I do not have any mods on my 09 SS TC

i was told to use premium. but i was under the impression thats only if i put a stage 3 in it?

help? lol

I just filled up tonight for the first time and used 87octan

 

I wouldn't start using 87 octane on a regular basis. It should say in your manual to use premium (either 91 or 93)

 

hmmmm good to know...ill start using 93... sonoco is gonna love me haha

 

If you love your car you'll run premium no questions asked. It's always better to run higher octane. Your car runs better and cleaner. And as stated before your manual should say use either 91 or 93 octane. Depending on what's available to you. Think about it. It's only a few cents more a litre and your looking at like $5 extra a tank if you fill it. There really is no downside to running premium IMO. Hell, I even run premium in my winter beater 1.6L CRX.

 

Um, seriously? Lets do the math here. The difference between 87 octane and 91-93 is about 15-20 cents per gallon of fuel.

So if you put 10 gallons in, your looking at a difference of about 1.50-2.00$. Not a huge wallet buster.

Anything that is boosted should always have 91-93 octane PREMIUM.

 

I disagree.
Use the recommended fuel type for your vehicle.
I ran 91 stock and now 94 tuned.

Higher grade octane keeps the detonation down in performance vehicles.

94 in a winter beater is a waste of 5$ a week.

 

does anybody see there being a problem using 90? im over seas n the only thing avaiable is 90octane. i havent notice any short temr problems, but will be here for 3 yrs. thanks

 

I run 91 in my Cobalt SS, it's the best we can get here. Just use what's available. If you start getting spark knock maybe look in to a meth system?

 

i dont quite know what spark knock. could u explain

 

http://www.aa1car.com/library/spark_knock.htm

Follow the link. It'll explain everything there.

 

Funny, a few gas stations around me jump 20cents per grade. So if regualer is 2.50, mid grade is 2.70 and premium is 2.92 (v-power). So for me, it is an extra $4.00 a tank.

But I run E-85 now and save $6-8/fill-up

Using a higher grade fuel than what is called for by the owner's manual wastes it. The car will lose a little bit of performance and mpg. The higher grade fuel is too resistive to detonation and that is why you will lose power. Use what the car was designed to run on

 

Running high octane in cars that do not require will give no benefit. If you want to run "cleaner" just run a fuel system cleaner in your tank if your that concerned about that.

High compression engines need higher octane fuels to prevent detonation. The higher the octane of fuel, the less likely it is to ignite until the piston in in the proper stage for ignition. Follow your owners manual...and it will state Premium fuel is "recommended". If you go w/ the stage kit...Premium fuel is "required". I would never run a boosted car w/o the highest possible octane I could get in my area, and make sure the tune is for that (if you get tuned other then GM). I've had issues going from having 93 octane in my Audi A4 to only getting 91 Octane when I relocated to CA, had to have the car retuned for the lower octane.

 

+1 on the "running higher octane than the manufacturer recommends is a waste of $$$" logic.

But the manual for the TC/SS says use premium. Like they say, you gotta' pay to play. If I didn't plan on using premium, I'd have gotten a LS/LT.

 

Shell Vpower 93. 3.19 a gallon. winter is here so no more of that.
Just $9 bucks a gallon for my sled

 

Open your fuel door and read the inside, it states right there 91 recommended; you had to open it to fill the car .

Thank you, you saved me from writing the exact same thing.

 

I run Shell only now, and premium. I tried Sunoco again and the car was knocking like crazy! Filled with Shell next time and 0 KR again. **** anything except Shell!

What is a stage 3????? LOL

 

I'm surprised you were the first one to see "stage 3"

Always run higher octane in boosted cars. Normally premium to avoid knock. Stay away from Sunoco!!! I don't know why but that gas makes cars knock like crazy (many many experiences)

93 Octane is actually required after stg1 according to the manual I recieved. 91 should be sufficient for all others for gm to conform to Cali gas standards.

 

Stage III is a Snapse turbo Ecotechnik System

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/showthread.php?t=142806

Now I doubt he was talking about this kit (I'm sure he is talking about the GMS1)....but you wanted to know what SIII was, it was used by Synapse turbo at the onset of the kit. Now its mostly referred to as the Ecotechnik Kit

 

Stock, I ran 93 from Shell or the next best brand and grade I could get a hold of (91).

With my stage eleventy-billion I don't put anything BUT 93 in her.

Seriously, what is the deal with people using the term, "stage."

Anyways, with any boosted car, I can almost guarantee that the manual recommends premium. With a tune, you MUST run 90+.

Either way, this thread and the original question are retarded and have been hashed over a million times on teh interwebs.

That's retarded advice. Premium does not run cleaner or better on cars that don't need it. Hell, octane has nothing to do with cleanliness at all.

You are correct, that our cars require it, because of the forced induction.

Actually, the downside to premium in a car designed for 87 is lower gas mileage. If the engine does not have high enough compression to warrant the higher octane, the fuel doesn't burn as efficiently as it could with the lower octane. So not only are you getting worse gas mileage, but you are spending more per gallon to do it.

It's a common misconception, which is helped by the gas companies, that higher octane fuel is, "better." It is NOT true, and octane ONLY refers to the atomized gas' ability to withstand pre-ignition.

Here's a read about octane:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-e...question90.htm

 

Dude just put the highest available octane at ur local gas station, dont be a cheap ass by putting 87 in, ur pretty much running ur car into a pole.

 

i can get higher than 93. but ill put 93 in it from now on

 

I use regular and I put the good stuff in about once a year. I change my fuel filter ever 10,000-15,000miles. I get 30mpg in town out of a 2005 ss/sc. Changing the fuel filter more often makes up for the lower quality gas but it still all has ethenol in it here so it still cloggs the filter just as much no matter what type you get.

FYI- to make the fuel pump last longer dont go under 1/4 tank.

 

i had an 06 SS non supercharged and we asked them before we drove off the lot if we were supposed to use regular or premium and they said regular so we did that for a yr adn it screwed up our injectors. I wil only use premium in my 09 turbo.

 

87 vs 91-93 had no effect on that. You just had some defective injectors. Running low octane causes detonation under high compression (boost for sc/tc'd cars)....Has nothing to do with injector's at all

GD lol.....Ethanol is one of the best cleaners you could possible use in your engine. Running high ethanol vs regular gasoline has been proven to maintain a cleaner engine. Now this in a DI engine really does not matter, being the DI engine does not get the cleaning effect from gas, since its just sprayed into the piston.

Going under a 1/4 tank does not cause issues. Change your fuel filter sometime

 

Just to confirm, are you claiming 30 mpg city on an SS/SC with the wrong fuel in it?