Interesting Article on Octane

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deutsch100

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Excellent article, thanks for posting. I would be really nervous to put 87 or 89 in any our our cars.

I thought BMWs Check Engine light will go on if the car detects octane lower than 91??? My aunt put 87 octane (from Costco [bigcry] in my cousin's 2003 325i, and after a day or so the warning light came on, due to low octane detected.
 
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Big Daddy

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Yes nice article and good information. Now when we have one of those long threads about running 87 octane in our BMW's designed for 91 we can say, "here read this".
 
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gpoints

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Yeah, after that article, I feel much better about putting 87 in my car. [joke]

Maybe off topic but...

If you were to buy a pre-owned car:

Would you rather purchase a car where the oil was changed at the recommended BMW interval (@ 12 - 15 K) and only used premium fuel?

Or, would you prefer a car that had the oil changed @7.5k and ran 87 octane? [drinking]
 
Average Jae

Average Jae

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and to think, i actually knew what i was talking about in the past few years [hihi]

Tom said:
Nice find Gabe, but I wonder who would be cheap enough to put Regular Unleaded in their M3? [:p]
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that would be, who is my service rep, Tom. i guess someone in the BMW engineering told him it'd be ok, and my service rep thinks its ok.

but in an every day driving situations, and in most occasions, one may not need 100% of the engine power, but i say: "erm.. you paid for it, utilize it!"
 
Militant-Grunt

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gpoints said:
Interesting article. An E46 M3 is one of their test cars:
Link [cheers]
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Dude I freaking Love you. In my high school I have a class named "Science Seminar" where I need to conduct and perform my own experiment. My experiment is EXACTLY what they did except on my LR. You've just helped me add a few pages to my paper. YOU ROCK!
 
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gpoints

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Militant-Grunt said:
Dude I freaking Love you. In my high school I have a class named "Science Seminar" where I need to conduct and perform my own experiment. My experiment is EXACTLY what they did except on my LR. You've just helped me add a few pages to my paper. YOU ROCK!
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Nice!

Maybe you should expand your experiment... Maybe one of our East Coast M3 owners will lend you their car [:D] . You know, for science. [bmwdance]
 
Militant-Grunt

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gpoints said:
Nice!

Maybe you should expand your experiment... Maybe one of our East Coast M3 owners will lend you their car [:D] . You know, for science. [bmwdance]
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hehe I wish..

According to Emile, the M3, would "own me"... so I rather not, although id still like to give an M3 a go..
 
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stf05330Ci

stf05330Ci

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Boost my Octane!

Reading that article has me stumped. It seems the test was set-up to show individuals what performance they lose/gain when they don't run the recommended fuel octane. The persons who buy high-octane (performance) vehicles inevitably should have the funds to purchase the required fuel. I know prices are a little ridiculous, but c'mon, DON'T sell yourself short. I have run 98 from day one and haven't thought about downgrading for anything! Take care of your vehicle and it will take care of you. OK, i'll stop rambling,,,
 
bmw046series

bmw046series

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Octane

Big Daddy said:
Yes nice article and good information. Now when we have one of those long threads about running 87 octane in our BMW's designed for 91 we can say, "here read this".
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I agree!

At any rate, if it says premium buy it if it says unleaded gasoline - buy regular - you will pay for it one way or another! As the article states--even if you put regular in you will end up paying for the premium because you are dampering the engine and forcing it to work harder (not good) and you have less MPG! Well Duh! [?|] ]

If you have a diesel put in Cooking Oil! I can't wait for BMW to sell diesels here, I Love them!
 
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gpoints

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stf05330Ci said:
Reading that article has me stumped. It seems the test was set-up to show individuals what performance they lose/gain when they don't run the recommended fuel octane. The persons who buy high-octane (performance) vehicles inevitably should have the funds to purchase the required fuel. I know prices are a little ridiculous, but c'mon, DON'T sell yourself short. I have run 98 from day one and haven't thought about downgrading for anything! Take care of your vehicle and it will take care of you. OK, i'll stop rambling,,,
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Performance loss, on a car with with a know sensor, means your ignition timing is being retarded due to detonation. Detonation is what is "hard" on your engine. [cheers]
 
MrElussive

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One important plus to premium fuel is that it keeps the injectors cleaner, so over time your engine won't suffer in fuel economy, emissions, and performance due to dirty injectors.
 
Average Jae

Average Jae

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gpoints said:
Performance loss, on a car with with a know sensor, means your ignition timing is being retarded due to detonation. Detonation is what is "hard" on your engine. [cheers]
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but doesn't that defeat the purpose of having an engine then? engine is made to "detonate" to get you the go power! you just have to live with it. i don't quite get your point.. unless it was a joke.

off topic but, dyk that oxygen is what ultimately kills the cells and humans? well unless cancer gets you first. are you going to breath less because of that fact?

and i thought the cold starts were the hardest on your engine.. [scratch]
 
N

newguy

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Great article. I have a question???...why pay the money for a "performance" vehicle, then kinda dumb it down with regular fuel..hmmmm you could save the money up front by buying something that runs on regular gas. Isn't the idea to maximize the performance?? I dunno...juat a thought
 
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Big Daddy

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Average Jae said:
but doesn't that defeat the purpose of having an engine then? engine is made to "detonate" to get you the go power! you just have to live with it. i don't quite get your point.. unless it was a joke.

off topic but, dyk that oxygen is what ultimately kills the cells and humans? well unless cancer gets you first. are you going to breath less because of that fact?

and i thought the cold starts were the hardest on your engine.. [scratch]
Click to expand...

I believe what he meant was "pre-detonation", engine kncok, or pinging. When the fuel in the cylinders dentoantes before it is supposed to.
 
Average Jae

Average Jae

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so pre-detonations are hard on your engine? if true, i did not know that..

i just thought pre-detonations wasn't good for the sheer fact that you couldn't achieve best engine performance because the gas was burning up before it got into the chamber.
 
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