Thanks for your opinion....I am thankful I can afford to drive whatever I want, fuel cost is not the issue here, I was asking the question in regards to ethanol based gas or no ethanol with octane booster. Knowing the issues ethanol based fuel causes in fuel systems and the history in these cars fuel system.

I live on the coast and have 87 no ethanol available. Some areas of the country no ethanol is not available.

 

Did you read the whole post? It is not about the price of the fuel...please read before you comment!

It is about ethanol vs no ethanol....I could careless if fuel was $10.00 a gallon! I was only trying to help the fuel system!

I once raced drag boats, so I understand the value of quality fuel and I do not need you to tell me what car is for me or not!

 

Less than 10 percent ethanol in the fuel is meaningless. All these people are blowing it way out of proportion. The plastic we store fuel in is worse than the ethanol content by far. Big Buisness has made a killing out of this misconception that ethanol is the ruination of fuel and that all automotive problems are caused buy it. Put high test in the car and enjoy it.

 

Agreed It's probably like health care, more money in treating the problem than solving it.

 

Oh boy, I'm a terrible person...
4500 miles of a steady diet of 87 octane in my 99, no signs of ill effects, no knock, runs smooth, 22mpg avg per tank of mixed driving, the computer seems to adjust just fine, is it down on power? Maybe, do I care? Not really. it's my daily driver, I'm not too worried about that extra 5-10 hp... Has there been any dyno tests running a stock street car back to back with 87 and 93 octane with no other changes? I'd be interested to see what difference it makes in a 2 valve average compression motor...

 

This test would be impossible as the computer is self learning and needs to adjust after switching fuel. So by the time you did a couple synonym pulls then switch fuel and get the car adjusted to the different fuel to much would change. Ambient temp humidity and many other factors would have changed enough to make it impossible to properly execute the test.

 

the engine could be dying a slow death and you would not even know it !!!!!!

 

Are you going to disclose that to the next owner?

 

But hey, at least he's saving a few bucks every fill up.

 

 

Being facetious I'm sure but, just in case... using 87 octane doesn't make you a terrible person... or even a bad person... It is YOUR car you run whatever fuel you want, whatever oil you want, change it or not... GM Engineers think it's best you run 91 Octane fuel to keep the system running in top condition... according to some you may be running a risk of shortening the life of your motor... How much? I don't know and they probably don't either... If your comfortable with it that's what matters...I would NOT recommend it for anyone to do though...

 

Ya I'm not too worried about it, I can't see what kind of slow death the motor would be suffering thru if all signs are of it running fine? I'd happily admit it to the next owner, but if everything goes to plan they'll be more concerned about the 200+k miles on it (103k now)
Just don't see there's any significant performance benefit to running hi-test in a daily driver

 

how long has it been since they have been cutting unleaded with ethanol? I'm going to go out on a limb and say if we aren't getting our injectors clogged and engines not lasting past 100k miles by now, then you don't have to worry about a little ethanol in your fuel tank.
Besides like somebody said, there is so much misinformation on ethanol, people think it's a death sentence for your car. Just look at Brazil, every one of their cars is flex fuel by law, and they don't have any more problems with fuel systems than anywhere else in the world.

 

Ok this thread is officially out of control..........OP getting pissy, 87 octane, comparing Brazilian fuel/cars

 

You will change your tune when you crack a ringland

 

I have clarified this questions hundreds of times over the last 15 years. AS most know I was intimately involved in the testing and application.
" THE LSX engine was not designed to use 87 Octane on a regular diet. in an effort to make it idiot proof we added the disclaimer that you could use 87 Octane to get you to a gas station that had premium fuel.. ( the idea was ) that the car would not blow up over a 30 mile trip to the next gas station. WE tried to make it idiot proof...
we did extensive testing and found that using reduced octane fuel caused internal damage over time to wrist pins, rings connecting rod and main bearings and specifically # 7 piston.

Every time you load the motor with 87 octane, step on the gas, shift gears then call for a load the engine will ping. this detonation before top dead center cause a double explosion.
1) when compression causes detonation ( not ENOUGH octane ) and then a second time when ignition spark fires. causing the rotating mass to prematurely fight the potential energy of the rotating mass. You would have to be plain stupid to allow your engine to detonate on a daily basis.

Pinging is the internal destruction of the rotating mass... over time this will cause engine damage to an engine that can easily see 400K. using 87 octane on a regular basis will cause loss of oil pressure over time and damage to the components I mentioned ..this was found in destructive and non destructive testing of the LSX motor design... WE did this testing because Dave wanted a 200,000 mile bench marked engine.. The first engine on the planet to be so certified.

Like I said, you would have to be an idiot to use 87 octane on a regular bases, unless you detuned the motor so much that the loss of power would be very noticeable. detune to prevent any detonation under any load.
Every time the engine pings in causes timing retard... "BUT>>>> the ping occurs first.. every time. Ping is internal destruction of the rotating mass. NO, the car does not stay in timing retard, once the load is off, the engine goes back to regular timing.. A LsX motor running on regular could see hundreds of individual pings on any given day. every time you demand more HP, to pass a car, go up a hill, make a turn and accelerate.

The sad thing about this is that I have posted thi8s hundreds of times over 15 years here.

Pretty hard to deal WITH STUPID ON A REGULAR BASIS,... BUT I TRIED FOR 15 YEARS.

 

you could NEVER hear the pre-detonation that is happening inside your engine !!!!

 

Thank you Evil-Twin! So glad to hear an intelligent explanation from a subject matter expert. Actually, it's good to hear from you period.

 

Missed you Bill, glad to see you back, although somethings never change !!!!

 

I run 85 here


E85 that is