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fuzzykitten99 said:i figured that it had something to do with compression and air/fuel mix.
as far as the higher octane output, what will ethanol do for vehicles that run on plain 87 octane, which is pretty much 99% of the vehicles out there? granted, our Caddy takes 91 octane, though you can use a lower grade in a pinch (no other grade available), but the engine will knock a bit.
won't putting a higher-than-recommended octane level in the car potentially damage the engine?
No it won't. What the octane level in gasoline is really is it's resistance to detonation. Lower octane fuels will detonate at lower temperatures than higher octane fuels. How they determine that is, they compress the fuel until the heat of the compression detonates it. The higher the compression and temp it takes, the higher octane rating the fuel has. That knocking sound you hear when you put a lower octane fuel in your caddy is the fuel actually detonating on the outer edges of your combustion chamber first, and then that meeting the burning fuel detonated by your spark plug. They collide in your combustion chamber. This is bad. It can damage the outer edge of your piston, and that can put pressure on your upper compression ring lands, or grooves, which in turn will crack your rings, and then you can have all sorts of fun, expensive things happen to your engine from that. So, it's usually OK to burn a higher octane fuel, but never really good to burn a lower octane.
fuzzykitten99 said:Unless engine mods to switch the engine over, are fairly inexpensive, I fail to see most of America changing vehicles that quickly.
I would think that the only mods neccessary to a fuel injected auto would be to reflash the ECM with new fuel and ignition maps. Ten minutes. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't think by much.
fuzzykitten99 said:I look at it this way. We were in a similar situation with fuel prices 20 years ago. Manufacturers produced cars to meet fuel efficiency demands of consumers. Then things got better, fuel was cheap again, and people began to drive cars with bigger engines again. It just seems like history is repeating itself, so I plan to just wait it out, adjust my fuel budget as needed, and not panic. Besides, I have seen more just-purchased trucks on the road recently, than I have in the past 3 years. I saw 4 on the way home from work today. People must not be that panicked about fuel prices going up. We just got our '92 Seville in November, complete with a 4.9l v8. Not the greatest in fuel efficiency (avg 22 mpg), but we still get about a week's worth. Plus the price, the mileage, and the fact it is mint condition (spare a few minor dents/scratches) and fully loaded were a big factor.