New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - Should you run "regular" gas or "premium" in a WS6?

So I went to fill up my New Ws6 today after leaving the DMV (Tags and all) When i noticed I was filling up with regular gas...... Now i'm not sure how stupid of a question this is but I'll ask anyway.

Should I run premium gas instead of regular becase its a WS6?
What gas do you all run? I'm interested to know..... :nod:

Yes you want to run "premium" highest octane you can get at the pump. Not because its a ws6, because of the compression of the ls1 engine.

LS1s were designed to run optimally on 91 or higher octane. Yes, they can be run on lower octane, as there is a low octane spark table for the PCM to initiate if needed, but best performance will be achieved with premium fuel.

dont beat on it until you put premium back in it.

Thanks guys, I feel like an idiot now... but at leas I know and I can make sure I fix it from here on out.

Alo as a FYI, if the car has had the Tune modified, some times, more often then not tuners will remove or make the LOW Oct tables and High Octane tables one and in the same which means it does not have the ability to drop down and you could damage the motor.

So be aware of your car.

The worst part is you will have bad gas mileage on the lower octane... I average 24~25mpg between fillups on 93 octane... I drop to 20~21 with 89 octane.

run premium, it recommends it for our cars.

As stated above, run premium gas in our cars -- especially if you're car has been modded and tuned.

Highest you can get. Mine gets 93.

The worst part is you will have bad gas mileage on the lower octane... I average 24~25mpg between fillups on 93 octane... I drop to 20~21 with 89 octane.

I've noticed the same thing. A long time ago I was low on cash and filled up with 89 octane. I always reset my trip and calculate my gas milage every fill up. Running the 89 hurt my gas milage to the point where it would've been cheaper to just get the 93 octane up front.

What if your car is tuned and you run 97-104 octane? Would it run just as good on 93 or better?

93 Octane Shell only for me.

I've noticed the same thing. A long time ago I was low on cash and filled up with 89 octane. I always reset my trip and calculate my gas milage every fill up. Running the 89 hurt my gas milage to the point where it would've been cheaper to just get the 93 octane up front.

Yep, I run 300miles a week all year long... it's definitely noticeable.

93 over here!!!

For anyone in CA. Try to find a station that carries 100 octane and mix it with the 91. I try to get it close to 94 or 95. Costs more at the pump but MPG is better and my car thanks me for it. Give it a try and decide for yourself.

What if your car is tuned and you run 97-104 octane? Would it run just as good on 93 or better?

If the car was tuned for 97+ octane, then it probably will not run better with 93.

However, if the car was tuned on 93 octane, then you aren't helping anything by running 97-104, and will probably notice better performance with the 93.

i run 91 or 93 (i notice it runs better with 91) always. If you cant afford a few extra bucks every time you fill your car then this is the wrong car for you.

From the owners manual it sounds like running low or mid grade is just fine? :engarde: It certainly doesn't sound like it would cause damage to the engine?
http://shbox.com/pdf/2001firebird.pdf

http://i39.tinypic.com/dcpdx.png

Not saying you should run regular, but it shouldn't cause any damage?

Just go premium unless your broke - then do reg but stay out of it if you do.

From the owners manual it sounds like running low or mid grade is just fine? :engarde: It certainly doesn't sound like it would cause damage to the engine?

Not saying you should run regular, but it shouldn't cause any damage?

It won't cause damage on a stock tune.

93 Octane Shell only for me.
same here
If you cant afford a few extra bucks every time you fill your car then this is the wrong car for you.
x2

Im scared to run anything through mine that isnt 93. I also put the TCW-3 oil in the tank..one ounce for every 5 gallons. For anyone who doesnt know, there is a whole thread about it on another site. Been doing it for a year now..

My motors only at a 8.9:1 ratio so I could easily run regular gas in it. Unfortunately I'm too worried about getting into boost so I stick with premium up to about 14PSI. After that 110 keeps me safe.

Wow thanks for the response from everyone I will be sure to start running 93 ASAP, I feel stupid for not thinking about it before i filled up but then again it was the first time I filled up the new car. So considering that its a 2001 T/A WS6 totally stock do you think it will hurt it any? I wish I could empty it out and just go put 93 in it right now. lol

It won't hurt anything but performance (marginal) and gas mileage. I ran a 13.1 @ 108 bone stock with 89 in the tank.

You could always run to AutoZone or something and buy some Octane Boost and pour it in there.

You could always run to AutoZone or something and buy some Octane Boost and pour it in there.

Now that we are on this topic.... The WS6 is a weeked toy / Hobby for me, If i'm on my way to autozone, what other small things do you all recommend that I could do with it sitting in the garage most of the time?

Mine gets driven about once a month MAYBE. Unless it is sitting for long periods of time, you really dont need anything. Mine sat through a good bit of winter, even though we didnt have much of one this year. LOL. Only thing I needed was a battery tender to keep the battery warm because when it came time to crank up, it was a fail. But if you drive it on the weekends, you should be OK.

Awesome, Thanks for the advice. I live in Florida so I think that my battery should stay warm. haha
Im being a little over careful because I want to make sure I do all I can to take care of the car. I'm 19 years old and dont want to be the idiot kid who messes up his dream car. lol

Oh yeah you dont need anything..lol. Im so anal about my car it is unreal. There has to be absolutely 0% chance of rain for me to get it out. Even 10% is too high! lol. Plus i took her in for a $275 detail job and she looks damn near perfect. They were able to take all scratches and swirl marks out. Its a black car so it made an absolute world of difference

Wow thats awesome, mine is Pewter... I still would love to get a great detail job like that..... I will have to search around and see what is near my town. And on that point of rain.... I totally agree with you 0%-6% is ok for me. LOL

I havent pumped a gallon of premium in I dont know how long. My cars run fine

I'll test this premium thing. I'll calculate my mpg when this tank is up, it is 87. Then i'll fill back up with 91 and see if it makes a difference.

Yeah, I am going to do the same and see how the performance changes =D

I only use Bp gold witch is 91 oct in my region it use to be 92 oct man I want to try that v power in my car so bad I don't have a shell gas station in my area dam it

I think im going to go with shell here.

I only run 93 because that's the most common "premium" in my area. There's a place that has 92 but I don't like how it feels - I can't quite explain it but the car doesn't seem to like it.

Is 87 regular 89 midgrade and 91 premium just a California thing?

Is 87 regular 89 midgrade and 91 premium just a California thing?

87 regular and 89 midgrade are nationwide as far as I know.

But premium can be 91, 92 and/or 93 octane depending on where you live. Some places used to sell 94 as a normal premium pump gas as well.

My thoughts, why buy a performance car, just to degrade the performance. If you don't have the money for premium gas you really shouldn't be driving a performance car.

^ this.. /thread

I like to think of it this way,
It really only cost me ~$3 more to fill up with 93 than 87. I can afford an extra $3, especially since I'll get better gas mileage with the higher octane

I like to think of it this way,
It really only cost me ~$3 more to fill up with 93 than 87. I can afford an extra $3, especially since I'll get better gas mileage with the higher octane

Touche'!!!

My thoughts, why buy a performance car, just to degrade the performance. If you don't have the money for premium gas you really shouldn't be driving a performance car.

Agreed. I only run 93. I never see 91 available anyways at least not in jville

My thoughts, why buy a performance car, just to degrade the performance. If you don't have the money for premium gas you really shouldn't be driving a performance car.

I like to think of it this way,
It really only cost me ~$3 more to fill up with 93 than 87. I can afford an extra $3, especially since I'll get better gas mileage with the higher octane

Both of these... It's really not a big different to fill at most an extra 5 dollars which is easily lost if you put in the lower octane and get worse mileage.

The worst part is you will have bad gas mileage on the lower octane... I average 24~25mpg between fillups on 93 octane... I drop to 20~21 with 89 octane.


+1. i tried to run 89 one time. Man did the gas gauge move quick. Also, just didn't feel right. If you can find someone with 91-93 with NO ethanol it helps too. The non ethanol gas is just so much better here. Not only with my car, but my truck as well. ATV's everything. It makes a difference.

How about e85?

How about e85?

Don't even know what it is. lol

So what say you about Shell gas 93? thats what I think im going with from now on.

yea shell v power or bp gold is the best for our f-bodys i would use shell v power as well but i dont have one in desmoines ia i wish thay would put a shell here

yea shell v power or bp gold is the best for our f-bodys i would use shell v power as well but i dont have one in desmoines ia i wish thay would put a shell here

Alright thanks for that. Now I just have to drive my WS6 enough to empty the tank so that I can fill her up with V Powered.

I havent pumped a gallon of premium in I dont know how long. My cars run fine

Does it?? Or has you CPU pulled timing to make up for that cheap gas? Those knock sensors under your intake are there for a reason. In your case when you do descide to run 93 octane again you better pull the battery lead off for a couple of minutes so it can relearn its spark tables.

My thoughts, why buy a performance car, just to degrade the performance. If you don't have the money for premium gas you really shouldn't be driving a performance car.

Worst case you would save a little over $100 every 10k miles using 87 vs 91, but that math only works if you are getting the same gas mileage with both. If your gas mileage drops 2mpg it would be CHEAPER to run the 91, which is why I have no idea why so many people are too dumb to realize that there is NO gain to running 87 over 91 on a car that's made for 91. You can't say it's too expensive, because more likely than not your going to see at least a 2mpg drop with the piss fuel, making it more expensive than 91. This has nothing to do with the power drop you will see which only makes it that much worse to run 87.

Does it?? Or has you CPU pulled timing to make up for that cheap gas? Those knock sensors under your intake are there for a reason. In your case when you do descide to run 93 octane again you better pull the battery lead off for a couple of minutes so it can relearn its spark tables.

Yes sir, perfect. That extra 3 horsepower you gain from better fuel makes me no difference sitting in traffic on the way to work, if Im going to the track its different.

Now if you built an expensive engine Id always run good fuel. My junk is stock

Yes sir, perfect. That extra 3 horsepower you gain from better fuel makes me no difference sitting in traffic on the way to work, if Im going to the track its different.

Now if you built an expensive engine Id always run good fuel. My junk is stock

Yeah, but what's your mileage? I ran a tank of 89 through my car once, and it ran fine, I couldn't feel any difference, however the gas guage moved alot quicker. I lost 3mpg, so even though I saved a lowsy .15/gal, it cost me more in the long run since I had to fill up a day earlier.

Yeah, but what's your mileage? I ran a tank of 89 through my car once, and it ran fine, I couldn't feel any difference, however the gas guage moved alot quicker. I lost 3mpg, so even though I saved a lowsy .15/gal, it cost me more in the long run since I had to fill up a day earlier.

Ive honestly never tested the milage with 93, Ill try it next tank and tell you guys what happens :drive:

93 oct here

1) Open manual
2) Read about recommended fuel
3) Fill with recommended fuel
4) ...
5) Profit.

How about e85?

I'm guessing you're being sarcastic, right?

Don't do E85 (85% ethanol). From everything I've read about it, it will be bad if the engine is not made to run on it.

Think of it this way...(using my location as an example)

Regular - $3.99
Medium - $4.10
Premium - $4.22

Say you fill up 10 gallons, thats 39.99 total using regular and 42.22 using premium. Does that $2.23 difference between the two really matter cost wise? No.

Stick with premium.

I totally agree that we should all run 93/Premium to keep our cars in the best posible condition and also to save when it comes to MPG.

Also think of it this way too. For every 1 mpg you lose (at say 20mpg average) you are losing about $2 per fill up. About the same as switching to regular gas over premium. I would imagine you would lose 2-3mpg, so now you're spending about $4 more to fill up with regular than you would premium.

Math: 20mpg x 10gal = 200 miles per fill up. 19mpg x 10gal = 190miles per fill up. Net loss of 10miles. 10miles / 20mpg = 1/2 gallon of gas. 1/2 gallon x ~$4 gal = $2

93 all the way. Filled up this evening from 1/4 tank. $42.00 filled up all the way with 93.

I fill her up with 95, is that considered as overkill ? the next option is 91 or 98

one thing not mentioned as running lower grade gas you can have emission issues lower grade gas will produce more carbon which can clogg up your egr valve so u might want to check that because it will also reduce your gas mileage

If the car was tuned for 97+ octane, then it probably will not run better with 93.

However, if the car was tuned on 93 octane, then you aren't helping anything by running 97-104, and will probably notice better performance with the 93.

You should always run the octane rating for which your car was tuned for i.e. stock tune = factory recommendation.

Short lesson:
Octane rating relates to resistivity to ignition. The higher the rating, the more heat is needed to ignite. This is especially useful with boosted applications.

Typical results:
Lower octane - pinging/pre-ignition
Higher octane - unburned fuel

Running too low of an octane can cause your fuel to pre-ignite before it should.
Running too high of an octane can leave unburned fuel in the chamber.

LOL, you guys are gonna cringe when I tell you this.....I run 87 in mine, LMFAO. And here is the kicker, no knock & no other issues. Been running this combo for 80k miles on 87 octane from a station that only sells 100% gas. Car never sees ethanol, when I did put gas in from a ethanol station I got knock. I used to spend the coin on 91 till everyone started dumpin 20% ethanol in it. When I switch to this 87 I run now I got throttle response back, MPG back, smoother idle & no loss in power. Trips to the track backed up my no loss of power with consistant ET's.

I'm not exactly sure why I dont have issue or if I even should have issues, I just know this gas works just fine for my NA car. Now if I was gonna be boosted or spraying i'd spring for a higher octane. but as of right now till my car gives me reason to spend more at the pump I'm gonna keep rockin 87.

LOL, you guys are gonna cringe when I tell you this.....I run 87 in mine, LMFAO. And here is the kicker, no knock & no other issues. Been running this combo for 80k miles on 87 octane from a station that only sells 100% gas. Car never sees ethanol, when I did put gas in from a ethanol station I got knock. I used to spend the coin on 91 till everyone started dumpin 20% ethanol in it. When I switch to this 87 I run now I got throttle response back, MPG back, smoother idle & no loss in power. Trips to the track backed up my no loss of power with consistant ET's.

I'm not exactly sure why I dont have issue or if I even should have issues, I just know this gas works just fine for my NA car. Now if I was gonna be boosted or spraying i'd spring for a higher octane. but as of right now till my car gives me reason to spend more at the pump I'm gonna keep rockin 87.

Unless you can clearer record/track knock, the PCM may be pulling timing. It doesn't mean what you're doing doesn't work, but I'd say it's less than ideal if the factory calls for a different octane rating other than the one you are using.

NOTE: using octane booster does very little in actually raising octane

Unless you can clearer record/track knock, the PCM may be pulling timing. It doesn't mean what you're doing doesn't work, but I'd say it's less than ideal if the factory calls for a different octane rating other than the one you are using.

I have a Aeroforce scan gauge that monitors knock/coolant temp. It has been looked at and had basic edits done like rear O2 delete, skip shift delete, Air/EGR delete & so fourth. I believe the guy even took a couple degrees timing out cause when I had the edits done it was before the H/C/I swap & I was gonna hit it with a 100 dry shot.

Maybe that pulled timing is whats helping, who knows. I just know I only see slight knock if I'm in 5th & start goin up too steep of a hill without downshifting. But according to the scan gauge its minimal knock even then.

93 Octane Shell only for me.

yes sir! owned the car 3 years and never put nothing else but 93 v-power! i get a avg of 19MPG.

Was thinking about if it matter. Thanks for info

I'm fortunate enough to live in a city that has a gas station with guranteed no ethanol 94 and I pay whatever they want for it. It's just not worth the $4 difference over a whole tank to get the crappy stuff, especially since my car is modified and tuned to take more advantage of higher octane fuel.

93 here

Only way I would put regular in it is if my car was completely stock and my daily driver...if its your weekend car or is modded out the ass PUT 93 IN IT otherwise why did you even buy the car?

/thread

premium or race fuel is the best