Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

[Gleamese]

Hi all,

I have been fueling Shell 98 for my 323 from day one of my ride, no disappointment so far. Today butt itchy, went to try out Shell 95. As usual, i always finish up entire tank full of 63 litre petrol before the next refuelling. So i got my tank fill up a good 63 litre of Shell 95, to test it out.

Immediately after refuelling i hit the highway. It was around 10 km ride back from the refuelling point to the next destination. Everything was okay cruising at 100km/hr constant at a rpm of 2000-2500rpm, until i decided to go for a sudden aceleration from cruising speed, press down fully on the pedal and hit 4500rpm, engine suddenly knock. I could feel a slight tug from the engine. Was the ECU trying to learn lower octane fuel? Or octane level is not enough for our 6 pot engine? I am just curious over the engine behaviour on different fuel.

Anyway, after that small tug, i started to slow down and maintain at the same cruising speed as before for awhile. Then go for another try, this time i acelerate to 5000rpm, the engine knock disappear. But somehow i felt that the engine wasn't as powerful as before fueling on 98. Was i over sensitive over the change of octane level petrol? Or different rated petrol really matters?

Can someone kindly share your experience here?

Regards
Gleamese

 

[ac323]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Hi all,

I have been fueling Shell 98 for my 323 from day one of my ride, no disappointment so far. Today butt itchy, went to try out Shell 95. As usual, i always finish up entire tank full of 63 litre petrol before the next refuelling. So i got my tank fill up a good 63 litre of Shell 95, to test it out.

Immediately after refuelling i hit the highway. It was around 10 km ride back from the refuelling point to the next destination. Everything was okay cruising at 100km/hr constant at a rpm of 2000-2500rpm, until i decided to go for a sudden aceleration from cruising speed, press down fully on the pedal and hit 4500rpm, engine suddenly knock. I could feel a slight tug from the engine. Was the ECU trying to learn lower octane fuel? Or octane level is not enough for our 6 pot engine? I am just curious over the engine behaviour on different fuel.

Anyway, after that small tug, i started to slow down and maintain at the same cruising speed as before for awhile. Then go for another try, this time i acelerate to 5000rpm, the engine knock disappear. But somehow i felt that the engine wasn't as powerful as before fueling on 98. Was i over sensitive over the change of octane level petrol? Or different rated petrol really matters?

Can someone kindly share your experience here?

Regards
Gleamese

Hi Gleamese,

98 for me.......................



cheers

 

[Terry]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Ur car is destroyed.. Gone.. Disaster.. It might explode.. Or die on u anytime.. Sell your car..

It cannot take octane 95.. U put in means car is total loss

 

[JasonKuan]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Did you modify your car such as changing to after market piggyback ECU?

 

[RaidenGear]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Looking at the manual for the 323i :

BMW engines are equipped with knock
sensors and will adapt automatically to
different octane ratings, provided that
the minimum octane requirement
(87 AKI) is met.

Fuels with higher octane ratings will provide
enhanced performance and lower
fuel consumption, while the use of fuels
with lower octane ratings will have the
opposite effect.

The minimum fuel grade req for the 323 is 86-87 AKI which should be around 91-92 RON

I think it's just a slight hiccup from the engine? Not sure though, hopefully a more experienced guy can shed some light on this.

 

[delrosa81]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

I do not know for 323i but for my 320, the manual states, car can run with no issues on 88 Octane Petrol BUT car is tuned for 98 Octane and will run at its optimal when car is running on 98 Octane Petrol.

I also did try out a few tanks of Shell 98 for my 320 recently. Yes its indeed better especially when U r pushing the car towards higher RPM. But as my petrol is claim company one, so I better automatic abit, use back shell 95. Not so nice claim then top up more exp petrol.

My 320 has been running 95 all the 3 yrs and so far I find its pretty alright if I do not compare to the feel of 98. So yes its true, car runs at its optimal level at 98 Octane petrol.

 

[E92-Lighting]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

i only use the highest octane available, but not Shell for Bmw's because it contains ethanol

 

[RaidenGear]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

i only use the highest octane available, but not Shell for Bmw's because it contains ethanol

What negative effects are there from having ethanol in the car's fuel?

 

[uglyducklings2000]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

well, petrol in US is cheap, i'll go for the ''best of the best " in malaysia.... Anyway i pump 95 for my A4B6, e93 325 and e84... Nothing happened. not much difference between 95 and 98 if you are merely using for normal driving.

 

[highbury]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

I've been using Esso 8000 for my E60. Became itchy recently and decided to try Esso 5000.
The engine does seem a very little bit sluggish. Maybe it is psychological cos I can't really tell the difference. I'm a moderate driver. Perhaps we have been influenced by the marketing propoganda.

 

[MW]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

I have used Shell 98 since 2000 and recently switched to Esso cos Shell &^&^*((%(%# on their rewards points redemption and treats their customers like sh*t. Anyway, I found tat Esso 8000 doesn;t really differs much from Shell 98 in terms of fuel consumption but I am happy with the discounts using my Citibank credit card + the on site discount, total 10%.

 

[BMWM3]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Petronas is the best fuel...in Malaysia. Oil coming from the ground produce less hydrocarbon....unlike middle east high in hydrogen sulphur.

 

[davidtch]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Petronas is the best fuel...in Malaysia. Oil coming from the ground produce less hydrocarbon....unlike middle east high in hydrogen sulphur.

Petronas fuel most likely also comes from middle east. If not, why do they need to build an oil refinery in Malacca?

Oil from Malaysia is of the same quality as North Sea Brent (that was what i read somewhere previously). It is sold to Japan mostly.

 

[syaheerbmw]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Petronas fuel most likely also comes from middle east. If not, why do they need to build an oil refinery in Malacca?

Oil from Malaysia is of the same quality as North Sea Brent (that was what i read somewhere previously). It is sold to Japan mostly.

Petronas does both drilling and refining of crude oil, and Malaysian oil IS also sold domestically... Although some of it also have come from Middle East...

 

[syaheerbmw]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Back to topic... From what I've known, yes the E90 6-pots can take as low as even 92, as the ECU can retard the engine to combust the petrol according to the RON level... However, it only runs at the optimum level when using 98.. Thus, there shouldn't be any problem if 95 or 97 is pumped in, under normal driving circumstances...

 

[CoolBlue6699]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

I used esso 5000 on my previous ride (Merc w220 S-class) for 4 years nothing broke, recently change to E66 730Li, pump in Esso 5000 too, runs well even at 220km/h on NSH. In malaysia I put in ron 97, I can't feel any diff on the car performance. Maybe every fill up I throw in one EP-1 fuel conditional sold in all Esso station, only $3plus per bottle. only feel engine louder and weaker when stop the EP-1 for more than 3 fills, so no need Ron 97/98 I can save quite a bit on my 85L tank!!

 

[Contra]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Hi all

sorry to hijack, for the new 318i can we use RON 95? The TS asked for E90 6 liner, I guess its 320 and up? Sorry coz Im still new to BMW..Tks!

 

[davidtch]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

If u luv ur car, use 98.

How much diff btw a tank of 95 & 98?

 

[kiyoshi]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

Haha, I luv my car! I am using V-power....haha, my two cents

 

[BlueSwift]

Re: Fueling 95 or 98 for your E90 6 liner engine?

If u luv ur car, use 98.

How much diff btw a tank of 95 & 98?

100% Agree.
When my dad overseas and i take car drive, he purposely pump 95 for me :chinese:

And when he comes back and refuels, he uses 98. :shhhh::shhhh:

Difference is only by about approx. $5 in SPC (my dad uses SPC cuz of 15% discount, lol).

But he gives me 95 so that will not get as much power as using 98.... Is that really true??? :thinking::thinking::thinking: