Used regular gas...

[ZO6Vettever]

I was low on gas in my 02 ZO6 and stopped to fill er' up but all they had was regular. About ten miles to the next one so I put $2. (6 tenths of a gallon) reg. in it and hoped for the best. It ran fine, I even tried to see if it would ping accelerating hard from 900 RPM in 6th and no problem. I must have been pretty low because when I filled with premium 10 miles later it took 16.4 gallons. Anybody else ever use regular or mid grade gas? Just curious.

 

[85vette]

I mistakenly filled my old 85 with regular one time...it did not like it.

 

[Pres712]

Always

I have used "regular" in both my Vettes. Since 1986 when "Baby" was new and the same with Star's '03. Have never had any problems. The '86 has over 206k on her and the '03 has over 72k. The manual says 86 octane or better. Why waste the money?

 

[Mark Dalton]

I've run midgrade in my '02 Z after a hurricane when there was no premium to be had. No issues that I could detect. Never tried regular.

 

[85vette]

I have used "regular" in both my Vettes. Since 1986 when "Baby" was new and the same with Star's '03. Have never had any problems. The '86 has over 206k on her and the '03 has over 72k. The manual says 86 octane or better. Why waste the money?

My owners manual states you can run fuel "with at least an 87 octane rating". Road and Track did a test on the car in 1985 and claimed a minimum 91 octane rating was required. When I ran 87 in mine it was harder to start and just didn't respond as well.:shrug01:

 

[gmjunkie]

I run Chevron regular in every 1 of my C4's and C5's including my 01 Z06!!:thumbsup:
My 03 Z-51 has only had premium 2 times over it's lifetime, almost 7 years a little over 60,000 miles!! I try not to run any alcohol fuel but if I get in some states where I have to I put 1 12 oz bottle of Tectron Plus every other tank full or the gas gauge quits!!

PS I get usually 34-35+ MPG on long trips,and 26-29 city!!:thumbsup:

 

[jeff 92]

reg gas

hi have ran reg in my vett it is a 92 40,ooo mile and it will still rip the tires off it :yesnod:

 

[98 softtail]

Keep this in mind if you are thinking about having someone "tune" your motor... I WON a free tune from a local shop at a Corvette Show a couple years back, I had them do the tune on my wifes '01, since then, if she runs anything less than 93 octane, the lifters start ratteling under low rpm takeoffs, and during mid-gear-low speed acceleration.

I want to get the original "tune" back in, but getting the car away from my wife is another story...

 

[Smmmokin']

Anyone have any comments on a newer Z06, or even a regular Vette?

 

[MADN3SS]

I have used "regular" in both my Vettes. Since 1986 when "Baby" was new and the same with Star's '03. Have never had any problems. The '86 has over 206k on her and the '03 has over 72k. The manual says 86 octane or better. Why waste the money?

I'm confused. Regular is 87 octane. So, theoretically you shouldn't have a problem with regular because the manual claims 86 or better.

I don't put anything below "Super" because I do have a performance tune. And of course the manual says minimum octane rating of 91 for the stock Z06. Most "Super" is either 92 or 93. Come to think of it, I've only seen 2 places in Florida that actually carried 91. It was weird. They had 87/89/91/92/93. Sunoco, at least in NY/NJ anyway, used to have 94 as their version of "Super".

 

[Rich Z]

Actually I wouldn't want to use less then 93 octane in my C5Z with the turbochargers and compatible tune. There is one local Sunoco around Tallahassee that has a couple of specialty pumps that offer 100+ octane race gas. Haven't tried that, but not sure if it would really make any difference. I would probably really hate it if it did, because with only that single source of that gasoline here (that I know of), that could be a problem for me.

From what I recall, the standard tune has the capability of using two tables. One for high octane fuel, and another for low octane fuel. I suppose the table used is triggered by the knock sensor on the block. But I only recall this in passing, as I haven't really looked into it in any depth.