Regular v/s Premium Gas – What Happens if you put Premium Gas in a Regular Gas Car?

Using premium gas for your luxurious vehicles is not uncommon. In fact, their manufacturers recommend that buyers only use that to achieve the best mileage and performance. The reason is that those high-end car models are designed with premium components and thereby require premium fuel to protect them. You better don’t experiment with your sports car’s fuel tank if you wish for it to rev appropriately.

That said, what if we do a role reversal? Like, what happens if you put premium gas in a regular gas car? Don’t play too naive. It’s common for almost every car buyer to do this once in their lifetime. When it comes to cars, it is quite important to know what type of fuel your vehicle needs to work at its best and what kind of fuel you’re putting into it on a regular basis.

If you mistakenly use the wrong fuel type in your car, the Car Expert Group is here to tell you what to do next to save you from any possible disasters. So, follow through with the guide and get your answers.

What happens if you put premium gas in a regular gas car?

So many people ask, ‘I accidentally put premium gas in my car should I be worried?’ so here’s the answer.

Surprisingly, if you put premium gas in your regular car, nothing much will happen. Yes, now you can have some water. Your car is completely safe, in fact, you won’t experience any noticeable changes except in your car’s performance and mileage (in a good way). Apart from that, no such thing will happen that you should be worried about.

On the flip side, your engine would be fine if you use regular fuel in your premium car either deliberately or mistakenly. However, it is recommended to switch to premium fuel on your next visit to the fuel station. You must be wondering why so? Well, putting regular fuel in your premium car for a long time will lead to engine issues. Furthermore, it can void your car’s warranty.

What happens if you put gas in a diesel car?

Unfortunately, this case is totally different from the above one and might lead to some costly repairs. That’s because diesel is not just a fuel to run your car. It also acts as a lubricant for heavy vehicles. Using regular gas in a diesel car will badly affect its fuel injecting pump.

Firstly, diesel and gas have completely different chemical properties and compositions. Regular gas blows up much faster than diesel and as a result, the car will have frequent misfires and knocking. When a car starts showing such problems, it immediately needs to get repaired and sometimes re-built or even replaced in worse cases.

So before you or your friends make that ‘mistake’ remember the disastrous after-effects of it.

What happens if you put E85 in a gas car?

If you don’t know much about E85 fuel, it is a gas typically known as a flex fuel that comprises ethanol (51 to 83 percent) and gasoline. Here’s the interesting thing about this fuel, the ethanol percentage in the fuel varies from location to location. Its makers use more ethanol in summers as opposed to winters.

Most gas stations labeled this fuel as ‘E85’, which apparently means it is a ‘much higher’ blend of gasoline and ethanol. Vehicles that are flex-fuel (flexible fuel) can switch between normal gasoline and E85 because their engines allow them to function on both. However, your car needs to be flex-fuel to use this fuel otherwise you might see some issues in your car’s engine and performance.

The malfunction indicator lamp will likely illuminate, though, you can fill up the rest of the tank space with your regular gasoline. A single-time mix-up with E85 won’t be detrimental to your car.

Is it good to use Premium gas occasionally?

If your car recommends regular gas but you use a premium one, you won’t see any significant changes in the car’s performance except for the gas station bill since they are a bit expensive. The current market averages show regular gas prices at $4.671 and premiums at $5.325. While the difference might sound huge, it will cost you higher when you go for a full tank fill-up.

No matter what other people say about their lavish experience after switching to premium gas, it won’t do any better to clean gunk and deposits from your car’s fuel injectors. Nowadays, even regular gasoline comes so powerful and effective that they do almost the same job as premium ones.

What is the difference between premium and regular gas?

You might have seen different labels on gases at the gas stations categorizing fuels as ‘regular’, ‘Premium’, and ‘Super’. What’s the difference between them other than the prices? Well, to be precise, regular fuels have the least octane rating. Premium has a comparatively higher-octane rating. Super or premium plus has the highest rating of all.

An octane rating of a fuel measures its ability to resist that ‘knock’ you hear while driving. A knocking sound typically appears when the fuel/gas mixture is not right. The octane requirement of a car engine varies depending on its mechanics, compression ratio, and operation.

So if you hear a knocking sound after filling up your tank with a mixture of fuel, know that there’s something wrong. Get it checked immediately, or it will cause long-term damage to your vehicle.

What causes the ‘knocking’ sound?

People who ask, “can you put premium gas in any car” read this one out. The knocking sound usually occurs when you put regular gas in high compression engines or premium gas in low compression engines. So many of you think that putting premium gas in their regular fuel engine would boost its performance. Well, they are wrong here, you could be damaging your engine by doing so.

Before putting any other fuel in your vehicle than the recommended one, make sure you check the manual guide first. If you have lost it, you can also head to a service technician and consult which fuel you can use to improve your car’s performance.

Which type of gas should you use in your car?

A broad question, we could provide you with a general guideline for opting for fuel for your car.

Every car is different and asks for a specified type of fuel to work smoothly. You can definitely use high-octane fuel in your regular car. However, you can’t do the reverse. A wrong octane fuel can damage your luxury car. Furthermore, some vehicles can work with diesel or bio-fuels. So, you have to go through the manufacturer’s guide when topping fuels for these guides.

Closing Thoughts – What happens if you put premium gas in a regular gas car?

Modern cars have advanced manufacturing. They can adjust the vehicle’s engine according to the type of fuel you put into it. As a result, most of them work with regular as well as high-octane fuels without posing any threat to the vehicle.

That said, for precautionary purposes, you don’t have to go premium options to improve your car’s running even if your vehicle doesn’t need them. If your engine works fine on regular gas and doesn’t require a premium one, it will have no positive or negative impact on your car’s performance.

Lastly, mixing high and low octane fuels can be done on regular car models that use regular fuel. Don’t try it on luxury models.

We would highly recommend you go through your car’s manual guide if you are going for fuels other than the suggested ones.