Monday
Jul122004
Does It Matter Which Gasoline Grade You Use?
Monday, July 12, 2004 at 09:55AM TIP OF THE DAY
DOES IT MATTER WHICH GASOLINE GRADE YOU USE?
- Gasoline Factors That Matter
- The quality of gasoline and the additive package usually affect the rate of engine wear more than the octane rating. Basically what this means is that it matters more where you buy your gas than which grade you purchase.
- The quality of gasoline and the additive package usually affect the rate of engine wear more than the octane rating. Basically what this means is that it matters more where you buy your gas than which grade you purchase.
- WHAT IF I PREFER TO USE GASOLINE WITH HIGHER OCTANE RATINGS?
- You can, but there are no real benefits, other than the gasoline manufacturers making more money off of you. When you use a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires, you can send this unburned fuel into the emissions system. It can also collect in the catalytic converter. When you over stress any system, it can malfunction or not do what it was designed to do properly. In the early 90's, an early warning symptom was a rotten egg smell from the tailpipe. Easy fix, go back to using regular 87 octane gasoline. The rude odor usually disappears after several tanks of gasoline.
- You can, but there are no real benefits, other than the gasoline manufacturers making more money off of you. When you use a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires, you can send this unburned fuel into the emissions system. It can also collect in the catalytic converter. When you over stress any system, it can malfunction or not do what it was designed to do properly. In the early 90's, an early warning symptom was a rotten egg smell from the tailpipe. Easy fix, go back to using regular 87 octane gasoline. The rude odor usually disappears after several tanks of gasoline.
- For most cars designed to run on regular, "you're not gaining one iota by putting premium in them. You're just wasting money," said Gabriel Shenhar, the senior auto test engineer and special publications program manager for Consumers' Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.
- A few vehicles may gain "marginally" increased engine power if they're filled with premium, he told The Blade, but "most people won't know the difference."
- According to the Federal Trade Commission, using an octane grade higher than recommended in a vehicle's operations manual "offers absolutely no benefit.
- "It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage, or run cleaner," according to the FTC's "Low-Down on High Octane Gasoline. "Your best bet: Listen to your owner's manual."
- The Magliozzi brothers note that unnecessarily high octane is widely believed to increase pollution from cars, rather than reduce it. The notion that "treating" a car to premium gas is "hogwash," they say.
- A few vehicles may gain "marginally" increased engine power if they're filled with premium, he told The Blade, but "most people won't know the difference."