I've been out of town for a couple of weeks and let Her In-doors use Millie (MCS). This morning she told me she had gassed the car up for me. I checked and it was regular! I imagine that this will affect the perfomance, but will there be any more expensive, longer lasting effects? And do I let her off with a warning, or should this be a sacking offence?
Looking for advice here........

 

I think you need to make her go out and siphon all of the evil regular gas out with a soda straw. Then push the car to the nearest filling station to be gassed up with the proper stuff.

[joke...just drive it out and fill it with premium next time.]

[unless she somehow managed to fill it with diesel. In which case I take back my previous comment, and revert to the original comment]

Welcome to MCO!

 

A bit of regular won't hurt your MINI, however, She Who Must Be Obeyed does owe you an extra large portion of your favourite meal. You should remind her of that obligation next time you're hungry.

 

Read the label in on the back side of the gas lid--Minimum of 91 octane! Low grade gas can cause some serious problems that will start as a pinging. Is not syphoning a few bucks of gas out really worth the risk of even the slightest engine damage!?

 

One tank isn't going to cause any harm... at worst it'll just lower performance for that tank full. If you're really concerned, you can buy an "octane booster" additive at an auto parts store and jack up the regular to higher octane.

 

Having had a few of these with the wife over the years, go and get a quality brand OCTANE booster. I've got a bottle of the stuff that my graddad uses for his hig compression 400cui 69.5 Dodge Charger. It's not the best for your cat, but every once and a while it will get you through that tank of gas. . . Basically it's just alcohol that will decrease the low octane gas's affinity to ignite under compression and heat. So it keeps the gas from detonating (read pinging) and causing damage.


Ian

 

^ With all due respect...6f7, read the other threads (that crop up at least monthly) about gas and octane. While it's clear that continued/regular use of less than 91 octane gas is not recommended and MAY cause long term damage, there's absolutely no indication that running a tank of low octane every once in a while is ANY problem.

Again, the siphoning idea was a joke.

Oh, and let's also acknowledge that the mistake was made by way of doing a good deed! We should all be so lucky as to have our significant others return our cars with a full tank.

 

I'd go with the octane booster. If damage can occur by using less than 91 octane over time, then some albeit very mild damage could occur from just one tank. I wouldn't do it. Like was said above, why take the chance?

 

...it's just a car...

 

an Octane booster would be the easy and effective route; I've used 104+ booster in my street rods in the past with great results. Be sure to read the directions to determine how much you need to add to get your full tank to 91-93 octane.

Good luck

 

Right then, purely for entertainment I get the missus to siphon the gas using a straw and the MINI mug, why don't they hand out a MINI hip flask. Then it's curry time, and anything I can't manage will go into the gas tank of her Honda Oddity. The octane booster sounds better in the drinks cabinet then young Millie, she's only 1 month!

 

About low grade gas from another post:

"This car was brought in by the customer at an earlier time for pinging. The customer was using 85 octane fuel. He was asked to drain the fuel and replace it with 91 octane. The customer said he would run it until the tank needed to be refilled and then start using 91. Apparently, he didn't.

This lead to a catastrophic failure of the head gasket between #1 and #2 cylinder. I saw the gasket yesterday, but they had sent it to BMW earlier in the day today, so I didn't get a picture of it. Here is the car, and a picture of the pulley on the supercharger. The head was warped and had to be replaced."

Just keep listening to that engine!

 

They sell bottles of Gas treatment and octane boosters right at the stations. The bottle says to put it into a full tank so I'd say just go buy a bottle and drop it in.

But I do think she owes you a cake!


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[img]https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/albums/album07/ajj.jpg[/im]

 

On a recent trip to the midwest. I found it very difficult to find gas any higher than 89 octane. By necessity I put that in. I noticed no harmfull side effects, no pinging, nothing. I was a little concerned though and did put in 91 octane as soon as I found some. I really don't think a tank or 2 of regular is really anything to worry about. I'd just put in some premium after you use up a few gallons of what is in there.

 

Don't bounce it off the redline the knock sensor will keep the motor fine, but you will be way down on power. Dad did this too me in my mustang cobra and It was like driving with the emergency brake on. PS you might want to disconnect the battery after you empty this tank and refuel, it will reset the ECU and it will never "remember" the retard (negative change in) it had to make to the timing.

 

I also doubt one tankful will do any harm. But just for peace of mind, and in addition to the octane booster, why not refill with 92 octane after 1/2 the tank is gone? Assuming this well-meaning and I am sure otherwise charming woman put in 89 octane (the usual regular where I live) you are back to the magic 91 after 1/2 the driving if you'd waited until near empty.

This is from a guy who was in remedial math in high school so consider the source.

 

>>Don't bounce it off the redline the knock sensor will keep the motor fine, but you will be way down on power. Dad did this too me in my mustang cobra and It was like driving with the emergency brake on. PS you might want to disconnect the battery after you empty this tank and refuel, it will reset the ECU and it will never "remember" the retard (negative change in) it had to make to the timing.

That's right. You can use 89 all day just fine as long as you don't force boost accelerating hard, idling long and running the A/C. And if you have a CVT. If you are in a cooler climate you may never notice any knock. But in the midwest just use the gas that isn't 10% ethonal. (usually 91 anyway). If you do you will really have problems.