I just want to check with you guys before I changes gas based on one person's opinion...

I had the gar at the dealership last week (still is for another issue) and the mechanic told me I can put regular (87 octane) gasin my Z06, that the 3 computers will readjust to the proper fuel/air misture within 1/2 a gas tank, and that I would not harm the engine by using this less expensive gas.

Sounds too good to be true. Is it?
With the price of gas these days, that could give a me a little break.

Any others already running 87 octane gas in their Z06?
Thanks,
Jerome

 

For sure it will affect your performance, the main thing the ECU will do is retard the timing. Not so sure if it is that worth it at the end.

 

Seems kind of pointless to spend all the money for a Z06 and then cheap out when it comes to gas. I personally wouldnt use anything less than 93 (or 91 if I lived in CA).

 

You will hardly notice the difference, unless you race it.

 

This how a Z06 will feel. Mine doesn't like 91.

 

[QUOTE=jerome]I just want to check with you guys before I changes gas based on one person's opinion...

Why don't you just get an old VW?

 

I would recommend buying Name brand high test for your corvette...

The detergents in the name brands such as Shell or Chevron are a tier one gas which is what I would recommend.

Consider the long term picture if you will.....

Buy high quality tier one High Octane fuel and the car runs as designed.

or...

Buy cheaper lower octane gas and the car stands a better chance of getting gas with lesser quality...and screwing up your fuel tank sending units.....

The repair cost on this fuel tank sending units or whatever they are specifically called....costs BIG BUCKS! especially in labor...

Fuel gauge goes nuts and its annoying as hell...

No telling when it will happen..

Dont' save a few pennies in gas...and end up getting a headache thats a pain in the @ss ..

Buy the best quality gas for your corvette.

 

I can tell you without a doubt that my 2001 Z06 is not happy on 91 octane, so 87 octane will not work. I have extensive experience with this as I took my Z06 on a 5500 mile road trip last summer through a lot of states where pump gas is just unavailable with more than 91 octane rating. The engine would audibly ping under part or full load. This was the case for all of the major gasoline brands that I tried.

After returning to Houston and getting the car back on 93 octane fuel, the pinging went away. Two dealers were able to replicate the problem on lower octane fuel, but neither was able to resolve it, although one dealer did decarbon my cylinders twice and reflashed my ecu with the latest programming.

I have a good friend in Californial with a 2003 Z06 that has no problem burning the 91 octane california crapgas. Go figure.

 

87 octane gas will be OK for long drives on freeways with no punching or shifting gears

87 will actually get more MPG on highway than 91

Otherwise its like drinking GENERICK VODKA BRAND It will get you drunk but will taste like 87 octane gas

 

we have 89 octane gas over here...so what i suggest you doing is adding a octane booster before filling your tank just to be safe.
i also have a barrel of 99 octane vp racing fuel which i use before racing

 

87 octane really shouldn't be a problem, this according to GM. I use California's 91 crapgas without any issues in my Z06.

 

The best we can get in Colorado is the 91 octane also. Bloody shame.

 

I suppose lower octane gas could be tuned for. If higher octane gas burns slower, the timing should be advanced for lower octane gas right? Maybe I'll give it a shot on my upcoming road trip...

 

Where do you get your info from?
Lower octane will lower your MPG; retarded timing, less power, less performance. Aren't those the reasons we purchaced a Z06 in the first place, more not less.
I bet that the money you save at the pump will be charge back to you because you didn't get as far on that tank of gas.
The difference is about $3.00 for 270 miles per tank, that's like a penny per mile.
What were you thinking.
Check your Corvette comandments,
Thou shall not put cheap gas in thy Corvette, let alone a Z06.
Now drop and give us 10 for even thinking about it.

 

Think about it... higher octane is designed to prevent pre-detonation which happens more readily at higher cylinder pressures.
That's the only thing higher octane does-- higher octane means greater resistance to predetonation.

But at higher altitude, your compression is not as high (the RATIO is still the same, but the absolute pressure is lower) so you don't need higher octane to prevent predetonation.

93 octane wouldn't do you any good in Colorado.

 

According to the owner's manual you can run 87 octane with a slight decrease in performance.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, some of them were quite funny.

Yes, where I drive in California, the best is only 91 octane, and the car doesn't complain about it.
Although it seems possible to run on 87 octane, I will delay my switch a bit longer. No urgency here.

Some talk about possible repairs:But would such repairs not be covered by my extended warranty?

The way I see it is: It's no about being cheap, its about why put more money than needed into the petroleum company's wallet?

Another perspective: Although I enjoy going full tilt on the asphalt with my Z06, I will also not hesitate to drive it up a mountain on a dirt road, giving it more expose to dirt than some SUV owners. paragliding come first.

 

Funny thing the Lincoln and Cadillac dealers around here in the Florida were encouraging reg a few years back. In fact they said the cars would perform better. But they said above Georgia use premium. I've tried a few tank fulls and no pinging even under wot. I've haven't noticed any difference in gas mileage.

 

Putting cheap gas probably won't give you a problem with pinging, but in short order your car will run like crap. There are almost no cleaning additives in the cheap regular, the gas companies don't want to spend the money, and they want to make sure that there is a reason to upgrade to their more expensive fuels.

A long time ago I ran my C4 L98's and later LT1's on the best gas I could find and after a while they ran crappier and crappier. At cruise on the highway you could hear and feel an occasional miss and they generally ran rough. Throttle response was miserable, and it was much worse in the summer, when it got really hot outside it would get really bad....Once I was coming back from the Harrisburg Pro Solo to Indy and thought I wasn't going to make it home, the car was stumbling and running so rough.....

It was supposedly injectors getting loaded up, and I had the dealer run cleaner thru it, (helped some) tried every imaginable cleaner (Techron included) and nothing seemd to really clear it up.

I spoke to an fellow autocrosser who worked for Amoco at the time and he clued me in on a dirty little secret. Amoco (now BP around here) used to put their best cleaning additive package in their midgrade fuel. They wanted for the customer to be able to "feel" the difference in about one tankful of fuel. He said there was actually much more cleaner in their midgrade than in their premium....So I tired their midgrade and wow!!! in about two tankfuls it was cleaned out and running like a bandit..... For racing on the weekends I would fill it up with the highest octane I could find, and then run the midgrade thru it during the week to get it clean. I mentioned it to a couple of other autocrossers who were running Vettes and Camaros and they all tired it and they were amazed with the results.....

A couple of engineers from the GM proving ground drove my car and couldn't believe how strong it was.....

It was amazing how much better the car ran when all 8 cylinders were getting the right and same amount of fuel.....

More recently Amoco was advertising that they "Upgraded" their premium fuel to help clean the injectors better. I would bet they just put the midgrade additive package into the premium.....

As far as the octane went, yes I did notice a little bit of pinging at low rpm in high gear, but it was really minor. I typically loaded it up with good gas and ran a drove it for a few miles, then did a couple of wot accelerations to get the computer to reset to the fuel (it has a memory and unless you power it down it remembers what the spark settings should be and it doesn't reset them instantly). My Z06 only has very few miles on it but if it gets hot outside an starts to miss and stumble I will be looking for gas with an additive package that cleans it up...

If you want to save a few bucks, I wouldn't go all the way down to regular, but a midgrade from a good refiner may be a good way to go...

 

And you tell me this when I already have a full tank! lol