In the United States at least there are 3 grades of unleaded gasoline at most pumps. Does it really matter what grade of gas you use? Can I use the lowest grade one week and the next week get premium if I can afford it? Does it help with milage or does it keep your engine clean? What is the difference?
In: Engineering
“What grade of boomliquid is required for my rollmachine?” What a strange planet.
One of the fundamental basics of engines is that you want the air/fuel mixture to burn in a controlled manner, not explode. When the air/fuel mixture does explode, this is called knock, and can destroy engines pretty quickly.
Gasoline is rated according to its resistance to knock. This varies from engine to engine, as well as factors such as how hard the engine is working, how hot it is, how hot the air/fuel mixture is before ignition, and others.
The general rule is to use the grade of gasoline recommended by the manufacturer, although there are some exceptions to this. My wife’s Chevy Cruze has a turbocharged engine, and I have found that it seems to be a lot happier on premium fuel. I could probably get by with super, but since our other car is a VW GTI tuned for about 290hp, I’m used to spending the extra money on gas anyway.
For most cars that are tuned for regular, using premium is just a waste of money. It won’t clean your engine – gasoline already contains detergents that do that. It won’t necessarily improve your fuel economy – engines that run on premium tend to be more efficient, but they have to be tuned for it, so if your car is tuned for 87 octane, 91 or 93 won’t help you at all.
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