motioncontrol

with prices so high it hard to afford premium

TWS

iTrader: (63)

As you know, premium is recommended. However, your motor is equipped knock sensors to help prevent damage in the case of bad fuel or lower quality fuel.

Not assuming responsibilty, but I think it would be fine to run mid-grade in a relatively stock LS1 car if you are NOT driving aggressively and never going to WOT.

cyphur

iTrader: (10)

I NEVER run my LS1 on less then 91. I'll walk first.

Tranzor

I agree... it's like a $2 difference per fill up so it's hardly breaking the bank. If anything, just change your driving habits a little. Don't do as many jackrabbit starts or WOT runs... drive more in 6th gear, don't let the RPMs climb over 2k when you're trying to conserve gas. Lots of things other than putting a lower than recommended grade of gas in your car.

ddelallata

iTrader: (2)

I've been using 87 octane for over a year no problems here. I'm very gentle on my car though; I hardly ever take it over 2500 RPMs.

z98

Why even bother with an LS1 if you can't afford to put real gas in it?

*shakes head*

Hardtop

iTrader: (3)

Why did you buy the car then. You could have bought a Toyota to drive like that.

My car will never see regular unleaded.


Bruce

foff667

iTrader: (2)

"Why even bother with an LS1 if you can't afford to put real gas in it?

*shakes head*"

"Why did you buy the car then. You could have bought a Toyota to drive like that. My car will never see regular unleaded. "

Draco

You dont floor it below 2500 rpm under load with 87 octane do you?

masterdill

iTrader: (2)

When I was pretty broke I ran my car on 87 for awhile, of course, when I first got it. I never had any problems except for this one time when I got a flashing SES light at 127 mph. I know it was 127 mph because I later autotapped it and the VSS sensor said so LMAO. I never ran it on 87 since, BUT, under no load, you could run a LS1 on 87 ALL day.

Note: My car still runs extremely, extremely well.

ApacheDrill

iTrader: (21)

I run premium and still add octane boost every other fill up.. This is a short cut that wouldnt be recomended in my opinion... Good Luck and let us know how many knock sensors you replace and if you ever have any long term damage..

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

93 here is 2.07
89 is 1.99
87 is 1.89

so lets see.... say its a 10cents difference in 89 and 93 per gallon.. 10 gallons will cost you a WHOLEEEEEEE extra dollar on a fill up. Whats the most you would put into your car on a fill up? 15 gallons?? Again... A buck 50 extra for better gas that you know will be safe in your car..

I gues some are picky about paying a extra dollar though? Now if there was a 10dollar difference or something I could see.. but 10cents more per gallon? It isnt that much more

on a 30 gallon truck it adds up every month.. but on our little gas tanks it doesnt affect you that much

DANSLS1GTO

My old '95 saturn held up well. If I ran my GTO at under 2500 rpm and with 87 octane, it would have been the biggest waste of money in the world - because my saturn would run with it.

And to answer the original question - technically yes you can run w/ regular, but I don't trust the computer to fix itself back to premium correctly - so I wouldn't risk it.
Dan

dazman

i made 320 rwhp with a STOCK 2000 z28 ( had an open borla ), and i was running 87 octane. i run 87 octane right now in my 99 ws6 and i will CONTINUE to run it. ran it for over 3 years now in an ls1 and ive never had any problems. guess what..... run 87.


oh yeah... ran a 90' camry 337,000 miles on 87. ran a 79 mercedes on 87 for 250,000, ran a 95' izusu pick up 248,000 miles on 87, changing the oil on all of them at 5,000 miles intervals. guess what... if you dont have compression you dont need it the ls1 is a high compression motor RELATIVELY, but not actually. hell, people run 12:1 ls1's on 93 when all these idiots around town think that anything over 10:1 has to have racing fuel.... LOL LOL... lmao.

mike

Shadow Assassin

Compared to the damage you could do by going to a lower octane...how can you NOT afford 93??????

Keith

How can you damage an engine that has knock sensors and a low octane timing table for when people use 87 octane? No flames, just curious.

v8maro

iTrader: (4)

on a stock car, yeah sure it's fine, modded, no way.

Fishv12

Bad gas causes carbon deposits that needs a hell lot of work to get it removed. My other car required super and I just guess the previous owner used regular fuel all day long and it ended up with major loads of carbon buildup and the car couldn't pass emissions anymore. Carbon in combustion chambers causes heat and preignition occurs. Thus creating too high of NOx readings... Since I purchased the car I always used super, changed a whole lot of things and the car still doesn't pass emissions. Tried multiple cleaning products but now I guess the only way to fix this would be pulling off the heads and sending them to get cleaned.

jrp

iTrader: (16)

no offense but are you that broke that you have to penny pinch at the gas station . 91 is 2.60 a gallon here and its not enough for me to run 87.

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

is this really your first post?
hell of a way to start off, eh

to answer that question you really should define what you mean by "ok".
Yes, the engine will run just fine and the car will get you from point A to B still faster than most cars on the road. Like was said, there are knock sensors that will retard the timing in the event of detonation, and the only time I would be considered about any damage as a result of 87 octane would be on a hot summer day when coolant temps are over 210F and you're flooring the go pedal and running 4000+ rpms. But for normal driving, it'll be fine. I've run 87 in the summer and never heard any pinging, however I knew enough not to drive with the pedal to the floor and the tach in the red.

I've been tracking my mileage for the past year and a half, 10000 or so miles and couple hundred gallons of gas. It's shocking when you track it, how much gas you use in a year. I've noticed the few times (less than 5) that I ran 87 octane on my 02 that average mileage per tank was slightly lower than with 93. Although, truth be told, there are many other factors that could've really caused the lower mpg. However, with the 87 I definitely noticed a loss in power when climbing hills in 5th or 6th gear at low rpms. The car normally (on 93 octane) would hold speed up the hill at the 1200-1500 rpm range but with the 87 I noticed the rpms falling off sooner on the hill and found myself either giving it more pedal or having to downshift.
I guess it would depend on your driving style, and location, if there would even be a cost savings using 87 vs 93 gas. Maybe over a year's time you could save a few dollars, say if you lived in Florida where there's no hills and the car spends it's whole life on the highway in 6th. Otherwise, I don't think there'd be a significant cost advantage going to less expensive lower octane, unless the difference is $0.50 per gallon or more.