[V8] Gasoline

[NicolCS at aol.com]

Regular fuel is probably OK for "in town" use however you might not actually 
save any money.  The knock sensor will cause the ECM to retard the timing.  
Power and fuel economy will go down.  The retarded spark will also cause higher 
EGT so I don't recommend highway driving on regular - you may burn an exhast 
valve due to the retarded timing.  The ECM may set a code if it maxes out the 
timing retard and spark-knock continues. (Code 2141).  I had a premium fuel 
Astro van that I ran on regular in town and premium on the highway and it was 
still happy at 150k.  If you hear ANY spark-knock, that's destructive and you 
either have an inop KS or the octane is too low to be workable. I wouldn't 
recommend more than 10 minutes at highway speeds and do not drive when knocking is 
present.  Check your fuel economy.  If it's down by 20% there's no point in 
buying fuel that's 20% cheaper. 
Craig Nicol


The gasoline costs are going up and in north bend the costs are huge. I 
am wondering what the thoughts of feeding the car regular grade gasoline 
is? Will it cause problems I have been using premium and I can still do 
it but will regular damage it?