dumb question?

I am new to sports cars because I have never really wanted one until now. I am going to buy a 1994 3000Gt SL and it says it takes premium gas.. since I am only using it as a car and not a racer, can I use regular or ultra in it? or will it just make the engine crap.:eek7:

Thanks
DBM

use 93.

This has been discussed NUMEROUS times. You will end up paying more using anything less because you will get less mileage.

i'd also recommend avoiding the cheap stuff (i.e., wal-mart gas.)

you would think 93 is 93...but i've filled up on cheap-o 93 a couple of times and the difference is noticable. I didnt figure it out exactly, but i estimate i got about 2mpg less on the cheap stuff. Dont know why though.

Now all i use is Shell 93. ~21mpg avg every tank.

ok thanks

thats what I figured but with the price of gas these days I was hoping otherwise:banghead:

plus you might risk detonation?? I don't personally know much about these cars, but you don't won't the fuel going boom before it is supposed to. Proportionally, at least in my area, high octane fuels are now a better value than low octane. The used to cost 20% more. Now they run about 5-10% higher. Definately worth the extra cash.

i believe our ECUs moniter and detect knock, and will 'detune' the engine to combat it, thus ruining performance (and MPG).
Not sure of the specifics or exactly how it achieves this, but i bet stealthee does :biggrin:

Can the car cope with 85 octane?

i bet the SOHC could, but probably not the DOHC. I bet it would fire up, but sound like shit and certainly not rev that high. At any rate, i'm sure it wouldnt be good for it and would probably knock like a mofo.

engines are suirprisingly resiliant and adaptable though, so i'm probably wrong. You remember the mythbusters where they tortured that poor smallblock? and then the one where they had a normal, no-mods engine running on natural gas?

I had detonation once from putting reg. in. As soon as i put some octane booster in it, she pepped back up again. But personally i wouldn't cheap out on the good stuff.. even though gas is rediculously expensive right now it's worth not having those bigger problems later.

I had detonation once from putting reg. in. As soon as i put some octane booster in it, she pepped back up again. But personally i wouldn't cheap out on the good stuff.. even though gas is rediculously expensive right now it's worth not having those bigger problems later.
I dont buy that one bit.

Octane booster is a freakin joke. When it says it boosts octane 4 points it means .4 octane. So if you put in 87 octane and then some booster, iots now 87.4 octane.

As for the SOHC it could prob survive 85 octane if it were available. I wouldnt use it though. My car may not be a speed machine but 87 is the lowest it will ever see.

I dont buy that one bit.

Octane booster is a freakin joke. When it says it boosts octane 4 points it means .4 octane. So if you put in 87 octane and then some booster, iots now 87.4 octane.

As for the SOHC it could prob survive 85 octane if it were available. I wouldnt use it though. My car may not be a speed machine but 87 is the lowest it will ever see.

I think I always put 85 in Hans' 97 SOHC. :lol: I'm a cheap-ass. HAHAH :rofl:

I never had a problem with the car at all. It ran like a champ still, and the gas mileage was still awesome. (I'm really gonna miss that car...)

Quickly changing to low grade from 93 in one fill up might not allow the ECU to adjust?

As soon as the ECU sees knock its going to pull timing.

How does it pull timing? And where???

it pulls it out around back and beats it for asking ignorant questions and being a smartass :evillol::chair:

it pulls it out around back and beats it for asking ignorant questions and being a smartass :evillol::chair:

Speaking of being a smart ass.......

I'm serious. At first I was thinking cam timing, but now that I think about it the ECU could only alter the spark timing, right?

the ECU could only alter the spark timing, right?

correct.

though, i'm not sure if it advances or delays it. I would think advancing it would make more sence since the fuel detonating before it's sparked is the problem.

thinking about it, it would seem to me that the only way to fix detonation would be to cut power by allowing less fuel and air into the combustion chamber.

eh, maybe stealthee knows.

It pulls ignition timing.

It retards the timing to reduce knock.

And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen! Stealthee's Answer: Retarded Timing!

Hey just so everyone knows, here in Iraq some places sells gas for 95 cents a gallon! I wish i could get away with smugling it out! lol Just thought I'd let everyone know. lol

i hear it's as cheap as 10 cents a gallon in some places in south america.

not to get political or start a debate, but that's one thing i dont understand. People say we went into iraq for oil. If that's the case, why the hell is it $4/gallon? I hope whoever is elected in November (again, not trying to start political debate, lol) decides to drill in Alaska.

That is because demand for oil is increasing with developing areas like China, India and South America industrializing.

The total output of oil cannot match the increase in demand because basically all the "easy oil" has already been tapped and the only areas left are the harder/more expensive deposits. Unfortunately as the easy deposits run dry the overall cost of producing oil will increase as well as we continue to tap more difficult reserves.

Because of the mismatch in supply and demand the overall price in oil increases...

Currently spike in the price of oil is probably more due to the weak economy in the States where investors are buying oil to insulate themselves from inflation (ironically increasing overall inflation)... This however probably isn't going to change anytime soon so don't expect the price to drop either...

^^OMG, he lives!?! LOL Where've you been 2old???

I sold my car over a year ago (ironically to the mechanic that was working on it at the time)... I haven't replaced it with anything (been driving my wife's civic around) so it's hard to be automotively enthusiastic about driving someone else's car around.

So pretty much just lost on the web.

Ah I see...sad but understandable. It's too bad you had to let her go but know that you're always welcomed here! :biggrin:

Oil prices are up all over the world. The "shortage" is being done on purpose to purposefully rocket the price per barrel. They could easily keep refining more oil into gasoline and keep up with the demand without an issue.