HELP! WRONG GAS IN CAR

[was385]

Originally Posted by J_kennington

I guess I'm screwed, since in the south we only have 91. However, 91 is perfectly fine for the car. Will not cause issues, will not cause less power. It's still a very high octane fuel.

87 is not gonna void the warranty, and honestly doubt would cause any damage. Remember, cars are a lot smarter than you think.

Yes! The amount of misinformation on this subject is astonishing. These aren't 30 year old cars. I assure you they are idiot-proofed against people accidentally putting in 87 gas. One tank is going to do absolutely nothing and will not void your warranty. They wouldn't even be able to tell you had put 87 in.

[fantah]

You'll be fine. On the other hand, putting in octane wouldn't hurt. The best thing to do though is get 93+ octane leaded and then you'd be detonation free! and illegal, and make wonderful friends with the green people

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by CSI:86

I agree. buts it weird that i pinged on 95RON/91. Maybe it was because i redlined every single traffic light. Has anyone else had issues with 91 in their car, and redllining it frequently?

Nope. 91 is the only stuff available out here, and it's ONLY E10 due to EPA regs. ACN91 is what we call it (Arizona/California/Nevada 91 octane), and it's some of the crappiest 91 octane gas around. It's utterly despised crap.

But I've never heard it cause my engine to ping. Not even before I got the engine ECUTek tuned to run on 91. Of course it runs better now with the tune than the stock tune (since the IAM isn't regularly dropping to .7 or .8 any more), but even before then, I didn't hear anything bad.

These engines have to be able to run reasonably well on 91, as it's the best stuff aside from expensive 100 octane race gas or e85 (if tuned for it) that we can get. The car is tuned for 93, but with allowances for 91 b/c of certain idiotic regs in certain states like CA, which supply much of the gas to AZ.

I'd like to run 93, but it's probably not that much of an improvement now that I'm already custom tuned.

But putting 87 regularly in these cars is a BAD idea. Just b/c the engine can compensate doesn't mean it's okay. The engine pulling timing like it will on 87 isn't "auto-tuning", but more like "last ditch failsafe" that is used to save the engine from undergoing serious damage. Sure you won't notice except maybe a slight HP loss, but unbeknownst to you the ECU is working to keep the pistons from melting. It's repeatedly pulling timing as every time it tries to return to normal, it gets knock. No you won't soon blow up the engine, but it's not healthy for the engine in the long run.

A single tank of the stuff won't hurt it in the long run if you're careful while it's in the tank, but running it long term is NOT good. Run what is specified or get tuned for alternative fuels (such as 100 octane race gas or E85). Do NOT run the a 91/93 tune on anything but 91 or better in the long run.

[MTeator]

I've never ran into another FRS driver at the gas station and see them putting in anything other than 87. Then you see the lady in a Camry putting in 93 because it's "premium." Clearly gas is confusing.

[SirBrass]

If you've never seen an 86 owner put in anything other than 87, then instead of something like a "spotted" card to develop a local 86 community, the card should instead say "RTFM! You don't drive an economy vehicle. Use the correct gas!".

And I think Subaru would absolutely deny the warranty claim on an engine failure due to detonation if 87 was consistently used in the car. Same as they'd deny a warranty claim due to a failure of the oil to lubricate if something other than SAE 0W-20 was used. The car's power train is warrantied for normal use under with the provided fluid specifications:

93 octane or higher (91 octane acceptable),
SAE 0W-20 engine oil
SAE 75W-90 GL4 transmission oil
SAE 75W-90 GL5 rear differential oil

Violate those at your risk. The car may run fine in certain circumstances if you deviate from those, but don't expect a warranty claim to be accepted if you do and there is a failure in that component due to that deviation from spec (just like if you modded your car and there was a failure that was related to that modification).

[Ammonia]

Guys its been 10 months, I'm sure the OP has resolved this issue

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by fantah

You'll be fine. On the other hand, putting in octane wouldn't hurt. The best thing to do though is get 93+ octane leaded and then you'd be detonation free! and illegal, and make wonderful friends with the green people

Leaded gas will kill your cat, at bare minimum. Don't be an idiot and give out advice like this, someone will listen.

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by DoomsdayJesus

Leaded gas will kill your cat, at bare minimum. Don't be an idiot and give out advice like this, someone will listen.

If that's all it will do, then whoop-de-do. On the other hand, if it will cause far more problems then that, then agreed: don't go leaded! Again, fluid spec issue if there's a warranty claim.

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by SirBrass

If that's all it will do, then whoop-de-do. On the other hand, if it will cause far more problems then that, then agreed: don't go leaded! Again, fluid spec issue if there's a warranty claim.

Leaded gas won't really cause any other issues...but it would destroy the cat by clogging it.


Ever seen a car with a clogged cat? You'll be lucky if it idles

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by Poodles

Leaded gas won't really cause any other issues...but it would destroy the cat by clogging it.


Ever seen a car with a clogged cat? You'll be lucky if it idles

I haven't even heard of leaded gas being offered anywhere (except some industrial diesel applications) since the 70s.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by SirBrass

If that's all it will do, then whoop-de-do. On the other hand, if it will cause far more problems then that, then agreed: don't go leaded! Again, fluid spec issue if there's a warranty claim.

Catalytic converters aren't cheap. Clogged ones kill everything.

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

I haven't even heard of leaded gas being offered anywhere (except some industrial diesel applications) since the 70s.

a lot of AVGAS has low lead still. Not a lot, but you can easily find 100LL or 110LL at most airports.

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by Poodles

Leaded gas won't really cause any other issues...but it would destroy the cat by clogging it.


Ever seen a car with a clogged cat? You'll be lucky if it idles

Ah, clogged. Thought it'd just destroy it, not gum it up. My bad.

On phone I am. Therefore, if mistakes I make, Frank Oz blame you should.

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by DoomsdayJesus

a lot of AVGAS has low lead still. Not a lot, but you can easily find 100LL or 110LL at most airports.

Yeah, but again, I haven't seen alot of my buddies headed to the airport to top off their tanks with jet fuel.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

Yeah, but again, I haven't seen alot of my buddies headed to the airport to top off their tanks with jet fuel.

Yeah, Jet fuel isn't great for cars. It's one of those idiotic things people who don't know engines say, since jets are fast their fuel must make your car go faster.

http://jalopnik.com/5938552/why-you-...el-in-your-car