What do you usually use? Ive been using 87 since i got the car, and today, i tried 93 and i noticed some difference. On 87, imjaving some knocking on lower rpms... but when im on 93, it was gone and it seems the car is running smoother and more responsive... So im curious to know what the majority is using and what is the actual recommended octane rating for the 3sge engine. Thanks.
i may be wrong but i think usa is only place that sells 87 everywhere else lowest is 93 or 89 I'm going to try a higher octane on my 3sfe next time. lucky you have a 3sge, you ge guys take them for granted fe sucks
If it's only just started pinging you may have just had a dodgy batch of fuel, or your plugs may be on the way out. It's also entirely possible that someone may have fiddled with the ignition timing at some point. The FE is a pretty low-compression motor (~9.2:1?) so it should be OK on 87, that said if the price difference is negligible I'd run ot on 89 or 93 anyway.
i get some pinging on 87 as well, new plugs didn't help, but a new o2 did help. however it still wasn't as good as running 89/91
lowest you can get here is 95 but I always try to get 98 or 102 from germany. I live just at the borders
Any pinging or knocking is destroying your bearings, piston skirts and small ends, Pleeeeze don't drive like that! Min for the FE/GE is 93, for the GT/GTE you need 95 or above. Remember that motors with a lot of carbon on the pistons will have higher compression, so running injector cleaner and running the motor hard under load on a deserted uphill road will remove most of the carbon. Also dirty injectors will affect the mixture causing pinking as well, an old fuel pump may be losing pressure which can also be a cause of detonation (pinking) I recommend using injector cleaner once a month and changing oil/water every 3 months with seal restorer in the oil and antifreeze in the water. Another option is to use a specialized product, we don't have Seafoam here - so I use these occasionally : http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/oil-additives/auction-608764859.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/subaru/accessories/auction-608946945.htm Don't be tempted to run newer thin oils (eg 5W-?), they are intended for new motors and a motor with 100 000+km needs thicker oil (20W-50). On motors over 200 000km I find even thicker oil (ie Nulon 40W-70) is best at keeping the motor quiet, preventing smoking etc. Seal restorer is great at rejuvenating old valve seals and after a few weeks will cut smoking and oil consumption drastically if you use the right oil. Thicker gear oil will also help slow down crunchy gearboxes and sometimes make them feel like new. I'm not endorsing any brands - these pics are only what is readily available in OZ/NZ You don't need to waste cash on synthetic oils either, they are intended for race engines and people who are too lazy to change oil. True synthetics are waay too expensive for daily use anyway - don't believe everything the manufacturers tell you
The highest I can get around here is 91 so I use 91 and octane booster as the 20v's min requirement is 100ron.
On my 4age 16v I always use 98 oct (highest I can get here before BP stop selling 100oct ... expensive as hell too)!
So the highest I can get here is 92. I'm swapping to a st205 jdm engine so should I run octane boost every time I fill up? Really dont want to shorten the life of my engine.
