A mate has an 98 imported Type R. It has done only about 10k mile since it was imported last year. there is about 47k on it now. He has only ever put 95 ron petrol which is all we can get over in Ireland. He has never put octane booster in either .. what harm would this do to the car to be running it on the lower octane fuel.

 

ohhh dear needs optimax plus octane booster or it will go BANG

 

so it not good so.. is it head gaskets that goes

 

i think it will be more than the head gaskets mate.

 

It will be the bottom end that goes eventually. Why not buy booster and use that - it's hardly expensive and is easy to get hold of?

 

and to ask a dumb questions why does the bottom end go.. what is the bottom end.. I'll stop asking stupid questions now

 

he does have a fuel cat installed would this help in anyway

 

Its quite simple: the fuel ignites whilst the piston is still travelling upwards. The massive force pushes down against the piston and overcomes the oil film on the big end bearing. Number 3 piston or big end usually fails as this cylinder tends to have the lowest fuel pressure; which is why cars run on suitable fuel can also fail due to a weak mixture.

Simon

 

This should be a sticky at the top of the boards...

NEVER RUN AN STI ON 95 OCTANE!

 

lol... so not a good idea then... what about this fuel cat.. does that help any bit.. this country is polluted with jap imports and only 95 petrol to run them.. would a turbo car be in more danger of going "bang" than a naturaly aspirated(spelling??)

 

A fuel cat is not really a great solution. Your mate needs to do 1 of 2 things.

1. Raise the RON rating of the fuel he's using from 95 to as close to 100 as he can, for example by using super unleaded (97 RON) and octane booster such as NF http://www.nitrous.com.au/ or Millers https://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/millers.html.

2. Get the ECU remapped/replaced so it will run on lower RON fuel such as 95 if that's all that is available.

 

would the 10k miles that he has done so far have caused much damage.. think a remap is best option..does the fuel cat help any bit at all or just a waste of money