Fuel Grades

[meemooer]

Well I vary between 87 and 89. Mostly 89 so thats what i voted. On 87 or regular it will ping or knock, well at idle at least The engine is whooped anyways, it'll knock and rattle on accel and burn blue/black smoke. It isn't a diesel but it looks and sounds like one

[Will]

Johnny- Thanks for all that info. I will certainly give that a try. I never hear of using sea foam in the oil, but it sounds like a great clean out. Looks like I got more work to do.

[Will]

Originally Posted by RH77

One gunk preventer I have on the 'Teg is a PCV catch container. It's basically an air compressor moisture collector, attached inline between the PCV valve and the intake...

That looks like a great contraption. If I can find one at a good price I may do that instead of my "redneck breather"

[chuckm]

According to API, premium and regular gas has essentially the same BTU content (111,400 BTU/gal). Premium is needed on high compression engines because of knocking, but "normal" engines won't see any consistent benefit. Some sources say that the BTU content of premium is slightly lower than regular.
Carbon deposits in the engine, usually high mileage city driven engines, can reduce the cylinder volume (increasing compression), causing knock. But that's a pretty poor reason to spend an additional $0.30 per gallon when Sea Foam can take care of that.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by Will

That looks like a great contraption. If I can find one at a good price I may do that instead of my "redneck breather"

I got mine at Home Depot -- Wal-Mart may have them cheap too.

Here's the instructions on how to do it. Pretty simple, just remove the foam insert, get some screw-in hose nipple connectors (often in a package set) and hook it up. I dump mine out at each oil change.

Mr. Mullet: I'm glad a respected mechanic does the 1/3 trick as well. I heard about the cop-car water treatment, but I trust Seafoam for the lube and combustion. I generally dump it in, feather the throttle, and dump in a bunch to let it stall and sit for 5-10 minutes. I explained to my neighbors what the "fire" was all about when I first did it, though

RH77

[knowbodies]

I use premium in my Matrix. The engine has a 10.5:1 compression ratio but Toyota says regular unleaded is fine due to the design of the cylinder head. It seemed more responsive when I started using premium. The deal was sealed on a couple long uphills that always required a downshift. I don't need to downshift anymore. I don't know how it's affected my fuel mileage as I started using premium before I started ecodriving.

[Will]

Talk about overwhelming. Maybe we should all buy stock in Seafoam.

RH77-Thanks for the "how to" I will most certainly use it!

[orange4boy]

Not to throw a wet rag on you seafoam guys but I have to wonder about all that smoke you are pumping out. What is in seafoam and what happens when it burns? Sounds pretty nasty to me.

BTW the water injection thing works well at removing carbon build up and does not harm your engine provided you don't dump a bucket over your intake. The best thing? No extra pollution.

Something to think about...

[ATaylorRacing]

I have been drag racing fwd cars since 83 and always have looked or better FE. On EVERY car that used reg fuek, they all slowed down when I put in higher octane. Higher oct burns slower and with out having a motor designed for it, it's not needed. HOWEVER....my SRT4 requires it and when it was bought in Feb I used reg in it....got 26 mpg best at a constant 65 on interstates.....in April I started using 92-93 due to racing season and the FE jumped up to the EPA 31 rating. There was no driving problems with the reg, but power went way up in the seat of the pants area with the switch.

[FunkSkunk]

USATODAY.com - Why use premium gas when regular will do?