If higher octane fuel is recommended for your engine, you can use lower octane fuel if your engine has a knock sensor. It will adjust the timing to tolerate the lower octane fuel when it detects pre-ignition, with a corresponding decrease in power. Consult your owner's manual.
Ethanol contains less energy per gallon than gasoline so you will realize a small decrease in MPG when using fuel with 10% ethanol (virtually all regular fuel is 10% ethanol). In terms of cost effectiveness, regular fuel with 10% ethanol is better than ethanol free fuel as the percentage increase in MPG with ethanol free fuel is much less than the percentage increase in the cost of ethanol free fuel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa
Modern engines are intended to run fine on unleaded, regular grade gasoline.
High octane gas is not needed due to the low compression ratio of cart engines and most automobile engines. (Don't try to run a six cylinder BMW on regular grade gas.)
Any ethanol degrades the efficiency of the engine, but ethanol added gas is usually used by most gas stations in order to offer the gas at a cheaper price. It degrades the burning quality of the gasoline.
I buy gas for the cart at any regular gas station that I am near when I decide to buy gas.
If convenient, I would prefer gas with no ethanol. Actually, I'd like to constantly run non-ethanol gas in my Cadillac. The "brain" in the car recognizes the quality of gas and adjusts engine settings accordingly. I would get a peppier engine and better gas mileage if my gas had no ethanol.
But, you can use any regular gasoline from any gas station.
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