Hi all, I tried searching this, but got a lot of BS answers.

The situation is this: I might possibly be getting a job in rather rural part of northern Ontario, some 300km from anything that even loosely resembles civilization. The only gas station in town does not have anything above 87 grade fuel. I understand that the Ralliart does require 91+ on any given day, but this will not always be possible to attain.

The duration of the work would have me up there for 2-3 years, so what are the long term risks with running low grade fuel that long? Are there any precautions or steps I should take to ensure the car stays mechanically well during this time?

I would almost certainly need to return the car back to stock programming, and remove the boost pill, but would I also need to have the car taken to a tuner to create a map dedicated to low-grade driving?

I'd appreciate some hard, factual answers, not the usual "naw man 94+ or nothin yo" kind of messages the search results had. Thanks in advance.

 

i know i've heard if you get stuck with having to put 87 in your tank adding a bottle or two of octane boost could be useful, or go to a tuner and have them tune you to 87 oct...

either way good idea to limit how often if at all you hit boost

 

From your post it sounds like you want to hear, "It's absolutely fine to run 87" That would be risky due to the increased chance of knock. I see no reason why you couldn't tune for 87 octane to be on the safe side.
If it's that rural, the cows won't care how fast you are.

 

Mitsubishi put a 87 octane map in just in case you get bad gas or only have 87 available. I wouldn't recommend running on 87 for a long time as the changes in timing and such could reduce the long-term reliability of the vehicle.

It also would seem that the gas station you will be using won't have the best quality of gas since 87 is all they sell, and they are pretty far out in the sticks. Try and find a different gas station if possible.

If this is only going to be a temporary thing, then you might be able to manage. If this is a permanent thing, then you probably should get rid of the RA.

 

In any turbo car you should run 93 oct but if your state doesnt have 93 oct just take it to a tuner and have him une i on 87 or 91

 

93 octane or nothin, yo!

Ok, all kidding aside... If you can somehow find a way to buy a 55 gallon drum of VP109 fuel, you can mix it 5 parts 87 octane to 1 part 109 octane to get 6 gallons of almost 91 octane, the minimum required for 100% operation without altering the timing. If you're not redlining it all the time, you can probably flog it around in the sweet spot without having any problems running a little over 90 octane, which is 6 parts 107 + 1 part 87. This means every tank full of gas would be 12 gallons 87 octane and 2 gallons 109 octane. In this case, 55 gallons would last you 27 tanks. Depending on how much you drive, if you only have to fill up once a week, you're looking at the 55 gallon drum lasting you like, 6 months.

 

WOW you just blew my mind

 

Useful answers, thanks!

xi: good idea, but too f'n complicated to do. It might be -40 outside, and last thing I want to be doing is messing with fuel mixtures.

jkennedy293: surprisingly, they have fresh gas. Lots o pickup trucks in town. I will stand out like a bright blue thumb.

prostcj: there was nothing I "wanted to hear", just wanted to know the reality. I know a lot of people buy into fuel grade myths, and think higher grade=better, when that is not always true. I knew the car had an 87 map, but didnt know the long-term effects of being in that zone. I always run shell 91 here in the city, and it is oh so good.

Am I right in guessing that the 87 map just runs much lower boost than the other map? I know that as NA, this is a low compression engine, so regular fuel wouldnt be a concern. Is that all the difference is? And as a result, can I just get a manual boost controller and keep it cranked low?

One other thing I was considering...getting a drum and filling it with the good stuff, and keeping it handy. It wouldn't be unreasonable to once every couple weeks going and getting it filled. I think once I get closer to the Trans Canada highway, I should find 91 again. Plus, this would let me run the X turbo... :-)

Thanks again for the answers!

 

Technically, if you had the drum in your apartment, all you gotta do is have a few 1 gallon jugs handy. Everytime you gas up and put 6 gallons into the tank, dump a 1 gallon jug of 109 in there too.

Where in ontario is this?

 

most people who do not know anything about it will say yes its fine as long as you stay out of boost.. well its totally not fine, your car was made to run on 91+ for a reason...

 

Ya I was curious as to where you're headed as I'm all over the province too. But if I was in your shoes, I would just trade my mom for her 2005 Accord for a while. The extreme weather and roads would beat your car up pretty bad. If I had to take it then I would go with the octane boost. Buy a couple cases and just add it into the tank before every fill up. Good luck!

-Ralliheart

 

If it is not knocking audibly - it is okay (no long term reliability issues). Even a little rattle is 'okay'.

Loud/persistant knock is beating your pistons and rods to death (bad).

But if it does knock for you on 87 - try buying stock in 109+ Octane Booster or somesuch...