Just put regular, it is cheaper right?

For many consumers, the price of gas is a real concern. That leads some to opt to put regular fuel in their vehicle that requires premium grade gas. For some models and engines, it’s not that big of a deal. For others however, putting the wrong type of gas can significantly harm both performance and fuel economy.

“It can also lead to your engine wearing down sooner, and engine knocking as well while you are driving. No question about it, the type of gas you put in your vehicle has a major impact in many different ways”, says a service technician at Brockville Honda.

Some may be wondering what differs from one fuel grade to the next. When you get to the pump, you notice that in most cases there are three types of fuel: regular, midgrade, and premium with an octane rating of 87, 89, and 91 respectively. You can also find in some service stations 94-octane fuel. The latter is reserved for exceptionally-powerful vehicles.

Octane simply represents the amount of compression a given fuel can withstand before igniting. In other words, a fuel with an octane level of 87 will explode in the compression chamber before a fuel with an octane level of 91.

As a quick reminder of how an engine works, a mixture of fuel and air is sent into the cylinder which then compresses the mixture in order to heat it before a spark from the spark plug ignites it. However, the compression can cause the mixture to explode even if there is no spark in cases when the fuel’s octane level is not high enough for the compression ratio of the engine.

Normally, high-performance engines have higher compression ratios which means that the lower-octane fuels will explode too soon. This leads to knocking which can cause serious damage to the engine. At the very least, it will hinder performance and certainly not help fuel economy.

So, to insure that your engine runs as smoothly as possible, make sure you have the right type of fuel in the tank by following the automakers recommendation. And please note that you will not get better performance and fuel economy if you use higher-than-recommended fuel.