What octane do you put in your cars?
- Thread starter Khoifather
- Start date
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- P5
87 octane, which (sorry everyone) is < $1.50 is South Cack.
Pete, I hope you realize that once you go synthetic, you shouldn't go back. I don't know how many miles you have on our P5 but just make sure your engine is well broken in with regular petro-based motor oil before you switch to synth. By the way, switching to synth oil won't help much with performance either. It just doesn't break down (lose its viscosity) like petro motor oil when you race your engine a lot. It doesn't mean you can run longer with synth oil either. You still should change your oil at regular intervals.Pete47 said:So are yous guys suggesting that I should still lower my fuel down to 87 again?I gotta fill up my car soon and what I'll do is try this 87 out 2 more times just to get it in there and see what happens. What I hear in my car is a little tick tick tick... I also started to use Mobil 1 synth 10-30 to see if I can get that little tick out. THe only way it leaves is when I pit higher ocatin.
Q.? My fiance has a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer ES auto, and it has around the same power and same performance as our MP5. Why does here owners manual recommend 89oct if she doesn't at a higher compression ratio. (scratch)
YelPro03 said:
YelPro03 Thanks for your concern
. I have a 2002 MP5 auto, and I brought my car about a month and a half ago. I purchased it with 35,500 miles on it used. The reason why I use to put higher octain in it, is beacuse I noticed a diffrence in it after a few days of owning the car. I noticed a small ping and I figured that maybe the small ping would go away with better fuel. This was the same small sound I use to hear in my old car. I fixed the ping problem with the old car by putting better fuel. The ping sound that I have with the MP5 is very very light so I said to my self let me try some better gas to see if it goes away, so I put a higher octain. The sound is less noticeable with the higher octain but not much. I tried the 87 last week and noticed a louder ping at idle but it wasn't that loud. I said to my self " let me try the middle octain and see what I get". So... so far I its been running almost the same.
MY goal is to have the car run at its best with no mods other than my drop in K&N filter and maybe a exhaust and intake in the latter in the future. To me this is not a race car. It's my chill and look at the girls look at me car (naughty). I'm a pilot so I get all the speed I need.
This is my second car I've own so I want it to last, run, and feel as smooth as possible. Thats why I put Synthetic. I knew I could put it in because its over 30,000 miles old. So just to give it that added protection, I put Mobil 1 synth.
First I studied why I should, by doing reviews on synth oils and why are they better then regular oils. After all the reserch on the oil, I decided to go with the Synthetic.
Now I'm on the Fuel test. So I'm open to any recommendations.
I think I'm going to give 87 octain a shot again.
I do understand the carbon deposit deal with higher octain so I'm very conserned about the higher octain I'm putting in my car.
If there is any carbon deposits in the car, how do I get them out. I s there any special cleaner to get? Will this affect the synthetic oil?
Thanks for the help. W/B
P.S. I test drove the STI and boy is that a fast car. (wrc)
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Pete, a higher octane gas does not make it a better gas than a lower octane one. That seems to be the root of all this misconception here. People love their cars, as do I, so they try to give it the best they can afford. I don't blame them for that. However, giving your car something that it is not designed to use is not doing it any good. I'm taking off my engineer hat and just using some basic logic here. The P5, or any other car designated by the manufacture to use 87 octane, is designed, tested, proofed out, and approved to use 87 octane. This is the manufacture telling me this. The same people who have a reputation to uphold and are liable for any damage done from faulty design, recommendation, etc., so it is in their (Mazda in this case) best interest to recommend what they think is best for the car that their engineers designed. Not to flash my resume here but with a masters degree in engineering, I'm not going to pretend to know more or second guess Mazda engineers on what is best for the car and engine they designed. Now, if you feel that your car's engine "sounds" better (not necessarily performs better) with higher octane, then there might be something wrong with it. Again, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert but just using some logic here, if the engine is not sounding right using the manufacture recommended fuel then there has to be something wrong and it deserves to be looked at. Now there's another thing, you said you bought it used so I guess you never heard what the engine sounded like when it was new. So given that fact, what are you basing what the engine should sound like on? Maybe, just maybe, it should sound like that. And if that's the case then putting higher octane fuel in a perfectly good engine to delay the detonation to make it sound like what you think it should sound like might actually do damage. Going back a few steps now.. assuming that engine does not in fact sound right and using higher octane does make it sound like it should, then aren't you just masking the root of the problem? You're not fixing the problem. You're just putting a band aide on what is causing the problem to begin with. It's like putting a tape over the "Check Engine" light. If you don't see it then there's no problem. Just some thoughts here. Take it for what it's worth.Pete47 said:
andyfatsax
Member
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- Mazdaspeed3
Ever beat a dead horse with a stick? Well you have now. I drive my car 100km everyday, same route, everyday, I could do it with my eyes closed. What i am saying is I have tested out different octane fuels on this same route a bazzillion times. 92 gives me better mileage...I mean like 50-75 more KM per tank. Over 5000 RPM there is more power to red line...the variables have been tested in several cars on the same route all with different results. Yes I am taking this back to the grade 6 science fair.
It doesn't matter what your theory is, I have done a real test and these are my results. Not saying it will work for every P5 owner but since I drive my car soooo much I notice every little mild change that occurs including tiny increases in power.
It doesn't matter what your theory is, I have done a real test and these are my results. Not saying it will work for every P5 owner but since I drive my car soooo much I notice every little mild change that occurs including tiny increases in power.
Everyone thanks for all the info.
Yelpro3? I think you have a point. What I'm going to do is change the octain to the lower one, and see how it sounds.
I read a review a year ago in consumer reports and they tested a few cars with diffrent octains. The manufacture recommended one octain but the car ran better on a higher octain. This is the same thought that I put into my car. I want it to run its best. I know there are things that the manufacture dosen't recommended that makes the car run better. Such as the manufacture doesn't put high quality oil, oil filters, sparkplugs, air filters, ect. So we do some reserch and see what is better for are car, we find all these better things to make are cars run and last longer and better.
I would wright more but I gotta go...
W/B
Yelpro3? I think you have a point. What I'm going to do is change the octain to the lower one, and see how it sounds.
I read a review a year ago in consumer reports and they tested a few cars with diffrent octains. The manufacture recommended one octain but the car ran better on a higher octain. This is the same thought that I put into my car. I want it to run its best. I know there are things that the manufacture dosen't recommended that makes the car run better. Such as the manufacture doesn't put high quality oil, oil filters, sparkplugs, air filters, ect. So we do some reserch and see what is better for are car, we find all these better things to make are cars run and last longer and better.
I would wright more but I gotta go...
W/B
Supposedly it should run fine on 87, which is what i use and have never had a problem. But I used to work at an oil refinery and can tell you the higher-octane stuff almost always has more good additives in it. BTW, the refinery makes something like 120octane, then basically dilutes it to get lower octanes. the oil is refined to the same amount.
Those of you using 89 or 92 for metter mileage might wnat to do a cost comparison: if you get 1-2 more mpg (about 7% better) is it worth 20-30cents/gallon extra? (13-19% extra based on the $1.56/gal i filled up with yesterday)
Those of you using 89 or 92 for metter mileage might wnat to do a cost comparison: if you get 1-2 more mpg (about 7% better) is it worth 20-30cents/gallon extra? (13-19% extra based on the $1.56/gal i filled up with yesterday)
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- Das Pretzelwagon
87
andyfatsax
Member
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- Mazdaspeed3
Yes this is true but I pay extra for more power and higher octane fuel = more power!(fuoops)
adc0642 said: