Okay, so maybe that was a little melodramatic, but I am worried.
Just got my first refill since picking up my new MINI a little over a week ago, and, out of habit, asked for regular. Of course, now it's ticking like a time bomb, and I just want to find out if it really is a time bomb... that is, since it's got less than 350 miles on it, am I doing any real valve damage?
I intend to start topping it off with some brand-name premium as soon as it gets down to 3/4 full, but if I have to, I'll drain it now and start over.
Any feedback?

 

You might want to pour in a bottle of octane booster.

 

Calm down joeycola, don't put any octane booster in. Drive your car easy & use up that gas. Refill with high test. All better now.

IMO you won't hurt a thing. Your car has a knock sensor so the engine won't be damaged. Do drive it easy though.

 

It will be fine. No harm done. Be wary of octane boosters in a bottle. When they advertise they raise the octane by 3 points they mean +0.3 not +3.0.

Unless you put several gallons of octane booster into your tank, those little bottles are nothing more than a placebo.

 

Where do we get these placebos?!

 

I've heard red bull gives you wings.

 

Thanks everybody.
Yet another reason for us New Jersians to trash this stupid no self-serve law.
I guess it was too much to expect the attendent to advise me of the 91 octane notice on the gas cover!

 

Ahhh, Simpson's quotes. Anyway, in a modern day fuel injected car, running a tank of low octane won't harm your car. Yes, over time it can be harmful, but the short term effect is little to none. That's the whole idea behind a knock sensor, too. A little ping and the ECU pulls timing until the ping is no more.

 

Ok a bit off topic maybe... but you have a no self serve law?? as in no self serve stations?

and if so, I guess the attendant was not taught how to upsell. or just does not like his job.

 

I know, I wondered the same thing. I wouldnt want someone else filling my car, theyll probably nic the paint when theyre putting the nozzle in, drip gas on my paint. No thanks!

 

omg..it's ruined forever..toast. and you violated your warantee. I am telling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You just find the king of putting 89 in MINIs --- ME!

When I first bought my MC, I had put couple tanks full of 89 in my car. Idea in my little brain was only MCS use those expensive 92s. Well, someone on NAM finally educated me to read that book thingy came with my car.

My MC was just fine using 89, don't worry about! However, you might wanna put in some fuel system cleaner when you put in 91-92 next time!

 

Yes, in New Jersey, it is against the law to pump your own gas. Furthermore, compared to our neighboring states, our gas prices are less. (Of course we get to make up the savings in insurance costs.)
Second, it is also a law in NJ that all gas stations be owned by &/or employ persons who don't speak english. Hence, written warnings on what octane amount to pump are of no use.
Jeff
'06 MC BRG/W
Woodbury, NJ

 

Well oddly enough, all the Shell stations around here are FULL SERVE, and they have the BMW designed petrol.

They are pretty good. I did have a training session with the kids at the one closest to my house already. They even run out to the car when you drive up, yes actually RUN. As a whole they are pretty good.

The training involved how to wash my back window with decals on it... (you don't) :P

J

 

Oregon is the other place where you can't pump your own gas. Dangerous, you know, except for trained personnel. Although it's not like they'd lower the price if we had self-serve tomorrow.

That said, why would anyone expect someone being paid minimum wage to be a gasoline adviser? The person in the car knows what kind of gas he wants or needs and tells the attendant. How many attendants do you think would know the octane of their three grades of gas? One in a hundred?

I've been driving for 32 years and until I started looking seriously at a Mini last fall, I had never paid attention to octane levels. Pumped my own regular leaded gas when I bought my first car at 15 in Idaho and switched to regular unleaded when they outlawed the lead. Never had a car that took mid-grade or premium, so I never had a reason to pay attention to the octane. Wouldn't expect the pump jockey to pay any more attention, either.

 

Well I had my minimum McDonalds crew up here trained to upsell, and they know what came in/on our burgers.. granted were the weak ones, but my stores would not as well as they did if the good ones were 1 in 100... It is all about hiring practices.

They could hire attendants that care, or do they just hire the first one with a pulse so they (management) don't have to worry and work as hard.

J

 

The point is that isn't their job to determine the proper octane needs of the customer. Any more than your workers should suggest a customer buy a salad without dressing, rather than two Big Macs and a large fry, because they're 100 pounds overweight.

Ninety five percent of motorists use regular unleaded and in my mind it's not the job of a pump jockey to know the needs of the other five percent. They're on their own.

I'm sure there are new Mini owners in self-serve states that do the same thing for their own car. They're so used to pumping regular that they do it out of habit. It's one of the things that I've had to tell myself, to make sure I ask for the premium unleaded when I get my car in the next week or so.

 

Plus, the premium gas is recommended, not required.

 

I've never lived anywhere in the U.S. where I couldn't pump my own gas.....don't think I'd like that. I was told to use high grade in my MC and I have use mid grade for 2-3 years and have had no problems at all. With gas prices so high every little bit helps but I'd pay it if my baby had to have it.

 

So, you've had time to drive out all that gas by now....any residual issues? No? Then all is well

Hrmmm, I'm contemplating how to tell my boss...."Hey, ummm, good morning! Listen, I need to take today off. You see, I put the wrong fuel in my car this morning and I really need to spend the day motoring it out of my car before any engine damage occurs. So, errrr, I'll see you tomorrow - k?"

 

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that it is there job to determine the needs of the customer.

I was saying that if they were suggesting premium to EVERYONE that came in, their sales would be higher.

My employees did not try to determine the nutritional needs of my customers, they would however upsell and suggestive sell what we were pushing for that month.

That is all I was saying, the attendants, if they are competent, would ask if the customer would like premium, if they just stated FILL IT... AND if they were really competent, ask the consumer cause they saw the sticker that said 91 octane inside the fuel door...

I hope that is a better explanation of my point.

J

 

Yes, that explains it much better. Or maybe I'm just understanding it better. Thank you.

 

Welcome to NAM!

 

In fact, I haven't. No fun driving when everybody else on the road is freaked out by the rain. (Well, maybe not everybody, but enough of 'em to persuade me to drive defensively...) I finally hit half full today, or as my girlfriend says, "I'm down five petals."