Trying to get your thoughts, in the Southeast there has been a severe gas shortage due to Hurricane Ike and pipeline issues.

Due to the fact they are trying to get any gas to our areas, the only reliable supply of gas is 87 octane regular unleaded.

If I add an octane booster to this 87 should that be OK?

Also after talking to two station managers they indicated that their 93 Premium tanks are near bottom so that means even if they recieve small shipments of 93 octane the pumps will probably pull up particulates and trash.

Your thoughts?

Thanks
Don

 

as a general rule it is not a great idea to use octane boost with 87 octane. however, if 87 octance is the only gas available then i would say that putting the octance boost in would be better than running just 87 octane. some people run only 87 as of right now. it retards the timing and may not keep your engine as clean.

in my opinion, the fuel savings for regular vs. premium is not going to outweigh the added maintenane regular fuel and engine breakdown may cost you....


but like i said for a short time while it is the only thing in supply, your car will be ok..


my $.02

 

A couple of tanks of 87 octane aren't going to hurt your car. You might not win any races, but the computer keep any damage from happening.

 

Just try not to do much WOT driving until you have the proper octane in your car to play it safe.

 

Odds are the pump that says 87....really has an octane rating ...higher....probably due to ETOH in it, all they're required to tell you is the "minimum" octane rating.

 

I personally haven't experimented with different grades of fuel on the XF, but the manual and cap on the car state that it's 91 octane or higher only. So I would definitely be cautious with 87. Having said that, assuming these cars have knock sensors and they have a fairly low CR (the CR in my turbo VW was higher than the CF!), you could be ok. Just drive it lightly, IMO. If you notice the car starts to knock quite a bit, though, I'd be concerned.

Personally, I'd start off with maybe a quarter of a tank of regular, drive it lightly, when it's cool out, and see how it does. I'm not sure that octane booster is going to give you what you are looking for however. If possible, I would see if you can travel to neighboring towns to see if they have any higher grades available.

 

Premium fuel back in our market with good supply and much better pricing!

Thanks
Don