Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

[2DRBRD]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

For owner and service manuals: http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage...enUS295&q=helm

[Welker]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

For what it's worth there are many who say that regular is fine near sea level and the higher you go the greater the need for higher octane. We are a mile high and must use premium(the pinging is clear) but a lot of people living in Phoenix at 2000 ft say regular is fine and have always used it,mixing in a tank of premium once in a while.

[007Cruiser]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

You'll also notice a difference if you need to climb some mountains,

[Bird03]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

I know some of you are not going to like this but I have always used regular gas in my 2002. The car runs great and I have never heard any pinging. We have 40,000 miles on the car. Perhaps, I will be sorry at some point. I will let you know.

That's fine Ron. To each his own, but you may not like the fact that you are probably spending the same amount of money on gas as the people that use mid-grade and, if you like pedal-to-the-metal acceleration, you may be spending the same as the people that use premium.

That is because when the knock sensors detect the possibility of knocking (highly likely due to low octane) they tell the fuel injection to increase the fuel mixture to prevent the knock. This causes your miles per gallon to go down. Under heavy acceleration, the extra amount of fuel used to prevent the knocking is at its highest.

I do think that the fuel management system can compensate for the lower octane and prevent harm to the engine. I occasionally use mid-grade when they seem to be gouging on the premium, but I don't use regular at all due to the miles per gallon issue.

[02LeeBird]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

I used regular a few times when I had my 02 Bird and found the acceleration to be very poor to the point of actually losing power. Went back to premium and have used nothing else since. No more problems passing when hitting the gas.....

[ShadowDragon]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

Ditto. If it doesn't knock, I don't use anything higher than needed, haven't noticed any performance difference either way either, of course the 02 is my slow car to begin with.

[texasbird]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

I'm surprised some enthusiasts haven't chimed in yet with the proclamation that you must only use Chevron Premium gas because the Techron additive is thought to be better than what the other gasoline brands use.
James

[Welker]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

James, I used to work for Texaco and they had a story as fabulously false as anybody. I wouldn't put heating oil or Mazola in the car but relying on any oil company in the world for truth is a stretch. The car runs on gasoline, not brand, regardless of the oil company claims. Just complaining about the state of things.

[crshann]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

My two cents. We have an 02. Mid grade works fine, no pinging, no acceleration problems and there is only about a ten cent per gallon difference in price between that and regular. Premium on the other hand generally is about twenty five and in some cases thirty cents more per gallon than regular. We can still get 26 mpg on the highway and 19 to 20 mpg in town with mid grade. I'll take it.

[HKS]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

Now I am confused again. I heard that you need lower octane in the mountains since the atmosphere is thinner and therefore you have lower compresion. And that was backed up by the fact that you can get 85 octane in the western states and not in the midwest.

Maybe someone can help me out here. Like I said, I need help here.

HKS

For what it's worth there are many who say that regular is fine near sea level and the higher you go the greater the need for higher octane. We are a mile high and must use premium(the pinging is clear) but a lot of people living in Phoenix at 2000 ft say regular is fine and have always used it,mixing in a tank of premium once in a while.

[Welker]

Re: Just bought it...No owner's manual..Question about fuel

Hey H, there are stats on how many horsepower units are lost per 1000 feet elevation unless the engine is turbocharged. Regularly aspirated engines do need higher octane to keep from pinging at higher elevations but engines do vary and some do fine at both sea level and in the mountains. Mine does fine in Phoenix but pings like the devil in Prescott.