answered by kdog 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It won't do anything for your car.
The Toyota Camry SE does not have a high compression engine in it so it won't do anything at all.
It won't ruin your engine by putting in the Super Unleaded, but it won't help your engine any either. So using it is not detrimental to your car, but will cost you a few cents more so you could say it would be detrimental to your wallet.
Let me explain...
The reason for requiring premium is because the engine is designed to be a performance engine. This usually means that the engine has a high compression to give your better performance and power. (The Camry doesn't have this, but believe it or not cars like the Nissan Maxima, Honda Odessey Mini Van do have high compression engines)
Higher compression also requires you get gasoline that does not pre-ignite, or believe it or not more resistant to spontaneous ignition. This means you'll need a higher octane (more resistant to ignition).
The lower the octane number, the easier the gasoline will ignite. Which means if you put lower octane in a high compression engine, you'll get something called pre-ignition or spontaneous ignition. This basically will generate a flame front that is at various points in the cylinder that is not at the location of the spark plug, where the desired igntion point is.
Usually pre-ignition occurs where the piston and cylinders meet. This means it will generate a flame front that is opposing the flame front from the spark plug when it ignites. (This will also cause loss of power)
When this occurs as the flame fronts meet (the ones from the cylinder walls due to pre-ignition, and the ones from the spark plug), you'll get a shock wave generated. The shock waves over time will cause piston and cylinder/head damage, typically seen as pitting.
What is normally heard from drivers is commonly described as pinging/knocking, and the damage that can occur.
Your car is fine on the regular stuff. Some vehicles such as the Honda Odessey and Nissan Maxima put knock sensors in to retard spark. This acutally starts the ignition process at a point less than optimal, but allow people who purchased those vehicles to use the cheap stuff too.
2007-04-26 07:02:21 · answer #2 · answered by hsueh010 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The "octane rating" of fuel is how completely it will burn. It also reacts to combustion temperature. Most cars are manufactured to perform on a minimum octane rating. If you are trying to increase performance with higher octane fuels you may not even notice any difference. The on-board computer is controlling the engine and may actually cause it to run worse with the Super Unleaded.
No real problem can be expected, just the higher price at the pump.
DO NOT TRY mixing octane boosters and other chemicals!
You may inadvertently cause major troubles........
2007-04-26 07:06:33 · answer #3 · answered by RICK C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It won't hurt your engine, but it doesn't do anything to improve the performance either. The higher octane gasolines are only for high-compression engines that require it to avoid "knocking". If your Camry runs well on regular gas, that's what you should use....gassing up with anything with a higher octane is just wasting money.
2007-04-26 07:04:57 · answer #4 · answered by Jolly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your friend is incorrect. I have a 03 Acura TL, and it is suggested by mfg to use min 92 octane (super, or some stations call it premium or ultimate) I would look in the car manual under fuel to see what the mfg suggests. Usually it list an octane number. 87 is regular, 89 is plus, 92-93 is premium.
2007-04-26 07:04:48 · answer #5 · answered by Mr. RN 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would not hurt your car but is not necessary either it has a higher octane rating. Octane does not combust as easily as heptane under high pressure and therefore high octane fuel is needed for cars with high compression engines like some Audi's, BMW's and Acura's(and many other high performance cars).
2007-04-26 07:10:42 · answer #6 · answered by mbar3 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a lot more science to it and it also has to do with the ignition timing of your car and the burn rate of different octane fuels but Kdog has the long and short of it correct.
I voted Kdogs answer best because for your points and purposes his info is right on target.
2007-04-26 07:09:24 · answer #7 · answered by Clint M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋