I'm CHEAP!

How cheap am I???

I'm so cheap I try to save other people money. Just ask Rudy!

Why do I post my DIY's and How To's? To save people money!
Why did I have stickers made? To save people money!
Why did I build SuperCoolers? To save people money!

What fuel do I run in my Crossfires???

Premium baby!

There's "cheap" and then there's "cheap".

Don't be cheap!

 

What can I say, the guy's cheap. Hehe

BTW, how many of those stickers you have left?

 

About a zillion. You?

Don't think that I sold any BLACK ones. Those guys are REALLY CHEAP!

 

Hmmm, I sold all of the black ones. I have about a dozen or so left between all the other colors.

 

That's cuz yers were prettier than mine!

I have ALL of the BLACK stickers left (10 right facing/10 left facing). Not one sold.
7 of each RED
5 Left/4 right of the GRAY
5 each WHITE
7 each BLUE

 

Well that's a lot better than I thought. I figured with the zillions number thrown out there that you were still 100+ LOL

 

I was just using ballpark figures.

 

Oh my, nothing like hijacking a thread......

I have been using the premium octane here, it is set up locally 87, 89, and 93. Since I hear from some they use the regular I might try the mid grade here and see how the motor reacts. Every once in a while, I will hook up the OBDII tool to see if any problems come up (as well as listen for any noise in the motor).

Yeah I'm "cheap" too. Thats how I got to be where I am today. One of those TV Judge's says "The cheap turns out expensive". I have found out the cheap usually has pocket money, and isn't in debt up to his or her eyeballs.

 

I typically run 89 in mine. Occasionally I run 91, and there are very few stations around me that go up to 93.

89 and 91 aren't hard to swallow usually, as they're typically 10-20cents more than 87 (though sometimes they can get up to 50cents more). 93 is like running the car on 50 year old wine.

 

OK, filled the tank with 12.81 gallons of 89 octane. On the drive home it sure wasn't noticable. It did have some 93 still in it to mix with the 89 so lets have a couple more refills before I decide if there is any performance or drive problem noticed.

 

I get free 89 octane at work and I still don't use it. My Impala sucks it up though. My boss thinks I'm just bein' a big shot because I said my car doesn't want that grade and I'm not putting it in.HE puts it in both his vehicles which call for 93 but is too much of a cheapskate to buy his own fuel. I am an "I told ya so" kinda guy, so I'm just sittin' back and waiting.

 

I work at an engineering college and one of the professors is a fuel expert. So, I asked him the question about octane, compression and knock. Here is the engineerese translated into plain english.
(Disclaimer: It is your car, you do with it how you feel is right...)

Octane controls the temperature where the fuel self ignites. The higher the octane the higher the temperature. There is more to it than this, but this is generally how it works.
In the winter, the refineries up the octane of all the fuels. This is to maintain engine performance and emissions.

Compression causes heat. If the compression of an engine is high enough and the octane of the fuel is low enough the fuel will ignite before the spark and this causes knock. The NA Crossfire has a high compression engine so higher octane is a must.

In the hot summer, the intake air is already warm, then it is compressed and even hotter. A low octane fuel (87) would probably knock and give the car fits even though you won't hear it. That is why in the summer you have to run 91+ octane fuel in the XF. In an emergency, 89 would work as long as you drove conservatively. If you drive in a spirited fashion, 91+ is the only way.

In the winter, the intake air is much cooler (well, in my neck of the woods) so the cylinder will be cooler during compression. A winter 89 octane fuel is probably closer to 91. An average driver could run 89 octane fuel in the winter without any problems. An advantage to using 89 fuel is it will start much better when the engine is cold. Again, lower octane lower temperature for ignition.

The SRT folks should run 91+ all the time because they are double compressing the air. Sorry people, hot car, hot fuel!!!

This is my 2 cents...
Mark

 

When will all the experts factor in the smart PCMs (Powertrain Control Modules) that are now in todays vehicles?

Lets just run a few months/tankfuls and see if anything bad shows up. If these M112 motors are so 91 octane thirsty, I shudder to think about all the fuel tanks out there that have the wrong grade in them or have a high moisture content suspended in the fuel. Surely 2 points under the RECOMMENDED octane can be automatically adjusted within the PCMs parameters? Because if it cannot, the 2 points ABOVE the recommended 91 octane must hurt as well. All I see around here in the southeast, is 87, 89, and 93. I refuse to put 1/2 of my fill 93 and the other 1/2 fill 89 (89+93 devided by 2 = 91. That would be absolutely crazy!

After a couple of tanks, I'll hook up the OBDII and see if any DTC's are reported!

 

You use the word RECOMMENDED here, this is not factual at all. Go outside and look on the fuel door, it does not say recommended - it says PREMIUM FUEL ONLY! In my eyes, premium would be the best you can get, in my case, 93 octane and I will not put anything less in it. Our mitsu endeavor, on the other hand, says premium fuel recommended, so I put 91 or 89 in this vehicle. As stated before, I do not think you are going to get any noticeable issues with a few tank fulls, but after 50K miles of a 87 grade, I can guarantee the guts of your motor will not look as good as mine

 

I agree that 87 octane in a 91+ only vehicle is not good at all. However, octane is not the only factor in keeping an engine performing as it should. I remember watching a History Channel program about pipelines and one comment made was that gas is gas. All the fuel station people get the same gasoline out of the same pipeline. The difference is the additives that are added to the fuel that makes one better than the other. I used Casey's General Store fuel for a couple years in a Pacifica. It was getting 19 MPG. I changed jobs (driving the same roads) and started getting fuel from Shell (about $0.05 more) and I started getting 23 MPG. The vehicle started running better, idling better and the like.
I only put Shell or BP in my Crossfire unless I can't find them, then it is Marathon as a last resort. I wouldn't blink twice about putting 89 octane Shell in the tank. There is something to be said for quality...

I think I'm up to 4 cents now...
Mark

 

BoilerUpXFire, you really should read more closely. you said "As stated before, I do not think you are going to get any noticeable issues with a few tank fulls, but after 50K miles of a 87 grade, I can guarantee the guts of your motor will not look as good as mine " right?

Where did I say I was going to put 87 octane in my car? I said 89 octane, I believe...

Does this sentence look or sound familiar? "Every mechanic I have ever spoken to has told me to abide by the recommendation from the manufacturer, they have hundreds of thousands of hours in torture testing every part of the automobile and make this recommendation for a reason." It is from your post (number 17). You mentioned recommendation in it, oh my, I said recommended..... Come on......

Do me a favor, leave me out of your rants. If your going to jump someone's a$$ do it for the right reasons. Now will you let me put whatever the hell I want to put in my gas tank? If not, then pay for it and I'll let you (as long as its 91 octane or higher).....

 

Just did a full fill up of 93 the other day! It was great because at one station it was $2.85 for 89, and this one was $2.85 for 93.

 

As usual, this is just one of probably a dozen or so threads about what grade of gasoline should be used in a Crossfire, and there always seems to be somebody who doesn't feel it's necessary to use a premium grade fuel in their car simply because they don't notice any difference in its performance when they do.
That being said, and with this being a rather friendly forum where everybody is usually more than willing to help out another Crossfire owner, I'd like to make a suggestion.
Go ahead and run what ever fuel that you want to run in your car. If it seems to be working out for you, then congratulations. Just do us (on the forum) a favor by writing #87 on the back page of your owners manual, or some place under the hood. That way anybody (here on the forum) will know what kind of fuel was used in the Crossfire that they may be considering on purchasing in the future when it winds up on some dealers "used" car lot. Then we can choose to pass on it and look for another one.
It will be "our" little secret, sort of like a secret hand shake kind of thing.

 

+fireamx, thats a funny one!

I'm all for a secret handshake!

Anytime you buy a car, you should have a competent mechanic go over it in detail. Of course, you have to find a competent mechanic first! You might suggest those who race, track, abuse, or otherwise think they own a pocket-rocket also provide the next potential owner copies of all their escapades. Surely the new potential owner will want to know the cylinders (and any other vital organs) are about to drop out of the block?

My XF runs great (so far) on a mixture of 89 and 93 (much more 89 than 93 I might add), just waiting for more miles traveled! After a few tankfuls I will hook up my OBDII and re-evaluate 89v93. I look forward to having this car with its original motor until I die or it becomes a classic worth thousands! (Hahahahahahahaaaa)

BTW, I just scored a 1:18 scale Maisto Special Edition XF Coupe ma41140k(s) brand new for $24.75 delivered. It looks GREAT! Although I will not be using 93, 91, 89, or 87 octane in it, it makes me run like I have avgas in "my" tank!

 

Too lazy to type witty response, I am sorry if you thought I was flaming you or ranting, not my intention. Do whatever you wish, it is your car.