My car recommends Premium Gas. Will i get worse gas mileage if I use regular gas?

Question

My car recommends Premium Gas. Will i get worse gas mileage if I use regular gas?

Answer 1

yes and it wont run right, it should ping when you give it the gas

Answer 2

You will potentially damage the engine.  The higher octane gas allows for a higher compression ratio.  You must have a fancy car to need premium gas - most cars in the US are fine with regular.  You could ask your dealer re adjusting the engine to take regular but I do not know if it can be done.

Answer 3

just use regular and put some octane boost in it.

Answer 4

Yes, you will get worse mileage.

Yes, your performance will suffer.

And emissions will increase.

But what most people here don't seem to realize, is that most cars which are designed to run on premium have "knock sensors" built into their engines. This detects pinging and lets the engines computer adjust the timing accordingly on a split second basis, which prevents the engine from being damaged.

"Your father will not damage his engine running any gasoline he can get in the United States, which might be as low as 87 in some areas. The knock sensors (many engines have more than one because they are bolted to the head, not the block) will sense the rapidly building pressure waves caused by gasoline igniting prematurely inside the combustion chamber. The engine-management computer will r****d this spark and prevent this condition. The system is good enough at this to preclude any damage."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_c...

Of course, since you didn't mention what kind of car you have, I have no idea if you have a knock sensor or not, but if it's less than 20 years old, chances are you do.

But considering the first 2 factors, you would probably save money by using the proper octane. If you can't find the octane recommended for your car, (like in Mexico) put in the closest that you can. But otherwise, use what's recommended.

And speaking of being economical, adding octane booster is going to be most expensive of all. Do the math between 20 cents a gallon, and a bottle of octane boost per tank.

btw, don't be surprised if this post gets a lot of thumbs down. I get them all the time, even on posts that are clearly the only right answer, with unimpeachable documentation to back it up. People hate to be proven wrong.

Answer 5

yes, and also it will not run as good.  you will probably some pinging.   It needs more octane....you might want to try regular gas with an octane booster....this may help.  Good Luck!!!!!

Answer 6

If the manufacturer recommends premium fuel, then use premium fuel.  The engine is programmed for higher octane fuel. Antiknock sensor or not, pinging could result.  "pinging" is predetonation meaning the diesel effect.  The fuel ignites under compression.  This could lead to ring & piston land damage.

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Answer 7

That will be the least of your problems. If a car manufacture suggests using high octane or premium gas its for a reason. IE (high compression or a high performance engine.) I own a 03 ford cobra that uses high octane rated gas. If you use regular unleaded gas you will damage the engine. Most likely cause of damage will be precombustion of the air fuel mixture in the combustion chamber because of the timing the manufacture has programmed into the ECM for max performance. Another problem is if you use regular gas in a car designed for high octane gas and its under warranty all dealerships are aware to check the octane rating of the fuel BEFORE any repairs on the engine or componuts that could have been damaged buy lower quality fuel then what the engine was designed to run on are made. resulting in a very costly bill. I know I work with ford now for 10 yrs.  

Answer 8

You can't be serious asking that question! No offense.

Answer 9

Maybe you'll only mess up your engine.

it very well will start to make a knocking noise.

and damage vital engine parts too...

--- but you'll save cash! ---

Answer 10

In cool weather, if you don't load the car heavily or invoke heavy acceleration, you can use regular. If you hear any rattling or pinking, odd engine sounds, while driving, just switch back. You can even try mixing the two. Say you're putting in 12 gallons. Put in 5 regular and 7 premium, or reverse the numbers. It doesn't take that long to switch pumps. We used to do this when unleaded premium was new years ago. We'd mix it with leaded regular. No problems.  

Answer 11

Yes, and it could kill your engine.

You won't save any money by using anything less than what the manufacturer tells you to use.