Hi all, I know this is the opposite of what everyone wants...but I am planning a trip up to some remote parts of the north, and all I know is that there is NO 91+ fuel available. Max would be base-grade 87 (ron+mon/2).

Is it possible to tune this car to run the lower grade? Or does the base program have the ability to adjust for low-grade fuel? The total distance to be covered, while on regular grade, would be 1500-2000km (up to 5 tanks of gas).

All help is appreciated!

 

the ECU will compensate for the lower octane fuel....

.....by retarding the timing if knock is sensed by the ECU.

try to stay out of boost. try to keep load off of the engine.

the ECU will not let the engine "hurt" itself by allowing knock to occur.

 

Maybe u cud add an octane booster when u fill up

 

I wouldn't go that route. I've heard a lots of bad things about octane boosters.

 

So teh ECU will compensate..good!

And octane boosters are good for MAYBE 1 octane. So 87 would become 88...not a big difference!

 

Buy a few gallons of xylene or toluene from your local paint store. It is 117 octane so a 10:1 ratio should bump the octane rating to just under 91. Just watch you paint when you funnel it in.

 

Emergencies only. The ECU is not designed to compensate for continual use of less than 91 octane. But then again you may get lucky with the dice, though moderate to serious engine degradation may already occurred and you find out until your next diagnostic test of how much permanent damage or power loss may have occurred during your short stint with regular.

I suggest renting a car instead it may end up being cheaper if you know what I mean.

 

the ecu will compensate for knock detection ANYTIME it happens.

if the ecu does not detect knock it will not retard the timing.

putting lower than 91 octane gas into the tank does not ....

.....automatically cause spark knock.

load conditions placed on the engine

when the under 91 octane is being used by the engine , can cause knock.

if these load conditions do not occur , there will be no spark knock.

 

it will only retard timing WHEN it knocks, meaning it WILL knock

 

i have used numerous tanks of 87 octane gasoline.

and 95 per cent of the time , i have logged 0 counts of knock.

it really depends on the way the car is driven.

 

Or you can buy the accessport and use the economy mode

 

........not looking to save money.

i just like to test different things and see how they affect the car.

the cobb "eco mode" actually advances timing at low load levels

to help achieve possible higher MPG.

so if you used 87 with the cobb eco tune you would definitely get knock counts.