I used to use the medium grade. Seemed to work. One day I was filling up with a
buddy in the car; he saw me not using the top grade and said "your nuts - it's a
Corvette"

And I've been using Premium ever since.

 

As these cars age, their performance can suffer from carbon build up. The simple logic is, if you want the car to perform as designed, it needs enough octane to allow complete compression. With incomplete compression, you get reduced power, and not only that, premature detonation causes the inertia of the compression stroke to be negative to the power stroke. My point here is that you want the compression stroke to occur at the proper advance to produce the most amount of power. if compression causes detonation before proper ignition, the potential energy is severely diminished. Insurance to be sure detonation occurs at the right time and timing does not have to be retarded means your engine will produce the HP is was design to deliver, and not at the cost of the damage that occurs over time, before the PCM can retard the spark when detonation occurs. Just to make it clear. the knock sensors " feel " force via vibration of the compression stroke being held back because the ignition occurs before inertia can throw the piston over top dead center and smoothly continue into the power stroke. Having enough octane keeps the knock sensors from detecting damage ( Vibration ). The KNOCK sensors are there to detect damage via the vibration that over time will destroy bearings and pistons. The ideal situation is to never have the knock sensor detect any internal forces that effects the smooth flow of the 4 stroke cycle. OK I think most people get it... not only the reason for high octane , but also that asswipe that are argumentative on clearly simple matters are just that " asswipes " who sit behind a computer to prove to the rest of us that these children are here. And the best part is that some of their fellow asswipes line up behind them and support their pathetic agenda.. If I was to have a poll of those of us who would put a screen name to the children in this thread I'm fairly sure every one would point to the same few children. These guys are the people as Identified by people who came into my PM box to mention their name., in the context of someone " Not " to listen too.
Good morning all, well I made it through another day. Life is good.
Bill

 

QUOTE from E-T : "I could instantly see when they finally "get it" their face lights up. It doesn't get any more rewarding then sharing your knowledge with others...."

Dear Lord in Heaven, you just recited one of my FAVORITE STORIES from my teaching days.

The two caterpillars (eyebrows) fighting above his eyes as he struggled to understand.
SUDDENLY "EUREKA!"
They almost went VERTICAL as the "Understanding" struck him.
WHAT A RUSH THAT MOMENT WAS FOR ME!!!
I did it, I transferred knowlege to someone who desperately wanted it.

As for "CORVETTES"... This is my fourth.
Bought it with the "100% Original" tag.

And I Promise, other than the headlights (sorry guys, ALWAYS hated the pop-ups) which will eventually be Radio Flyer's "ANGRY EYES", it's going to pretty much stay original.

The engine issue will be solved next year when I'll probably go ==== (wait for it) =====

L
S
X

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM MMMMMMM

 

Thank you.. the C5 is the best car I ever was involved with it's design. The whole C5 team was passionate in its focus. The car came together so well, that it was actually better than we had originally thought. We developed a very sophisticated Oil life monitor system to monitor and insure proper lubrication would be achieved with oil properties that would remain stable over the life of the oil. We made it so well, that even after 3 years we changed the base line of the OLM from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles. That's just one of the benefits of a sound design. The OLM was part of the directive to make a 200,000 mile benchmarked engine. Now after 17 years since launch, there are thousands of C5 out there with 200,000/ 300K and 400K on their engine with no internal issues. We ran test mules to 200K tore them down and found every critical measurement to be within original design spec. WE built a great platform including the engine, why would anyone want to push the octane issue? Like someone said here, they want to keep their C5 forever. and it can be done, but if you allow the engine to sputter and ping, it wont happen. Putting the right fuel makes all the sense in the world, except to those who are automotive technology challenged. I think we all know who they are. At least in this thread. I bet they don't brush their teeth either.

 

Fixed it for you Bill.

 

Love this thread, love your advise (I always take notice when I see your name) and I especially love the car you helped design. Thank you ET, your words are always welcomed by me.

 

Thanks Kevin, what was I thinking? IM glad you got it....I like to leave these subtleties, just to see if anyone is paying attention.

 

That's what happens when you let liberals make rules that have no basis in reality.

 

I enjoy your posts Bill and find them very helpful. In C5 gen I usually read more than I write. So you probably don't see me too often.

But I have a question for you. A while back we, as in CF, had a discussion on engine oil changes. It was brought up that some people pre fill their oil filters prior to installation. I sided on the Pre fill the filter side. I have always done it to my vehicles when possible and I believe it is a good practice to minimize the time the engine spends with no oil pressure after a filter change. You may have weighed in at some point in that thread but I don't recall.

So where do you side on this issue? Is it overkill or prudent practice to pre-fill the oil filter?

 

I always pre fill mine. Not knowing where the filter is in relation to the oiling flow would answer this in my opinion. if the filter is immediately after the pump and before the oiling galleries, then I see the logic to pre fill the filter. If the filter media is after the galleries, then I do not. But like I said, I never bothered to look up that info, so I just prefill.
Good question...

Edit: I looked it up. The filter is immediately after the pump, and before the galleries. Prefilling is the way to go IMO. If you can cut down the time to build pressure on a startup, why wouldn't you?

 

I always prefill my filter as well.

 

If you look at the label on the pump it actually says (at least here in FL)" may contain up to 10% ethanol".

So that tells me there can be anywhere from 1-10% of ethanol in the gas.

 

You get no sympathy from me...Just glad you are doing well and back to posting Bill

Peace
Chip

 

I am fairly new here, four years or so, but I always look forward to E.T.'s posts. A true expert and a gold mine for those of us willing to listen and learn. I missed your posts and replies while you were gone, and I never realized how serious your health problems were. Live long and keep on giving us non-engineers the benefit of your experience and knowledge. Ignore the idiots, they pop up everywhere and are not worth your time and patience arguing with.

 

I have owned my C5 for almost 3 years, I live somewhat close to chiliwack vettes (a ferry ride away) and have always used the same Chevron 94 octane, and my car runs excellent on this fuel! It took me along time to be able to purchase this fine automobile and I don't and won't use anything but the best in it. I want this car (and it's engine) to last, as I love this car!

 

I've always filled the oil filter. It's a good practice, much like wiping your tools off after using them. Certain habits, while not absolutely necessary, make for better automotive care discipline... point being, the filter is there, why not fill it. Will it make a measurable difference over time? probably not. figure 40 oil changes, and a momentary (0.5 sec ) loss of pressure over the expected life of the motor in ( 40 ) half second intervals wont starve off the motor because the components already have passive lubrication. Do all the good practices, its what you can teach to your kids.
Bill

 

on the cars I have owned with the filter mounted the "right" way. The ones with horizontal or God forbid, upside down filters, well once I cleaned up the mess from removing the old filter, I learned real quick don't pre-fill the filter on those.

 

I have always pre-filled my filters, but I am also a GM guy and I have never had a sideways or upside-down filter.......... I think one of my Toyotas from my teenage days may have had a sideways filter.

Here is what detonation can do in less than 10 passes:



That was from a faulty cam sync......... Not lack of octane.

Funny thing, a friend and I were discussing octane today. I told him I use the "good stuff" in my Lucerne, my Silverado, and my Vette. All the other cars/trucks gets the cheap stuff. I can only get 93 at Sunoco, they dropped their 94 octane a few years ago. I can get 100 octane unleaded at one station, but unless I plan of fooling with the timing, it isn't worth buying.

Super unleaded is far less expensive than Sunoco Blue ($13 a gallon). I go through a lot of that on weekends..........

I never thought about the "typical" engine having the oil changed 40 times in it's lifetime. I am just used to always being under one of our cars/trucks changing the oil.

Heck, with the two race cars, it's every 50 passes or less, which doesn't take long.

Yes, I own stock in Exxon/Mobil since I go through SO much Mobil 1 a year! Really!

 

Unless and until you figure out how you can defy a fundamental law of physics (gravity) on the surface of this planet, you can't pre-fill horizontal or upside-down filters and expect the oil to remain in them.

 

A quick run down the list of cars/bikes I've owned revealed that only about a third of them had the filter mounted the "right" way.

At least only one of them (RX7) had a fully upside-down filter, although one of the Kawasakis had an open-cartridge filter behind a cover on the bottom of the engine, so maybe that counts.