eatmydst1234

A friend of mine has a stock '02 coupe with 245k miles on it, for the last ~200k miles it has gotten nothing but regular, and it's still going, passes compression tests and leak-down tests with flying colors. Regular may not be ideal, but it can be run with no problem if your not trying to run the car hard on it. But for everyday driving with the occasional "enthusiastic" acceleration you'll be fine as long as the tune 100% stock.

red89c4

Lighten up francis (evil twin). you are correct we are not all auto engineers. but we being loyal chevy owners and enthusiast is what has kept GM in business long enough for you to enjoy your retirement. several innovative ideas have come from shade tree engineers, junior johnson, ernie elliott, etc.
we need your expertise on here. please bear with us as we learn and try to help one another. thank you for your input on many issues!!

black match box

Try putting some octain booster in the tank and some sea foam. in the spring you should see a diff. in about 20 min. of expres way driving. good luck.

mikesanto70

This is one bad *** Corvette, must be a blast to drive w/ 577 rwhp, and body mods and wheels look bitchin'!!!

Big Duk

I would bet anything that the E.C.M. used in the "mule" cars were not quite as refined as what went into say a 2003 / 04 production car!!! No one person can claim design credit for all systems on any vehicle produced since the early 1900's.

El original

Thanks, do you think any issues with putting both products in at once? Create some kind of chemical zombie? lol Rob

Aerovette

OP has enough problems, I think octane "buster" is going to move him in the wrong direction. Booster might be better.

bucwheat

I have never run reg in Bucwheat,when was the last time you changed the fuel filter?

Big Duk

High school grad "In jin ear" Shade tree Wanna be's? wow Someone must not have been told how GREAT they are yet today!! I would get over myself! JMO.

El original

I have never changed the fuel filter, my car has only 26ooo miles on it and never had any issues. Think I will change out mn6 tranny fluid first.

Vetterway

(2002) Gasoline Octane - Use Premium unleaded wih a posted octane of 91 or higher for best performance. You may also use mid grade or regular unleaded gasoline rated at 87 octane or higher, but your vehicle's acceleration may be slightly reduced. If the octane is less than 87, you may get a heavy knocking noise when yo drive. If it is bad enough, it can damage your engine.

That being said, I will stick with mid-grade for my kind of driving.

E15 - Interesting that a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix disallows ethanol content greater than E10. And EPA is saying that cars I think it is 2001 or newer are just fine with the coming E15. I think E15 will be a disaster, especially for oudor power equipment, carbureated motor cycles and older carbureated marine.

Vetterway

Rapid Fred

You've been threatening to do this for years. Seems your ego won't let you.

SCM_Crash

I'm thankful he HASN'T left though. I think he's right. We have too many people saying things that simply aren't correct but going on as if they are. I'm sure half of those people are just repeating crap they heard from the other half that pulls this info out of their asses.

I'd rather hear it from an engineer. And I've heard people on this board argue that just because Evil Twin was a GM engineer doesn't mean he was one that worked on the LS1. So? Regardless it still makes him the resident authority on the C5 and whether or not he was one of the engineers that worked on the motor doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's talking about. I know lots about different areas of aerodynamic and mechanical engineering but I'm a SOFTWARE engineer. Some things don't take a piece of paper to show that you obviously know your stuff. Evil Twin worked as a GM engineer on the C5 which means he probably had the insight on a LOT of the going-ons about the car's production.

It'd probably be a good idea to listen to him. He may be course and rude about how he says something, but that doesn't mean what he said is wrong.


::Rant Off::

I don't know why you'd put regular gas in the tank to store it. I've never stored a car before. But I'd imagine that a tank of 91+ and gas stabilizer is a better idea than a tank of regular gas. Especially since you're not going to have to fill the car up again for a while, why cheap out?

High compression motors require high octane fuel. End of story.

SCM_Crash

You don't know much about Ethanol. It's obvious. E15 is a good thing. It will not only HELP your engine last longer, but it will burn cleaner. If you tune your car for it, E15 will actually yield more power than E10.

I'm not going to get into another dumb debate over E15 since I know so many people are brain washed into thinking E-anything is bad. But that's because 'money' talks a big game.

The only down side to more Ethanol is slightly lower fuel economy because the energy density of Ethanol is less than gasoline. That being said, you people need to do your research before you start talking madness like this. Perhaps you should start by looking into why forced induction guys prefer E85 over 110 octane gasoline. And then work your way over to the articles about WHO is trying to stop Ethanol.

Aerovette

"Engineers" designed the shuttle that blew up, the Tacoma Narrows bridge, the V8-6-4, and the levees in New orleans, so by all means let's hear more from an engineer and less from those with real world experience.

DeeGee

The OP asked whether vibration he's hearing is related to a half tank of regular gas he put in by mistake. Low octane gas causes pinging which is a light rattling. I wouldn't describe it as vibration but the owners Manual actually says:

“Fuel - Gasoline Octane

Use premium unleaded gasoline with a posted octane of 91 or higher for best performance. You may also use middle grade or regular unleaded gasoline rated at 87 octane or higher, but your vehicle’s acceleration may be slightly reduced. If the octane is less than 87, you may get a heavy knocking noise when you drive. If it is bad enough, it can damage your engine.”

That said, half a tank should not produce such extreme sysmptoms unless there is another underlying issue IMHO.

All that said, the LS1/LS6 is a high compression engine (the LS1 has 10.1:1 compression ratio and the LS6 10.5:1) and needs higher octane gas. Even though it has a knock sensor which automatically retards the ignition, if it senses knock, by definition you have less power and lower fuel efficiency. Although the knock sensor may protect the engine to a certain degree, it’s still a compensatory adjustment. In other words it’s solving the problem after the event so some damage could occur however slight.

So to answer the question again, half a tank of 87 octane shouldn't cause vibration but it's not a good idea to use 87 on a regular (get it?) basis.

C5Wolfe

Good point Aerovette!

RetiredSFC 97

With all the problems these things have I wouldn't be bragging about designing anything if it were me.

Ethanol has caused problems in vehicles and especially lawn and garden power equipment. It attracts water and ruined every injector that was put into the C4 from the factory. It does have a higher octane but still only in relation to the amount of it that's mixed in.

Also if your state mandates ethanol, like Mo, there is no difference in most cases in the octane of reg and mid grade. The law states 87 is the "minimum" for reg and 89 is the minimum for mid grade. So they mix ethanol with reg and it increases the octane up at least 89 but they still call it reg. But also call it and sell it for a higher price as mid grade.

There are some stations here that sell 87 and 89 for the same price because it's the same gas (minimum 89). I read that in an article from The KC Star this year.

Also of note, a lot of the mid grade is actually higher than 89 again because of the ethanol being added.

But ethanol is not good for your engine and it takes more energy to make it than what they get from it, that has been proven.

Ever wonder why your food bills have went up the past few years? It's because they're taking our food supply and using it for our fuel supply to make a few nutjobs feel better about themselves but in reality they're hurting the environment more than they're helping.

But hey, it's good for corporate farmers I suppose.


Here, this from Oregon's own government website about it.


For the marine industry, though, ethanol raises some issues. Ethanol is a solvent that doesn’t mix well with the additive MTBE fuel in some tanks. Combining MTBE with E10 scours fuel systems, overburdening filters, breaks down fiberglass fuel tanks and rapidly absorbs water from atmospheric humidity. The result is a brief shelf life. Adopting E10 into fuel is changing the way gasoline-powered boats are maintained, serviced, used and even constructed.

killain

Just wait a few years and your going to see some the biggest Class-action lawsuits in history. Ethanol is some really nasty stuff as fuel if the car isn't designed to run on it as is 99% of the cars on the road today and the damage it has the potential it has is soon going to show up as the amounts increase. And of course, to all this damage, You can thank the friendly EPA for all of the problems. I was in a AutoZone lately and I saw a bottle of 'Ethanol-Cure' You now have to buy 16oz of a product to limit the engine stumbling and ****-poor performance in your engines. Your already paying $3.89.9 a gallon as it is. I have to wonder who works for who ? Why would you have to buy a product to counter-act the effects of something that shouldn't be in there from the beginning. There must be a better way to get Clean air ? I live by a major Airport and you should see the grit/muck that coats all the car houses anything left outside from the Jet engines. Where's the EPA when these huge jets engine are pouring out the flumes with 250 departures a day, is it some taboo that the EPA only goes after automobile owners for pollution ? Bunch of hypocrites. I wash my wife's car, (it's white) in the morning around 9AM and by 2PM the thing has a coating of Jet engine dust/muck on every surface. This is insane !

SCM_Crash

You, sir, fail. Obviously more often then engineers do.