Crickets are...gone?

[smg1138]

Has anybody tried running ethanol free gas to see if it makes a difference? There's a Phillips 66 station near my house that has ethanol free 93 octane. It's quite a bit more expensive though, so I haven't tried it yet.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by smg1138

Has anybody tried running ethanol free gas to see if it makes a difference? There's a Phillips 66 station near my house that has ethanol free 93 octane. It's quite a bit more expensive though, so I haven't tried it yet.

Yes, most people report mixed but mostly successful results with a reduction in chirping noise.

It is very rare in some areas though. Don't use boat gas or aviation fuel, those are held to different standards than the fuel this car was designed to.

[SpeedyJay]

My crickets only come out when the engine is hot, I use Shell 91 (which is ethanol free here in Canada) and I've only used Shell since day 1. They are not as bad as others cases I've heard though original pump 3000km

[Khazzy]

Originally Posted by Vincenttam

main crickets cause is low octane gas. Most of us getting it is using 91 which is the highest we can get within the 100 mile radius of our location. No suprise you don't have it with your 93.

Pure speculation just as my ethanol speculation. I have always used 91 non ethanol in my car at 11k miles, never any crickets other than the one time driving to Michigan from Omaha, I had to fill up with 93/10%Ethanol. And that was on my way back, ran that tank out and filled back up with 91, never heard again. This was also in August, pretty hot in the mid west.

[mad_sb]

Hopefully everyone is aware these cars have two idle modes. The engine will idle on port injectors only until certain conditions are met, and then switch over to DI only idle. The crickets only show up when idling on DI, not port. Most of the time, once up to operating temps you will switch over to DI only idle mode, but there are times it does not happen when you think it should.

I'm working on forcing open loop idle (idles on port only when in open loop) so i don't have to listen to them anymore. So much quieter and smoother idle on port only compared to DI, even when the DI's are not making the cricket noise.

[YDNA]

pretty sure the cause of it is probably the radio or your exhaust/headers. if you hear the crickets louder than any of those two, then there's something wrong with how you listen to your music or your exhaust aint loud enough

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by YDNA

pretty sure the cause of it is probably the radio or your exhaust/headers. if you hear the crickets louder than any of those two, then there's something wrong with how you listen to your music or your exhaust aint loud enough

Some people prefer running with a stock exhaust. The radio covers the noise well, but sometimes I like to cruise with the windows down and the radio off.

[P@ul]

I have had crickets since day one when I bought the car in SoCal. I don't remember, but they went away a while ago. I'm at a little over 20k miles now. *shrugs* I don't pay much attention to which gas company I use and I haven't noticed any difference in the noise. Original fuel pump, no changes to the green dot. *shrugs*

[Slow_86]

I did hear them when i was around 450 miles. Now around 850 and havent heard them again yet. Bought the car used so im not sure what kind of gas was put in there before i picked it up.

Been using 91 100% from Shell for the last three fill ups so we'll see if they come back.

[Photonic]

Originally Posted by Tromatic

What does octane have to do with the noise? It's just another fluid to the pump.

Curious about this myself.

However ...here is my theory, based on the reports that "Ethanol content" is relative to cricket noise.

See with ethanol being UPTO 10 % ...at most pumps now. This means you can start out with lower quality gasolene ..

IE your 87 may actually be 82 octane ... add 10% ethanol , thin the mixture ..it is now stable enough under pressure to be equal to 87 octane and it can legally be discribed as such.

Ethanol will always be more expensive ... but in the case of 93 at the pump I believe since higher quality gas is used, and it cannot exceed 10% ethanol ..there is less ethanol percentage on the 93 and 91 grades. IE it still has a higher grade of gasolene from the get go, which means less ethanol is needed to meet Octane requirements.

More Ethanol = thinner mixture which means more pump activity to achieve the proper ratio of power output per cycle .... more fuel vs air. And this can cause cavitation or even outgassing of the fluid under high heat and make it noisier due to the fact it is thinner.

This causes the crickets ...

I just theorize that Higher grade fuels use less ethanol (As you cannot false advertise right?? sinc you cannot go OVER the stated 10% ethanol ..clearly 93 has less ethanol, and begins with a higher grade of gasolene.

[evan]

The crickets are part of the character of the car now. It's like an inside joke..

Eat your vegetables..

[cycleboy]

My crickets have come out of hibernation recently and are chirping away.

Must be getting to be the spring mating season!

[SliverBrz]

after the internal parts of the pump rubbed itself to shit the sound disappeared

or atleast thats what i think lol

[kiichiro]

Originally Posted by SliverBrz

after the internal parts of the pump rubbed itself to shit the sound disappeared

or atleast thats what i think lol

No noise on corn juice