Hi all -
Thought this might be an interesting topic for discussion. I was in a
conversation (argument?) with a couple of friends this weekend regarding
regular unleaded vs. premium unleaded and what should be used in which
engines/applications, etc.
I'm driving a '96 Dakota V8 magnum, and the salesperson told me to just run
87 octane gas, that if I used the super unleaded my truck would "develop an
appetite for the super"... He was also saying that *ALL* the new gasolines
have detergent qualities, and the higher-octane gases won't keep your
engine any cleaner than the reg. unleaded. My truck has been running fine
on the 87, and I was talking about this with one of my friends who has an
'86 Laser Turbo with 162K miles on it, and he said "if I didn't run super
unleaded in my car, I don't think it would've made it to 162K miles..."
This makes some sense to me, as his car is a turbo 4-cylinder, and has to
work harder and rev higher, so it probably benefits from the higher-octane
gas. The other guy who was with us during this discussion, has a '70 'Cuda
340 six-pack, and he ALWAYS runs super unleaded in his car, and again I
don't blame him, it's an older engine which was designed for LEADED fuel, so
he uses both lead additive, and octane booster for maximum performance from
his 340. My question is, since I'm only driving this sucker as a DD, and I
may put some minor mods (in the future) in there to increase performance
(K&N filter, MP computer, etc.), am I really making a mistake by running 87
octane in my truck?? Should I spend the extra $$$ for the super?? I'm
curious as to what other folks are doing?? Thanks.
Ned Vogler
(nvogler@rghosp.chime.org)
'96 Dakota SLT V8 5-sp 4x4 Club Cab
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