The majority of drivers have absolutely no clue of the major differences between the octane options they have at the local gas station. They spend thousands of dollars every year filling their cars up with gas, without knowing enough to make an education decision about the product offerings. Some will always use the cheap gasoline based on price alone, and others always use the higher octane, more expensive gas because they think it makes their car run better or last longer. Hopefully, this article can give you a little insight about the gasoline you depend on every day and help you make the right decision at the pump.
The gasoline offered across the country usually come in three different octane levels: 87, 89, and 93. These can vary a little, but are typically close to these numbers. Octane is gasoline’s resistance to being ignited and burning. The higher the rating number, the more resistance is provided. This means that 87 octane will ignite and burn before 93 octane will.
Why is gas rated like this? It is done this way because some automobiles, especially your high performance cars, have higher compression ratios and more advanced timing that take advantage of the higher, harder to burn octanes.
Higher octanes can also be useful when your car starts knocking and pinging. This knocking and pinging sound results when your gasoline ignites prematurely due to compression heating it up, causing it to ignite when your engine is not ready for it. Putting a higher octane, which is harder to ignite, usually fixes this problem.
Now, lets deal with the common misconception that putting higher octane gasoline, which is considerably more expensive per gallon, in your old rust bucket gives your car more power. This is a myth some oil executive somewhere probably started, that still seems to be floating around.
Putting a high octane gasoline in your automobile does not give it more power, and could potentially be harmful to your engine. The high octane gas as stated before is harder to burn, therefore, if your car cannot produce the right amount of heat to completely burn the gas, the waste product becomes part of your engine. If you are running higher octane gasoline in your car, and your car does not need it, you are probably leaving carbon deposits behind that can damage your engine.
The octane rating you should be using is what the manufacturer recommended in your owners manual. If you do not have the manual, you can typically find the proper octane rating on the internet. This should be your first course of action. The manufacturer built the car so they should know the right gas to use to get maximum efficiency. Find out the octane your engine was designed to use and always use that rating.