What kind of fuel am I

[10210ken]

I have always put unleaded in my S. No particular brand usually Texaco as its the nearest to home. After listening to a couplke of conversations yesterday I wonder whether I should be using Shell Optimax. Whats the difference. Surely unleaded is unleaded no matter what its called. Is there a bit of snobbery about using a certain brand or is there real benefits. When all said and done its a 2.9ltr ford engine.

Now awaiting all the flack!!!!

[doddze]

optimax has a higher octane rating than normal unleaded. Normal unleaded is 95 octane whereas optimax or BP suoer etc can be anywhere between 98 and 100 octane.

If your car runs fine on the 95 octane then that is fine.... mine is not too bad on 95 but can be difficult when cold... Optimax resolves the cold isue for me!!

[UncleDave]

Was just about to say that

The octane level will be 95RON or similar so you can tell what you're buying.. For some reason 98.6RON springs to mind for Optimax..


But like doddze says.. if you're good on 95RON stick with it..

If it aint broke don't try 'n fix it - that's my motto!

Thanks,
Dave.

[WonkyGibbon]

Also the engine can be tuned for 95 or 98 RON fuel.

So if the engine is set up for 95 and you put 98 in it - there's a bit more oomph on the sparc (which helps the cold running) - but the timing will prevent you getting much in the way of any performance benefit.

On the other hand - if it's set up for 98 and you put in 95 - you will probably get a running problem (not enough oomph for the timing).

Obviously - if you put 98 in and it's set up for 98 - you should get a marginal performance increase (though it may not be noticeable on tired older engines).

Being a bit of a tight arse - I stick to 95

WG

[Roy C]

I use 95RON (which the car is set up for).

When I put 98 RON in the tank, I noticed no discernable difference, apart from a loss of money!