What happens if I use Unleaded instead of super?

[SDSunshine Member Find all posts View Profile Close SDSunshine]

My Lexus GS300 from 2001 tells me super unleaded only. That's $4.25 today here in San Diego. What happens if I put in the middle grade unleaded instead? Will my car combust? Or can I nip off a few dollars from my gas bill here and there?

I drive only about 15-20 minutes on the Freeway to work each day. No major road trips planned anytime soon either. Will my lovely car survive a little switcheroo?

Thanks! Katherine

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

If super unleaded is what is specified for that vehicle then that is what you should use. You could try a lower grade but if the car pings then you need to go back to the higher octane.

Using a higher octane gas than specified is a total waste of money but using a lower grade than specified can harm you engine.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

My Lincoln truck and my Caddy both have the sticker that says 91 or above by the gass cap. I have from day 1 never put anything above Regular and never had a problem with any of my cars including the many before these.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Best bet would be to talk to the dealer's service department. They may be able to reset the computer timing to run the vehicle on regular.

[arlene22 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close arlene22]

DH was told to use super in his BMW. When he read the manual it says "for best results" to use the super, but under no circumstances to use less than 87 (do they even sell gas with less than 87???). So he uses regular and has had no problems (knock on wood...)

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Caddy? BMW?

Sorry guys, I am in the wrong group.
The wife and I both drive saturns, her an older SL1, me a Vue.
She gets over 40mpg on the road, I get 28mpg, both on reg.
Could someone point me to the 'underpaid, overworked' forum?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Could someone point me to the 'underpaid, overworked' forum?

We do not have one but I can add one if you like

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

You want a laugh? We use super in our old clunkers. One is 12 years old and has 170,000 miles, the other is nine years old and just hit 100,000. We always have old clunkers, basically, and years ago whatever we were driving started stalling out and getting poor mpg, also lots of hacking and coughing and gasping.

Our fantastic mechanic (gone to that big station in the sky now) said, "Start using ONLY premium and ONLY from four particular brands of gas stations." We were all, "Why? Why? We never did had to buy premium before!" And he said, "You never had such an OLD CAR before!" So we did it. No more coughing, no more hacking, no more hesitating, no more stalling. For a few dollars more [okay...more than a few ] at the pump, it's saved us a lot of aggravation. I do think that's one of the reasons our cars hang on so long.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Caddy? BMW?

Sorry guys, I am in the wrong group.
The wife and I both drive saturns, her an older SL1, me a Vue.
She gets over 40mpg on the road, I get 28mpg, both on reg.
Could someone point me to the 'underpaid, overworked' forum?

I'm in there with you. I have a Vue and the wife drives a Relay.

I will say that I had problems with the gas guage in the Vue and the service dept. told me it's was the gas I was using. We had been going to the local grocery stores gas pumps as they give you 10 cents/gallon off when you spend enough with them (no problem in most cases). Apparently, they don't use detergent gasoline and the sulfer content sludged up some sensors in the tank. At any rate, a shot of grunge remover through the tank and everything was back to normal. Since then we've only used the Saturn recommend gas stations and the problem hasn't resurfaced. Oddly enough we never had an issue with the Relay's gas gauge.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Forty years ago, when a 230-cubic inch, six cylinder engine was "small", I operated several cars in which pinging was noticeable when using lower grade gasolines.

Since the automakers moved to smaller vehicles with fuel-injected engines and computer controlled ignition systems, I've never experienced any problems using lower octane fuels.

My use of a vehicle for which higher octane is recommended mostly happens with the occasional auto rental. I've never noted any operating problems.

+++++++++

Re which brand of gas to buy. Whatever gas is sold in your area comes refineries that are local to your area - or via a pipeline that delivers a variety of products. If there are Shell stations in your area and there isn't a Shell refinery within 500 miles, the gas at your Shell station is not coming from a Shell refinery - it's far more likely to be coming from some local refinery. Sometime when you are near one of your local refineries and can see the truck racks, look at the variety of trucks being filled at the racks.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

If it is a relatively new car (last few years), the timing is computerized. So, the engine automatically adjusts to the fuel you put into it.

The best thing to do is test it with a tank of regular unleaded gas. If it pings, you need to go back to Super. If it doesn't, you will probably be okay.

You can't miss pinging. It is really annoying and you won't want to drive when it's happening.

This is what my auto mechanic told me. I have a Honda S2000 that requires Super Unleaded and I switched to Regular unleaded without any negative consequences. My car is a 2001 year model.

I am NOt a mechanic. So, check out what I am saying with your dealer.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Re which brand of gas to buy. Whatever gas is sold in your area comes refineries that are local to your area - or via a pipeline that delivers a variety of products. If there are Shell stations in your area and there isn't a Shell refinery within 500 miles, the gas at your Shell station is not coming from a Shell refinery - it's far more likely to be coming from some local refinery. Sometime when you are near one of your local refineries and can see the truck racks, look at the variety of trucks being filled at the racks.

We live in New Jersey! Aaaaalll the refineries are here!

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

If it is a relatively new car (last few years), the timing is computerized. So, the engine automatically adjusts to the fuel you put into it.

The best thing to do is test it with a tank of regular unleaded gas. If it pings, you need to go back to Super. If it doesn't, you will probably be okay.

You can't miss pinging. It is really annoying and you won't want to drive when it's happening.

This is what my auto mechanic told me. I have a Honda S2000 that requires Super Unleaded and I switched to Regular unleaded without any negative consequences. My car is a 2001 year model.

I am NOt a mechanic. So, check out what I am saying with your dealer.

Thta's what I've been doing for year. Pinging, BTW, is most apparent when the engine is operating under heavy load and when fully warmed up. Even better if the day is hot. I listen for it when the car is going uphill. Often if I want to test for pinging, I will get a on a stretch of road that has a significant grade for at least one mile. I'll start from near stop at the bottom of the hill, and push the engine hard. I'll also travel on the grade at about 50 mph, then floor the car to make it accelerate as quickly as possible at that speed.

If the engine is going to ping, it will under those conditions. As Boca mentions, pinging is very noticeable - it actually sounds more like a knock and is often called engine knock.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

We live in New Jersey! Aaaaalll the refineries are here!

In the environmental consulting and cleanup business, New Jersey is also known as the "Landfill of Opportunity".

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

And then there are the cars that keep running after you turn off the key. I had one like that. Luckily, it didn't do that often. Kind of exciting, never knowing if it was going to blow up or shut off.