{"id":519248,"date":"2010-04-07T13:15:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T17:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/?p=42822"},"modified":"2010-04-07T13:15:40","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T17:15:40","slug":"unleaded-premium-fuel-is-a-scam-fact-or-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/519248","title":{"rendered":"Unleaded Premium Fuel Is A Scam: Fact Or Fiction?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_42823\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 510px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/unleaded-premium-fuel-is-a-scam-fact-or-fiction\/diesel-fuel-price-atlanta-2-09_100178919_l\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-42823\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/diesel-fuel-price-atlanta-2-09_100178919_l-500x375.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"diesel-fuel-price-atlanta-2-09_100178919_l\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"size-large wp-image-42823\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is saving $6.00 per tank worth the risk of a blown motor?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 10px 0pt 0pt; width: 54px; float: left;\"><a type=\"box_count\" name=\"fb_share\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 10px 0pt 0pt; width: 54px; float: left;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>A friend of mine (let\u2019s call him \u201cStan\u201d) is one of the smartest guys I know.  He just authored a book on business process and works for one of the big financial powerhouses as some sort of a training guru.  He recently hit me up for a recommendation on a domestic sedan, so I countered with the usual list of questions.  One of them was \u201care you willing to use premium unleaded fuel\u201d, to which Stan replied  \u201cunleaded premium is a scam\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>When I stopped screaming at my email, I realized that if Stan thought this was the case, then so do a lot of other people.  Manufacturer\u2019s don\u2019t do a good job of explaining this, and dealers are reluctant to point out that your new car will cost you more money to operate than you thought.  So what\u2019s the real deal?  Is unleaded premium a requirement, a luxury or a scam?  If you need it, why do you need it?<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-42822\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42824\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 281px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/unleaded-premium-fuel-is-a-scam-fact-or-fiction\/piston_preignition_damage\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-42824\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/piston_preignition_damage.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"piston_preignition_damage\" width=\"271\" height=\"256\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42824\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uh oh: pistons aren&#8217;t supposed to look like this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>First, let\u2019s start with a little science.  A fuel\u2019s octane rating indicates how combustible it really is; contrary to popular belief, low octane fuels (standard unleaded) are more combustible than high octane fuels; specifically, they have a lower flashpoint.  High octane fuels have a higher flashpoint because they\u2019re intended for use in high compression engines.  Oh, crap, I\u2019ve lost you, haven\u2019t I?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s back up one step and think about how a four stroke motor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/want-to-see-a-running-4-stroke-motor-from-the-inside\/\">works<\/a>.  When the piston starts up the cylinder in the compression stage, both the pressure and the temperature inside that cylinder rise.  In a diesel motor, this compression alone is enough to create the ignition; in a gasoline motor, a spark is usually required.  Why do I say usually?  Because using the wrong, low octane fuel can cause the air \/ fuel mixture to ignite before it\u2019s supposed to.  This is called detonation, and bad things happen to motors with uncontrolled detonation.  Things that require motors to be replaced or rebuilt.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42826\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 510px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/unleaded-premium-fuel-is-a-scam-fact-or-fiction\/piston\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-42826\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/piston-500x279.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"piston\" width=\"500\" height=\"279\" class=\"size-large wp-image-42826\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Connecting rods aren&#8217;t supposed to look like this, either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here\u2019s the good news:  modern technology has a way to address this. A device called a \u201cknock sensor\u201d, usually positioned on the side of the engine block, listens for the noises associated with detonation.  When it senses them, it signals the motor to retard the timing, which allows the combustion to occur when it\u2019s supposed to.  The down side is that when this happens, you motor is making less power than the manufacturer intended it to.  It&#8217;s literally trying to keep itself from blowing up.<\/p>\n<p>Now some bad news:  knock sensors can\u2019t always correct ignition timing enough to compensate for the wrong octane fuel.  The editor of an automotive website recently found this out the hard way, when the brand-new Cadillac SRX Turbo he was driving blew it\u2019s motor climbing a mountain pass outside of Ventura, California.  The editor admitted to mistakenly filling the press fleet vehicle with regular unleaded instead of the required premium; the sequence of events that followed (retarded spark, turbo boost, cylinder overpressure, cracked engine block) left him stranded by the side of the road.  Per Cadillac engineers, use of the wrong fuel was a contributing factor and not the primary cause; still, the incident may not have happened had the editor used the grade of fuel specified by the manufacturer.<\/p>\n<p>Confused?  Don\u2019t be, because here\u2019s the breakdown:  if your owner\u2019s manual says unleaded premium only, use it every time you tank up.  Sure, you\u2019ll pay a few dollars more each time you fill up, but I\u2019ll bet that it\u2019ll still be less expensive over the life of the car than buying a new motor.  If you want to see what fuel is required BEFORE you buy a car, just check inside the gas cap lid.  If it says, \u201cpremium fuel only\u201d, that\u2019s what you need to use.<\/p>\n<p>If your manual says \u201cpremium fuel recommended\u201d  you can probably get by using the mid-grade stuff for normal driving.  If you\u2019re towing a trailer or driving in extreme conditions (up mountain passes, across the desert in summer, etc.), then buck up for a tank of premium.  Don\u2019t use the cheap stuff, no matter how tempting it may be.<\/p>\n<p>So what if your manual just calls for the use of \u201cunleaded fuel\u201d?  Can you get better performance by running premium unleaded?  Is the good stuff formulated to run cleaner, remove harmful deposits, whiten your teeth and leave your laundry smelling spring fresh?  In a word, no; running premium fuel in cars that don\u2019t require it will do nothing other than drain your wallet more quickly.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/JOpnISKFq2kRAYKLL5eYDvplX7E\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/JOpnISKFq2kRAYKLL5eYDvplX7E\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/JOpnISKFq2kRAYKLL5eYDvplX7E\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/JOpnISKFq2kRAYKLL5eYDvplX7E\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is saving $6.00 per tank worth the risk of a blown motor? Share A friend of mine (let\u2019s call him \u201cStan\u201d) is one of the smartest guys I know. He just authored a book on business process and works for one of the big financial powerhouses as some sort of a training guru. He recently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-519248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}