Accidently Put 87 Octane In My Z :-(
Accidently Put 87 Octane In My Z :-( I was filling my car up while distracted by a couple friends... and about 12 bucks into pumping one of my friends says "You run 87 Octane In That?"... Ah crap, I always run Premium 93 Octane in my car and it works fine, with a few bolt ons and all that.
I added some Mag1 octane booster right away but it was after the fill up so I'm not sure how effective it will be. Should I drain the gas somehow or just stick with whats in it now and make sure it doesn't happen again? If I'm taking a risk of any problems I would like to drain it, the last thing I want is a knock in my engine. What do you guys think? I've heard it doesn't matter and I've heard horror stories :-(.
I added some Mag1 octane booster right away but it was after the fill up so I'm not sure how effective it will be. Should I drain the gas somehow or just stick with whats in it now and make sure it doesn't happen again? If I'm taking a risk of any problems I would like to drain it, the last thing I want is a knock in my engine. What do you guys think? I've heard it doesn't matter and I've heard horror stories :-(.
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 669
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From: Charlotte, NC
don't bother with ocatne booster. You went from running 87 octane to running 87.1 octane. Your just pissing money away. Top off the tank with 93. That will delute you a good bit. Once your halfway through that fill it up again. You should be fine. Knock retard will take care of any issues that you might have. Just keep the motor cool and keep off the gas.
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anyone ever seen what that Octane booster does to your plugs, valves and pistons?
i used to have a picture(i'll try and find it) of an engine taken apart.. the owner used 1 bottle of octane booster a month for 6 months for racing..
pistons and plugs(valves too) had this orangey,brown crap residue all over them.
just so you know.. you can mix octanes to produce a different octane level. What makes you always use 93? are you turbo or supercharged? PCM upgrade? i would think 93 would be overkill on a stock engine with a few bolt ons..
i used to have a picture(i'll try and find it) of an engine taken apart.. the owner used 1 bottle of octane booster a month for 6 months for racing..
pistons and plugs(valves too) had this orangey,brown crap residue all over them.
just so you know.. you can mix octanes to produce a different octane level. What makes you always use 93? are you turbo or supercharged? PCM upgrade? i would think 93 would be overkill on a stock engine with a few bolt ons..
Yeah, just burn off that 87 and refill, you'll be fine.
I've ran 87 once in my car, and it pinged, scared the hell out of me so I filled it up with 91 immediately. No problems!
I don't think 93 hurts it anyway, except his pocket book. He could get away with running 91 with no problems on a stock motor though.
I've ran 87 once in my car, and it pinged, scared the hell out of me so I filled it up with 91 immediately. No problems!
I don't think 93 hurts it anyway, except his pocket book. He could get away with running 91 with no problems on a stock motor though.
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 85
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The PCM senses driving style and conditions and adjusts accordingly. If you run a higher octane gas for a while it will be set the timing slightly more advanced from the higher octane requirement. If you switch over to 87 and get on it right away the pcm has to learn about the lower octane gas. So it might ping depending on the quality of the gas. We have good gas by me in Wisconsin and all I use is 87 Octane. No problems and no abnormal knock readings. I have freescan hooked up to my laptop. In fact the best gas to use is the lowest octane your engine can take. More Octane = harder to spark. There is a guy that i know that runs a iron sbc 12.5:1 static compression street/strip with 87 octane around here and he has 50k miles on it with no problems.
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From: That Southern Fried Space City
Originally Posted by OldSchoolSS
The PCM senses driving style and conditions and adjusts accordingly. If you run a higher octane gas for a while it will be set the timing slightly more advanced from the higher octane requirement. If you switch over to 87 and get on it right away the pcm has to learn about the lower octane gas. So it might ping depending on the quality of the gas. We have good gas by me in Wisconsin and all I use is 87 Octane. No problems and no abnormal knock readings. I have freescan hooked up to my laptop. In fact the best gas to use is the lowest octane your engine can take. More Octane = harder to spark. There is a guy that i know that runs a iron sbc 12.5:1 static compression street/strip with 87 octane around here and he has 50k miles on it with no problems.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 669
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From: Charlotte, NC
Originally Posted by The Big Show
The PCM doesn't sense what kind of gas you have in there. What it senses is the knock and adjust accordingly. It doesn't care what kind of gas you have in there...if the knock sensor is "tripped" then the magic happens.
Exactly. you could throw 17 octane or 19037 octane in it and the PCM will not tell the difference. like any fuel the adaptives and knock prevention devices will make changes. If you get know the PCM will retard timing no matter teh octane. If you get an uncomplete burn the adaptives will lean the mixture etc etc. Octane has no direct reaction on the PCM
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 85
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Originally Posted by The Big Show
The PCM doesn't sense what kind of gas you have in there. What it senses is the knock and adjust accordingly. It doesn't care what kind of gas you have in there...if the knock sensor is "tripped" then the magic happens.
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 43
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hmmm... u guys think that could be my problem of WOT and its cuttin off spark... it wont go past 2500 or so rpms and hesitates only at WOT and it gets alot more sensitive as the car warms up... i will list everything new... all spark plugs/wires/opti-spark GM OE/water pump/o2 sensors/no cats... 95 lt1 M6... u think previous owner just ran the car on 87 so much it doesnt like the 93? or babied the car and its adjusted to his driving....??? if so how do i fix