Supercharger Questions

I know you are supposed to use premium gas with the SC but I wondered if you were stuck somewhere and all you had was 97 ethanol would it work in a pinch?

Also, if you are using non-ethanol gas do you still need to use premium and are there any other good/bad issues with non-ethanol gas?

 

As said, no ethanol content above 15%.

Premium always, be it <E15 or ethanol free.

IF BY SOME CHANCE, your area runs out of premium (this actually happened to me a few years ago while I had my 03 Cobra), regular will be okay but DRIVE EASY. Stay out of boost, keep the RPMS low, and if you hear any detonation/spark knock let off the throttle immediately. Refill with premium ASAP and drive the next tank easy too till empty to make sure all the regular is out.

 

Thanks for the answers to all. One last question, what kind of damage can take place and to what?

 

Detonation from low octane fuel =boom, no bueno. You are basically setting off the combustion in the cylinder before everything is in the right spot. You can fry a piston, bend a rod or have a complete blowout depending.

 

^ this.... had to do a similar thing when could not find premium gas

 

Yes it would work, but it also voids the warranty if the vehicle is not flex fuel and still under warranty and there are no flex fuel Tacomas. If I was in a pinch, like you said, I would put just enough in, maybe a gallon or two, to get me to a station that had the correct fuel for my vehicle, and top it off with the correct stuff, but it would have to be a real pinch. Also keep in mind that E85 will lower your MPG by about 30%. So if you are getting 20MPG now E85 would probably drop you to near 12 to 15. MPG. and E97 most likely even further down.

I am not sure what E97 would do to a non flex fuel engine if you ran much of it, but it cannot be good since the engine is not designed for anything above E10. Also I would make sure I was not in a pinch very often because of the damage the stuff does to certain parts in the engine. An out in the boondocks and no one to call to bring me 5 gallon of the right stuff sort of pinch. On my Tacoma the gas cap clearly warns not to use anything higher than E10. It even spells out not to use even E15 much less E85 so E97 would be a real no, no. So like I said only in a real pinch and not much of the stuff if I did.

Keep in mind that the octane is not the problem with E97. E85 is between 100 and 105 so E97 would be even higher. Ethanol fuels all have higher octane because of their make up, but they also have lower energy so you get less MPG. The higher the ethanol content the higher the octane, but the higher the ethanol content the less MPG so it is a trade off. The problem is the damage the ethanol fuel does to certain parts on the vehicle as it passes through them as well as drawing moisture into the gas.

I have a boat and ran E10 in the beginning, but the 15 foot long gas line always wept from the E10 even with a special gas line made for E10. It would take it a season to start the weeping, but it still did it. I got tired of changing that line so I have since changed to pure gas and do not have that problem any more.

As for non ethanol (pure gas) that is best for any vehicle or gas engine and yes if the vehicle calls for premium you still need premium with the pure gas. Pure gas (non-ethanol) is all I run in mine.

You can read here the possible problems that can be caused..
http://www.shell.us/products-services/shell-for-motorists/fuels/shell-clearflex/faq.html

In the end any ethanol blend is a loser.
http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/e85-vs-gasoline-comparison-test.html

 

Also, regular and some octane booster would get you through in a pinch. Buy the octane booster in advance and keep it with you. Stay away from the Ethanol.

 

Some great answers and appreciate them all!

 

I wouldn't use octane booster, I used some when I didn't have non ethanol and it fowled my plugs. So now if I cant find non ethanol I do what the guys above mentioned. It can be a pain in the ass some times but its better than doing something serious to the motor.