Testing Octane???

DunItRight

DunItRight

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Can octane be tested by an average person? I got gas today and I always get 93. Never ever had I heard my car ping and all of a sudden its pinging like crazy!

My air filter is around 500 miles from being new and I cleaned my MAFS when I got the new intake that 500 miles ago.

What else can be making my car ping like this? I wanna kill the guy at the gas station cause its embarrassing to have to listen to it and people turn around like "WTF is that sound?"
 
Look at your receipt. Usually that tells you what the computer in the pump thinks it pumped. I have had service station guys fill with the wrong fuel when I specifically told them what octane to pump. If the recipt says 91 octane and you have a ping then either the engine has a problem or the station has the wrong gas in the storage tank and is charging for premium.

Other than seeing if the engine pings or not, there is probably no home grown octane test.

You could send it out for a test but I bet that would cost you.

Better idea might be to let the state Weights and Measures guy know what you think. Be prepared to show him the receipt and have a gallon or so of the gas set aside for him. Sometimes these guys go nuclear when a station is pumping the wrong octane and charging a high price, it is against the law.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
Thanks, but there is a problem with that.

I pumped it myself and for once I actually paid cash and they rarely ever give receipts for that nor do I ever think I would need one. But I hit the 93 button myself I am just wondering if he had a lesser octane in that reservoir to save some cash.

My acusations may just be paranoia, but something was wrong with that gas be it dirty or just a rip off alltogether.

I wanna contact someone but I would just like to know if there is a way I could test it before I bark up trees. I know something is up with it but I just feel like a fool not being able to prove it.
 
I put 87 in once by accident. Ping city. Too bad you dont have a receipt.
 
Like I said, if anything he just don't top off when he should and lets it sit. I hear that can be a problem cause the gas at the bottom is where all he crap is or,...... Worst case scenario, he just filled his 93 res with lower grade so a receipt wouldn't help anyway. I pushed the 93 button my self so I'm sure the receipt would have said 93.

I had a scare once but no problems went with it. I had got gas at another Sunoco that was having troubles with filters and such and it took a few good minutes to pump 20 bucks worth after I was done pumping I went back in for a drink and the lady explained it to me and told me to let them know if I had troubles. We thought the gas was all gunked up and the filter was clogged but noting ever came of that and that was a long time ago so I am not doubting either scenario have happened this time.

I'm pissed about the cash cause it took more cash to go out and get cleaner and octane booster to stop the ping.

I know enough that 20 bucks wont hurt but its just the fact I was rolled over by a cheap gas station owner that has me mad!
 
IIRC, octane booster only ups the octane by tenths of an octane. maybe what you could do is put a couple gallons of race gas in there to get the octance up. but then again, im no mechanic. hope everything works out for ya
 
race gas is leaded--dont put leaded gas in. Just use some of the crappy gas and fill up with premium again. After a couple of cycles the pinging will go away.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but these cars shouldn't ping in stock configuration? They have knock sensors that pull the timing before that is audible, no?

I think you may have other problems, but the first thing I would do is hit up another name brand station and fill up and go from there.
 
If you pumped it yourself and are sure it was 93, then you probably just got a load of bad gas, bottom of the tank etc. It happens.

Without clear evidence the weights and measures guy probably won't be interested. If you use this station a lot and the problem continues then you probably can point the finger.

Best bet is fill up with premium and run gently for a few days and fill with more premium until you dilute the garbage. You might put in a can of gas dryer(Gas antifreeze) to soak up any water that might have been in the bad gas.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
Thanks Jim.


I am just going to run out the gas cause I always use 93 so afterwords I'm just going to go about it like it never happened and hopefully it straightens out.

I'm just not going to that place again, I heard nightmares from the other summer when the gas prices started really getting nuts at first about gas stations doing stuff like not topping off when they should and not treating the products the way they should. I heard about a gas station being responsible for quite a few repairs and he went out of business quick.

I know it should be OK but like I said I'm pissed I paid 3.19 for gas that was crap. I could have just in this case use 87 and got twice the amount for what I paid for.


I think you may have other problems
Click to expand...

What other problems may be wrong?


I do need a good tune up soon, my dealer said at around 100k miles and I'm at 80k.
 
The first tank full I got for the LS, was 87 octane. I ran it to 100mph, and over Snoqualmie Pass, with no pinging...I was under the impression, as was brentalan, that the engine would monitor, and correct, if necessary...???
 
Other things that might go wrong with a bad tank of gas is that if they are stirring the bottom of the tank your fuel filter may get clogged. Also might clog the injectors. Extreme cases maybe the in tank fuel pickup and or pump might get clogged.

Usually that is as bad as it gets.

Depending on weather, altitude, temperature, state of tune etc, the LS V8 may or may not ping with 87. Usually it will under hard accleration and warm to hot weather. 89 usually won't ping but might under similar acceleration and heat. 91 should not ping except under extreme driving conditions or the engine being out of tune.

Just my experience,

Jim Henderson
 
well i really didnt do much today except work. I didnt run out the gas but I noticed tonight it didnt ping at all. I guess thats from what you say do to the temps. It got cold out tonight and earlier today and yesterday it was pretty hot.

I just had the fuel pump fixed a few thousand miles or so ago so I hope it didnt and wouldnt asume it would be enough to hurt that but I think I am do for a fuel filter change so Ill get on that when I do my brakes hopefully this weekend if everything comes by then.

I thought we had a sensor but from other threads i have read up on, I guess not?

Thanks for takeing the time JIM!
 
These cars are designed not to ping with premium fuel. Like I said I filled up with 87 by accident. 20 miles later it was pinging. 20 miles after refilling with premuim after running out the 87 the car returned to normal. That was over a year ago.
 
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