Do RON RON?

I am about to pick my 1986 RRC.

Quick newbie question: can I just stick to "regular unleaded" or is it worth trying the various petrols that have higher RON ratings, e.g. BP or Tesco Momentum?

If it is worth trying the higher RON rating petrol, what are the real benefits of doing so, not what the adverts say?

In my opinion regular unleaded will be fine - the thing will drink so much of it the 'better' stuff will eat the wallet....

They do say Supermarket fuel isn't as good as the others - BP Shell etc claim to put cleaning additives in etc etc.....

Higher Octane ratings in an older car can cause pinking or knocking - modern cars can chop and change as they monitor combustion temps, exhaust output and also have knock sensors fitted so they can adjust ignition timing to match the pre ignition points of different fuel types....

Pick a local petrol station and use that as often as possible - you'll be in there a lot so time to make friends with the staff!!!! - also you can then get a handle on how your car performs on their fuel so when you do go to another station you have a chance to compare.....

My current on gas gives a constant 15mpg from a Shell garage up the road.....on Sunday I had to fill up at a Sainsburys that does LPG, i have only just filled up again but the Sainsburys returned 14.7mpg - only .3mpg difference.....but it is enough for me to notice the difference between petrol stations!

Thanks for the detailed response.

I am picking up the car on Monday and will post photos here once I have given it a good clean.

I am bracing myself for the first petrol tank fill but what price the sound of the V8 burbling away?

Charybdis said:

Thanks for the detailed response.

I am picking up the car on Monday and will post photos here once I have given it a good clean.

I am bracing myself for the first petrol tank fill but what price the sound of the V8 burbling away?

Click to expand...

You can't put a price on a V8's burble....

Saint.V8 said:

You can't put a price on a V8's burble....

Click to expand...

Er, 133.9 per litre! Lots of em

Diesel Do said:

Er, 133.9 per litre! Lots of em

Click to expand...

:mooning: but true!!!

Saint.V8 said:

In my opinion regular unleaded will be fine - the thing will drink so much of it the 'better' stuff will eat the wallet....

They do say Supermarket fuel isn't as good as the others - BP Shell etc claim to put cleaning additives in etc etc.....

Higher Octane ratings in an older car can cause pinking or knocking - modern cars can chop and change as they monitor combustion temps, exhaust output and also have knock sensors fitted so they can adjust ignition timing to match the pre ignition points of different fuel types....

Pick a local petrol station and use that as often as possible - you'll be in there a lot so time to make friends with the staff!!!! - also you can then get a handle on how your car performs on their fuel so when you do go to another station you have a chance to compare.....

My current on gas gives a constant 15mpg from a Shell garage up the road.....on Sunday I had to fill up at a Sainsburys that does LPG, i have only just filled up again but the Sainsburys returned 14.7mpg - only .3mpg difference.....but it is enough for me to notice the difference between petrol stations!

Click to expand...

LPG is LPG, it's not petrol. The difference may be due to pump inaccuracy.

I thought low Ron or Research octane number fuels would cause pinking /pre detonation
in high compression motors.Low octane fuel should cope with motors using low compression fiqures.
Putting high octane fuel in a low compression engine is wasting money or if additives enthuse you go ahead.

Just the normal unleaded for me.

I have no intention of spending more than I need to!

Post originally started because I didn't know whether the RON rating of fuel had gone down since the 1980s with the advent of low sulphur etc.

This RRC will be a "keeper" so will be looking after her carefully,

Yeah regular unleaded will be fine mate.

out of interest is it a 2 or 4 door?

I look forward to the pics

1986 Vogue EFi, 4 doors, in Cypress green. Counting the days down....

I nearly bought one like that, rotten as a pear lol

I haven't seen underneath it yet but the sills have just been done for MoT.

I will take some photos of underneath plus inner wings, tailgate, etc. and ask for views on what needs doing.

I intend to keep this for a long time, along with my LR S2A so I am more interested in doing all the oily/rusty bits and will keep it to the original spec. as far as possible.

I can live with the catastrophic fuel economy for the "smiles per mile" factor amd it might even be a bit more economical than the 16 mpg I get with the 2286cc petrol lump in the S2A.

Charybdis said:

I haven't seen underneath it yet but the sills have just been done for MoT.

I will take some photos of underneath plus inner wings, tailgate, etc. and ask for views on what needs doing.

I intend to keep this for a long time, along with my LR S2A so I am more interested in doing all the oily/rusty bits and will keep it to the original spec. as far as possible.

I can live with the catastrophic fuel economy for the "smiles per mile" factor amd it might even be a bit more economical than the 16 mpg I get with the 2286cc petrol lump in the S2A.

Click to expand...

Doubtful!!

yeah doubtfull. I used to get 7mpg round town lol

use standard pump fuel..its ment to run on crap..

and for your interest..higher the ron less chance of pinking NOT more as stated earlier by someone else.

dont bother with gas/lpg UNLESS diy fitment cos you never get your money back unless doing vety very high millage..(and you wont cos it will break)

why ?

why what??

zen said:

why what??

Click to expand...

break

I noticed a huge difference in my 4l disco2 when i put a splash of tesco fuel in it. it ran crap, spluttered and didnt want to play nicely at all untill i filled up at an esso station so im avoiding the supermarket fuels now