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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 10:43 PM
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is there any danger running regular in 01 c5? seems to have same power and gas milage?????
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 10:52 PM
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If you do a search, there are threads that discuss this in detail. There are some good reasons for using higher octane fuel in the C5, I don't feel like repreating them right now.
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 11:25 PM
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Originally Posted by curt05
is there any danger running regular in 01 c5? seems to have same power and gas milage?????

There is no "danger" for street driving .... I wouldn't recommend regular if you took the car to the track, or engaged in "spirited" driving ....

The LSx engine has "knock" sensors in it. This means that if the fuel octane is low enough that detonation (knock) is starting to occur, then the PCM adjusts timing and other parameters to eliminate the knock. The bottom line is the engine produces less power to compensate for the lower octane.

There has been much arguement about which is "cheaper" .... the offset of better fuel mileage using premium against the lower price of regular .....

Quick story .... Jaguar made a big sedan back in the 1970's called the XJ6. It had an interesting feature which was it had two fuel tanks, and a switch on the dashboard below the fuel gauge that allowed the driver to select which of the two (approx) 14 gallon tanks the engine was running off. The 3.8 liter engine REQUIRED premium fuel ... with one exception.

What many owner's would do is fill one tank with premium and one with regular. As they drove around town (requiring acceleration) they would leave the switch on the premium tank. Once they were on a highway/freeway and up to cruise speed they would switch to the regular tank. With such a light load on the engine it would run quite happily on regular until it had consumed the entire tank. And that was the fun part, on a long trip you could literrally run the "regular" tank dry, and when the engine died, flip over to the premium tank .... and then at the first exit with a gas station, fill the regular tank up, top off the premium tank, and after using premium to get you back up to highway speed, switch back to that "cheap" regular" tank.

OK, so IMHO if the majority of your driving is either stop and go or "performance" driving .... premium is your best bet.

If you do a lot of "cruising" (especially where you set the cuise control) regular is not gonna "hurt" your engine, and you MIGHT save a small amount of money. Well, I say small, if you're driving 100,000 miles a year it may not be small .....

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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 11:32 PM
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I did a comparison on MPG and there wasn't much difference cost wise between lower octane/lower mpg, and higher octane/higher mpg. That being equal, I like the extra performance of premium, and not having to listen to it "clatter" on occasion.
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by c5streak

I did a comparison on MPG and there wasn't much difference cost wise between lower octane/lower mpg, and higher octane/higher mpg. That being equal, I like the extra performance of premium, and not having to listen to it "clatter" on occasion.
That is a GREAT way to sum it up ... Thank you ....

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Old Feb 23, 2008 | 12:16 AM
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Point blank if you can afford a vette, why put crud in it. PERIOD
I'm for buying regular in every other car Ive ever owned.
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Old Feb 23, 2008 | 09:09 AM
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Also, Sometimes it is not the octane that causes ping. If you don't use a top tier fuel, you can get deposits and that will cause pinging also.
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Old Feb 23, 2008 | 09:11 AM
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I'm not sure why anyone would want to do this. The car is designed for premium, as are many cars out there today. There is some self protection just in case designed into the PCM so it won't damage the motor, but I wouldn't do it intentionally on a daily basis.
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Old Feb 23, 2008 | 09:46 AM
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Originally Posted by screw991le
Also, Sometimes it is not the octane that causes ping. If you don't use a top tier fuel, you can get deposits and that will cause pinging also.


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Last edited by OhioDave; Feb 23, 2008 at 09:55 AM.
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