What Octane Gasoline For sc430? Premium fuel required? (Merged threads)
11-11-10, 12:18 PM
#91
If you live in an area with EPA restrictions (like most major metropolitan areas), E10 is all that is available. E0 is not available at all. (There is no access to E0 in the Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio areas, for instance.) There is actually a website that lists the stations that have E0 and you will notice that they are very limited in number.
Same for the Portland, OR area. If you want gas here it will be E10.
Jerry Baumchen
02-07-11, 09:46 PM
#92
Driver School Candidate
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Have you ever used non-premium gas?
This may sound crazy, but I ran my Infiniti G35 for years on regular gas. A guy at the dealership had told me about doing it and I never had a problem. I recently purchased an '08 SC430 and wondering how it might work on my new used car.
02-07-11, 11:58 PM
#94
Welcome to CL, teefbee. 
Lots of discussion on this here...
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...for-sc430.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...nd-of-gas.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...gular-gas.html
Lots of discussion on this here...
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...for-sc430.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...nd-of-gas.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...gular-gas.html
02-08-11, 03:39 AM
#95
I run all my cars on regular... My experience, if you don't race your car or have a high compression / turbo engine, don't bother...
I put 350000 km on a Subaru SVX on regular without any engine problems!
Ran a Audi TT 3.2 (non turbo) & my wife's G35x on regular... No problem!
Will you notice a difference in performance? Probably! It's up to you to decide if it's worth the $$$.
BTW, this is only my opinion based on my experience (22+ years in aircraft maintenance).
PS My cars NEVER go to the dealer!
I put 350000 km on a Subaru SVX on regular without any engine problems!
Ran a Audi TT 3.2 (non turbo) & my wife's G35x on regular... No problem!
Will you notice a difference in performance? Probably! It's up to you to decide if it's worth the $$$.
BTW, this is only my opinion based on my experience (22+ years in aircraft maintenance).
PS My cars NEVER go to the dealer!
02-08-11, 05:04 PM
#97
as a general rule, any engine with a compression ratio lower than 10:1 can run on regular gasoline (87 octane). the sc430's compression ration is higher than that at 10.5:1, so you should use a higher octane.
just so you know, the octane level has nothing to do with the amount of energy in the fuel. the octane is the fuel's resistance level to igniting. higher compression engines run hotter, hot enough to ignite the fuel before the spark plug fires. this is what's called knocking. engine knocking can cause serious damage.
one other thing to consider is your altitude. people living at higher altitudes can get away with running lower octane fuel. less oxygen in the air makes it harder for the fuel to ignite. personally, i live at high altitude, but i run high octane fuel anyway just to be safe.
so long story short, you're better off paying the extra dollar or two when you put gas in your car.
just so you know, the octane level has nothing to do with the amount of energy in the fuel. the octane is the fuel's resistance level to igniting. higher compression engines run hotter, hot enough to ignite the fuel before the spark plug fires. this is what's called knocking. engine knocking can cause serious damage.
one other thing to consider is your altitude. people living at higher altitudes can get away with running lower octane fuel. less oxygen in the air makes it harder for the fuel to ignite. personally, i live at high altitude, but i run high octane fuel anyway just to be safe.
so long story short, you're better off paying the extra dollar or two when you put gas in your car.
Last edited by Yes; 02-08-11 at 05:08 PM.
02-09-11, 08:50 AM
#99
Nice engineering speech... I always love those! Gaz companies want you to feel guilty not to feed your "baby" with super.... And it works!
Fine with me if you think you must pay the extra
Fine with me if you think you must pay the extra
02-09-11, 11:03 AM
#100
Lead Lap
just so you know, the octane level has nothing to do with the amount of energy in the fuel. the octane is the fuel's resistance level to igniting. Higher compression engines run hotter, hot enough to ignite the fuel before the spark plug fires. this is what's called knocking. engine knocking can cause serious damage.
02-03-12, 03:50 AM
#102
I wrote this in 2009:
Higher octane means the fuel is more stable, which is to say that it will resist pre-ignition. Pre-ignition being that the fuel in the chamber explodes due to heat before the cylinder head has reached top dead center. Some people think the fuel burns hotter, or creates a bigger explosion, or some crap like that, no, it's just resisting pre ignition. Why is pre-ignition bad? Well if you have the explosion occure before the piston is all the way up, that means your forcing a piston down, when it's moving up. Obviously for that fraction of a second that the explosion and piston are working against each other, your engine isn't making any power, and any power made after the piston starts moving back down is obviously less because some of the explosion has been wasted.
Modern cars do have knock sensors that help fix this problem, but it doesn't stop it entirely and knocking the engine due to pre-ignition can damage the pistons in the engine. Engines that have higher compression usually make more power because they pack more energy into the same space. This is why many people think that higher octance gives you more power, when in reality, higher octane only allows your engine to make 100% of the power it was designed to make. .
For other opinions, check out these threads:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...nd-of-gas.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...for-sc430.html
Higher octane means the fuel is more stable, which is to say that it will resist pre-ignition. Pre-ignition being that the fuel in the chamber explodes due to heat before the cylinder head has reached top dead center. Some people think the fuel burns hotter, or creates a bigger explosion, or some crap like that, no, it's just resisting pre ignition. Why is pre-ignition bad? Well if you have the explosion occure before the piston is all the way up, that means your forcing a piston down, when it's moving up. Obviously for that fraction of a second that the explosion and piston are working against each other, your engine isn't making any power, and any power made after the piston starts moving back down is obviously less because some of the explosion has been wasted.
Modern cars do have knock sensors that help fix this problem, but it doesn't stop it entirely and knocking the engine due to pre-ignition can damage the pistons in the engine. Engines that have higher compression usually make more power because they pack more energy into the same space. This is why many people think that higher octance gives you more power, when in reality, higher octane only allows your engine to make 100% of the power it was designed to make. .
For other opinions, check out these threads:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...nd-of-gas.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...for-sc430.html
02-03-12, 03:53 AM
#103
Moderator
May I suggest reading this thread on the subject it's only seven or eight post in length and covers the topic pretty thoroughly. In my neck of the woods the cost between premium and regular unleaded varies between 10 and 15 cents per gallon. On a ten gallon fill-up that's $1.00 to $1.50 difference betwwen buying regular and premium and not worth ignoring the manufacturers fuel recommendation or potential damage which would be much more expensive to repair.
Last edited by VVTiBob; 02-03-12 at 06:34 AM.
02-03-12, 06:32 AM
#105
Moderator
Nah...I'm just too cheap to fill it up all the way.
Besides gives me an excuse (Honey, the coupe needs gas) to drive it more often.
Besides gives me an excuse (Honey, the coupe needs gas) to drive it more often.
Last edited by VVTiBob; 02-03-12 at 06:36 AM.