Fuel , Do I Have A Real Choice?

[samuri]

Where I am Premium Bp unleaded fuel cost $1-80 with the other unleaded fuels $1-60 and the lowest octane at $1-50.

I am advised to run only the highest octane rating eg Bp Premium unleaded which I always do.

However my next trip will take me into areas where they dont have the premium brand.

Not sure how long I may be doing this either.

What advice can you give re running on a differetn fuel?

What possible damage may result?

What sort of mixture can I get away with, if any at all?

My skyline can run both but this car cant according to the specs. Why is that?

[Commsman]

I've heard of some guys running lower octane fuel when the other wasn't available and not had any problems.

If you car is fairly standard you could probably get away with it, especially if you drive it conservatively whilst using the lower spec fuel. Otherwise you could carry some bottles of octane booster and add those. However, I haven't had any experience with this so don't know how good they are or if any brand is better than another.

I had a skyline once that was perfectly happy on regular until I changed the exhaust. Then it just ran rough & farted & carried on unless on premium.

The VQ25DET engine is a highly specced engine, much more so than a tractor.

[Mangune]

I run 95 every blue moon no problems but also maybe I think you can bit octane boosters to add to you fuel when filling up may work for you.

[bigkevracer]

NF Octane Booster works well, the Black one. I used to sell this, and used it. Worked well. Also works well if you've got a leaded car, lets you run unleaded.

Where are you going? I thought I might struggle getting 98 on my drive home but everyone had it!

[Tmnt M35]

I was recently in country NSW and couldn't get the BP Ultimate 98 Ron (what i normally run on) or any other brand 98 Ron fuel

So had to go the standard Premium 95 Ron for couple of tanks

Didn't have any issues on it other than i could feel a bit of loss in my accelation power

and my engine didn't have as much of the throaty growl from the air intake on acceleration (Air filter inspection cover removed)

Even with the very limited Fuel staions there was still the option for the Standard Premium 95

if i didn't have that option would have definately been using the octance booster

[Old Gregg]

95 won't hurt your engine. Sometimes forced to run 95 with only minor reduction in economy if any thing. You won't notice power difference cruising on th highway imo.

While I haven't tried it have been told the ECU will also cope with 91 if stuck. You shouldn't find many places that don't atleast have 95. A lot of country Caltex have the 95 but no 98. Shell seem to have the 98 in country stations though not my fav fuel. (NSW)

Wouldn't waste money on octane booster - if you are thinking of using these, research the actual boost to octane you get for the $ - stuff all. That might change your mind.

[WAGON_BOY]

i was told i could just use 95 and have used it for the last 2 months without any drama's

[Daleo]

+1; Used 95 for nearly a year when I first bought mine, no issues at all, just doesn't go as fast.

[Bronx]

in my c34 i run that ethanol mix crap, that so called e10 91+, car works fine, only get about 370-400km on a tank but then again i drive pretty heavy. i have run 95, 98 and once 100 octane, all feels the same crap, on e10 no problems of missfiring, no smoke, no running rough, all works perfectly. if i run unleaded 91 no ethanol, it feels a bit choppy to drive though.

[bigkevracer]

Isn't 91 octane with 10% ethanol actually that 94 rated stuff?

I've almost always found a difference with fuels.

Caltex/Woolworths stuff none of my cars have been as happy on, and I've always found inferior fuel economy.

Shell I hardly use, however I did find on the drive from Sydney to Adelaide the tank of Shell 98 didn't give me as good economy as the BP 98.

BP Ultimate has been the best fuel I've used on previous cars, better economy and generally better behaviour from the cars.

The E10 blends have also been pretty good, and I've been very happy with the 100 octane E10 I've been using. Car feels snappier, economy I think is pretty good for how I drive it.

As for octane boost, it definitely works, but whether you need it or not is another matter. Get the right stuff and it works great as a lead additive/substitute if you've got an older car. Whether you need it or not is another question. Ben at Northshore told me to run mine on 98 when I bought it, but said push come to shove you could run it on 95 if you had to, but it wasn't recommended.

What I can't work out is why they'd bother stocking 95 in rural locations? Wouldn't they be better off with 98?

[lilcrash]

I have run 91 octain once and I advise against it severely. Pinging is not good for your engine

[iamhe77]

Maybe I am missing something, but why bother using 95 instead of 98?

Our cars definitely run better on the higher octane, so the only thing I can think of is the 4c saving between the two.

Why not just get Shell V-Power and hand over a Coles fuel docket to save the 4c per Litre (works out to be under $3 saving per tank lol)

99% of my fuel is V-Power as it is the most convenient stop for me, but Mobil 98 and BP 98 are both good too.

Haven't noticed any real difference with economy between the three (I used to use BP and Mobil all the time).

Vortex 98 on the other hand...

[Daleo]

Maybe I am missing something, but why bother using 95 instead of 98?

Our cars definitely run better on the higher octane, so the only thing I can think of is the 4c saving between the two.

Why not just get Shell V-Power and hand over a Coles fuel docket to save the 4c per Litre (works out to be under $3 saving per tank lol)

99% of my fuel is V-Power as it is the most convenient stop for me, but Mobil 98 and BP 98 are both good too.

Haven't noticed any real difference with economy between the three (I used to use BP and Mobil all the time).

Vortex 98 on the other hand...

Once I did the numbers on Km travelled per tank of fuel, V's price; I stopped using 95. The extra distance per litre negated the price difference.

[bigkevracer]

I don't get that either Cam. I know we have the fuel cycle etc, but really it usually equals less than $5 swing. I can't be bothered.

I've not used Mobil 98 because there are no nearby servos, and I only use Shell on trips if I have to, just because there are no servos near home. I usually just use what I know. I'm sure Shell is as good as BP Ultimate, I just don't use it for convenience. That and I'm loving the 100 octane

[iamhe77]

What are you using for 100 octane?

I was of the understanding that E10 is a 94+ octane fuel, which brand guarantees 100RON?

[bigkevracer]

In Adelaide, United to a 94 octane E10 and a 100 octane E10.

My understanding is the 94 octane is 91 octane unleaded + 10% ethanol, and the 100 octane is 95 or 98 octane unleaded + E10.

Been around for about a year now. I used to run my BMW on their 98 octane E10 and it loved it, now that they've got the 100 out I use that.

I've actually seen dyno sheets from saloon cars being tuned on Elf and the 98 E10, and they found that the 98 E10 gave them only 1 or 2 less kW over the $5+/L Elf, except that the 98 E10 was only about $1.20/L back then. Something about the ethanol content.

[Sage222]

liquid LPG injection system

lpg 104octane 57c

Propane 110 octane 57c

[iamhe77]

liquid LPG injection system

lpg 104octane 57c

Propane 110 octane 57c

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quit rubbing it in

[samuri]

NF Octane Booster works well, the Black one. I used to sell this, and used it. Worked well. Also works well if you've got a leaded car, lets you run unleaded.

Where are you going? I thought I might struggle getting 98 on my drive home but everyone had it!

Going Darwin to Brisbane.Last trip several places had run out.

[samuri]

Isn't 91 octane with 10% ethanol actually that 94 rated stuff?

I've almost always found a difference with fuels.

Caltex/Woolworths stuff none of my cars have been as happy on, and I've always found inferior fuel economy.

Shell I hardly use, however I did find on the drive from Sydney to Adelaide the tank of Shell 98 didn't give me as good economy as the BP 98.

BP Ultimate has been the best fuel I've used on previous cars, better economy and generally better behaviour from the cars.

The E10 blends have also been pretty good, and I've been very happy with the 100 octane E10 I've been using. Car feels snappier, economy I think is pretty good for how I drive it.

As for octane boost, it definitely works, but whether you need it or not is another matter. Get the right stuff and it works great as a lead additive/substitute if you've got an older car. Whether you need it or not is another question. Ben at Northshore told me to run mine on 98 when I bought it, but said push come to shove you could run it on 95 if you had to, but it wasn't recommended.

What I can't work out is why they'd bother stocking 95 in rural locations? Wouldn't they be better off with 98?

Big kev wrote

"Sydney to Adelaide the tank of Shell 98 didn't give me as good economy as the BP 98".

What litres per Km or km per 100km did you get with BP /shell?

Edited May 2, 2011 by samuri