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GAS!

SVTGeorge

CEG'er
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
141
I am new, I did Search, now With Gas being absolutely ridiculous, at 3.99 Gal + ,Premium , I have a 2000 Contour SVT And On the Gas gauge it reads " Premium Fuel Only" Now Has anyone Tried 87 or 89 octane Does The car React differently? Is it because of the high Compression we need to use 93? Because If I can put 89 atleast I will do it Because by summer time gas is going to be over 4 dollars maybe at 5 CRAZY, I remember when people freaked if it went to $1.87 HA I wish It was at that

Thanks For the Help Guys!!!
 
i would never ever buy midgrade (89)

the reason is, its mostly mixed with regular. i remember when i worked at a gas station and checking the tanks the midgrade and regular tanks were always the same level. i dont know how it works but its weird. also the price difference from regular-midgrade is around here usually 20cents, then from midgrade to premium its 10cents. combine that with the octane difference and you get 2 octane for 20cents or 4 octane for 10cents if you jump one level.

besides 10cents for 10 gallons is $1... is that $ worth it? just dont buy a soft drink or a lotto ticket and youll save more than a dollar :)
 
You didnt think to look in your glovebox manual first? It clearly says they recommend 91/93 but you can use other grades without physically damaging anything. Noe performance and mileage will vary but thats the trade off you chose to make.
 
You didnt think to look in your glovebox manual first? It clearly says they recommend 91/93 but you can use other grades without physically damaging anything.

But you won't get as good of gas mileage. The engine will not run as efficiently. Just pay the extra dollar per fill up. I'm sure most people fill up on average about once a week. A dollar a week for a year is a whopping $52.
 
I think you can mix your own midgrade with low and hi test (ie 5 gallons of each etc.) and come out a couple cents cheaper. So I hear. Check it.

Mike
 
Check your math. Using 93 instead of 87 would be $4.50 and using 89 would be $2.25. Not a huge difference but enough to make some people consider using a lower grade.

I didn't do any math, I was just trying to point out that the quantity is nearly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. There are much bigger expenditures that can be eliminated besides gas. I'll probably be spending about $100 a week in gas this summer. But as long as I make the money, who cares?
 
There are much bigger expenditures that can be eliminated besides gas. But as long as I make the money, who cares?

Two very good points. Eat at home an extra night a week and there is the difference in gas. Pack a lunch to eat at work and you'll save on lunch and driving to/from lunch. There are lots of things you can do.
 
Check your math. Using 93 instead of 87 would be $4.50 and using 89 would be $2.25. Not a huge difference but enough to make some people consider using a lower grade.

Check your math... For every ten gallons pumped, that totals $1.00 ($0.10 x 10) between midgrade and premium, and $2.00 ($0.20 x 10) between regular and premium...

So if you ran your tank bone dry and filled up with 14 gallons, that would only be $1.40 ($0.10 x 14) between midgrade and premium, and $2.80 ($0.20 x 14) between regular and premium...


I'll probably be spending about $100 a week in gas this summer. But as long as I make the money, who cares?

Holy crap, you fill up twice a week :shocked:
 
Check your math... For every ten gallons pumped, that totals $1.00 ($0.10 x 10) between midgrade and premium, and $2.00 ($0.20 x 10) between regular and premium...

My math was based on filling a 15 gallon tank (like we have) with 15 cent differences between grades since thats the norm in Texas right now, ie mid-grade is 15 cents more and premium is 30 cents more. Hence 15x.30 and 15x.15 if you were filling a tank because the low fuel light came on.
 
My math was based on filling a 15 gallon tank (like we have) with 15 cent differences between grades since thats the norm in Texas right now, ie mid-grade is 15 cents more and premium is 30 cents more. Hence 15x.30 and 15x.15 if you were filling a tank because the low fuel light came on.

Well up here in NE we have always has $0.10 differences, so someone down there is pocketing extra money :shrug:
 
Check your math... For every ten gallons pumped, that totals $1.00 ($0.10 x 10) between midgrade and premium, and $2.00 ($0.20 x 10) between regular and premium...

So if you ran your tank bone dry and filled up with 14 gallons, that would only be $1.40 ($0.10 x 14) between midgrade and premium, and $2.80 ($0.20 x 14) between regular and premium...




Holy crap, you fill up twice a week :shocked:

Well I will be. As of right now I'm only filling up about once every week and a half to two weeks. But I'm going to be commuting 35 miles to and from work I think this summer. But it'll be all good because I shall be making the moolah, so what's the big deal :shrug: lol
 
My math was based on filling a 15 gallon tank (like we have) with 15 cent differences between grades since thats the norm in Texas right now, ie mid-grade is 15 cents more and premium is 30 cents more. Hence 15x.30 and 15x.15 if you were filling a tank because the low fuel light came on.

Um we have a 14.5 galon tank :)

.37 of the gallon is the fill neck and lines.
 
Back to the original question. Can you run something less than premium in an SVT?

When I bought my car new, it didn't have the SVT owners manual supplement. The regular owners manual called for 87. I didn't notice the note on the fuel gauge, and filled it up with 87. I had run several tanks of 87 through it before obtaining the supplement.

At that point, I tried about a half dozen tanks of premium (91 here in California) and could tell no difference in performance or fuel economy.

Most of the time since then I have run 87. Every few years I feel compelled to check it out again and reset the computer then run a few tanks of premium in a row, all with the same results.

Your results may vary.

By the way, the difference in compression noted above is not enough by itself to make a difference. The non SVT has 9.8:1 compression ratio. The 98 and early 99 SVT has 10:1 Compression. The late 99 and 00 has 10.25:1. The additional horsepower comes from several things, bigger throttle body, larger intake ports, a more free flowing exhaust, hotter cams, and different tuning. If you had all SVT engine parts and PCM except for the pistons, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Every time I post about running 87 octane in my SVT I get blasted about how dumb I am and how I must be hurting the engine. Blast suit on, so blast away, but it works for me, and I'm not a gentle driver. I hit the rev limiter twice today on my way from home to the airport.
 
I am new, I did Search, now With Gas being absolutely ridiculous, at 3.99 Gal + ,Premium , I have a 2000 Contour SVT And On the Gas gauge it reads " Premium Fuel Only" Now Has anyone Tried 87 or 89 octane Does The car React differently? Is it because of the high Compression we need to use 93? Because If I can put 89 atleast I will do it Because by summer time gas is going to be over 4 dollars maybe at 5 CRAZY, I remember when people freaked if it went to $1.87 HA I wish It was at that

Thanks For the Help Guys!!!
I'm sure the Mondeo guys over the pond feel your pain, what with their $10 a gallon fuel! :laugh: Like some other posters mentioned, before going to a lower grade, make other adjustments. Driving style - just by noting now many people still drive, they don't seem to be sweating the fuel prices. I try and stay at 60 MPH on the freeways but I could get run over if I tried passing a semi. These people are sort of shooting themselves in the foot. If gas prices really are supply driven, then it stands to reason, if you use more fuel because of your driving style, you perpetuate higher consumption resulting in higher prices. If you're already a sane driver then, yes, cut out some none essential stuff to make up for the gas price increase. Gasoline needs to be budgeted for these days, just like a house or rent payment. Last resort is using lower grade fuel. Since this isn't the old days of static ignition timing, you can probably get away with it like others have. However if you start to hear pinging under load, that'll be your warning sign that it isn't going to work. I suspect those that have no problems with lower grade have little or no combustion chamber carbon build up which would raise those "book" compression ratios to the point that the knock detector can't compensate with timing retardation. Lastly, Ford put that sign on the fuel gauge for a reason. If it wasn't for performance then why did they do it? Perhaps for reasons we don't know but I don't think they are in cahoots with the oil companies to up their profit margins.
Karl
 
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