From Premium to REG????

[turbomangt]

Today gas near me (Chicago) was $375 for Premium, which is what I've been using in my turbo. I don't want to screw up my engine but this is getting rediculous. With prices approaching 5 bucks a gallon, can we go down in grade without effecting our engines?? Gary[:I]

[bigdogdad]

There really isn't too much difference in $5/gal or $4.70/gal is there? You could always buy a Harley.

[Espresso]

quote:Originally posted by bigdogdad

There really isn't too much difference in $5/gal or $4.70/gal is there? You could always buy a Harley.

Hell yeah there is ..Look at the Big picture.

30¢/gal x12= $3.60 tank( more if you can squeeze more than 12 gallons into your tank..I cant)
Times that by say 6 fill ups a month( avg cruiser gets 240 MPT)=1440 miles. A fairly conservative number for most.
At the least thats $21/month times that by 12. That is $252 year.

You may say.."that isnt that much". But you have to figure, at the rate it has gone up, unless you have money falling out of your butt. You need to budget for that extra in fuel. ALOT of peopel these days are already strapped for cash. The actual increase in the price has cause financial restraint on most. $252 dollars a year is like wasting a month of electric & car insurance( that is about the number those cost for myself)
SO....
Last month it cost me $21 to fill the tank on my car. This month...$35. That is an extra $14 per tank x 4 tanks is $48. Times that by 12= $576, PLUS the added $252. That equals $828 a year IF the prices stay how they are right now....SO YES 30 cents a tank IS ALOT of cash.

[bigdogdad]

Ok, agree with you to a degree. After all, Chrysler says that our GT's don't have to have high test, that they will only get there full potential with it. So, high test or regular, totally up to the car owner.

Now, just how much driving do people do that could be consider "BS" driving? Up to the corner store for the paper. Later in day, go to Home Depot, in the evening go out to dinner. Next day, go to car wash, go home only to go back to Home Depot and so on. People have to start planning their trips better to be more benificial, especially if the raising price is a major concern to them and their pocket book.

[MichaelDay]

At $3 a gallon for regular, $3.20 a gallon for premium which is a typical difference, is a savings of 6.25%. If you drive carefully you can easily increase your fuel mileage by 10-20% from more lively driving. If you combine practicing driving like there is an egg between your foot and the accelerator and planning your trips carefully to minimize the stop and go traffic your will see your fuel bill drop.

If you do drive with great restraint, then you can safely back down on the grade of gasoline.

Of course planning your trips is the only one of those options that doesn't take away the advantages that you paid extra for by buying the GT in the first place.

[Gary04GT]

quote:Originally posted by turbomangt
...With prices approaching 5 bucks a gallon, can we go down in grade without effecting our engines?? Gary[:I]

Sure, you most likely can do it as the PCM will make the necessary adjustments. I will not use anything but premium in my STAGE 1 turbo--unless, of course, it isnt't available at all and my tank is approaching empty. [:0] Furthermore, I bought my turbo for maximum power/performance and will not compromise this by saving a few cents a gallon by using regular gas. Just my two cents. [8]

From the news reports I've heard most of the gas shortages around the country in the past 24 hours have to do with stations being out of regular gasoline, not premium.

[rszappa1]

And it aint going to get any better. I have to agree with Gary. Stage one need premuim...period...If you cant afford that you should not have stage one. Put your old pcm in and go back to regular.

[SteelBlueGT]

Guys what has changed? The cost difference between regular and midlle grade and high grade has actually narrowed in So Calif! It is now 8 cents between grades use to be ten cents. So it is, in percentage and real terms, cheaper to use premium than ever before!![8D] I could not believe it when I put $35 in my Cruised last time and probably will be $40 or more this weekend.[8)]

[crazyjoe]

Gary,

Switch to Regular if you like. I've been running it in my non-Stage1 for a while now. You motice it slightly the first tank, but then it stops becoming obvious.

If you're not doing a lot of full-throttle driving these days (and who is, given the price of gas) you won't notice it.

[Espresso]

REGULAR =87 OCT..

I agree about the Stage1 deal. IF your fuel/boost is modified in any way to give you more power. You SHOULD by all means use anything BUT regular.
Unless you can physically turn down the boost & adjust the fuel yourself, then do not use regular. Remember more boost is an artifical compression increaser. As we all know higher compression, requires better grade( higher octane) fuel. Start with hi test, then slowly add mid grade, if you like, but if you notice ANY detonation, STOP USING IT!!! You can very well melt pistions this way.
I'm not used to PT cruiser Stages. With DSM's( just abotu any other turbo car i've worked on) we use dataloggers, A/F gauges, EGT gauges, laptops, ect..
We dont rely on factory stages of modification..we WANT to know what is going on. Not hope the factory has it right.
Hence a 4g63 just went 8.13 @ 177mph in the 1/4 mile. YES a 4 cylinder