My poor little car - help?

[CathrynRose]

I drive a 1995 Hyundai Accent. Quit laughing... I really like it. Ive bonded with her and she's been so good to me.

Last night the lil' gal was almost empty. I pulled into my normal BP and they were OUT of regular gas - but the owner was out there telling everyone you can have the Ultimate for the same price. I thought "Gee, thats nice! My lil' car will be excited about me using PREMIUM in her! Yay!"

I filled her up, and left.

Then.... she started idling reallllly low. And when I will take off from stops, she kinda lags, and acts like she's gonna die - but doesnt. And once she get's going, she feels zippier - but why this change? IM SCARED! (keep in mind, not only am I a hypochondriac for ME, im a hypochondriac for my cars too.... so expensive to fix!!)

So, lay it on me. Will she recover once this high octane gas gets used up? Is she broke for life? Im worried, and nervous - and hoping she'll be okay. Did I screw up, bigtime? Is there something I can do to make things better???


She's pink for crien out loud. YES PINK! Where am I gonna get another shimmery pink car?!?! I love her.

 

[KimAshton]

I hope everything is fine with your car. I have no idea if a different octane of gas will screw it up.

I want to see a pic of your car. I never saw a pink car.

 

[Enchanted Tiki Bird]

Yeah, putting the wrong type of gas in is never a good idea. I'm not sure about permanent damage from doing it once but you never know. Perhaps someone else could answer.

 

[jbmom]

I have no advice, I'm car challenged. Just hoping she makes a speedy recovery!

 

[Hercules10]

Yes a higher octane gas can upset your car's tummy (if it's used to lower octane). However I have a feeling the owner sold you bad gas instead. He wasn't doing anyone a favor. He was probably getting rid of his over-priced inventory before it expired (yeah, gas can go bad with time)

 

[lovemygoofy]

I drive a 1995 Hyundai Accent. Quit laughing... I really like it. Ive bonded with her and she's been so good to me.

Last night the lil' gal was almost empty. I pulled into my normal BP and they were OUT of regular gas - but the owner was out there telling everyone you can have the Ultimate for the same price. I thought "Gee, thats nice! My lil' car will be excited about me using PREMIUM in her! Yay!"

I filled her up, and left.

Then.... she started idling reallllly low. And when I will take off from stops, she kinda lags, and acts like she's gonna die - but doesnt. And once she get's going, she feels zippier - but why this change? IM SCARED! (keep in mind, not only am I a hypochondriac for ME, im a hypochondriac for my cars too.... so expensive to fix!!)
So, lay it on me. Will she recover once this high octane gas gets used up? Is she broke for life? Im worried, and nervous - and hoping she'll be okay. Did I screw up, bigtime? Is there something I can do to make things better???


She's pink for crien out loud. YES PINK! Where am I gonna get another shimmery pink car?!?! I love her.

I'm the say way about my car to be honest. I baby it because I dread when it really needs something. Do you put some any kind of engine cleaner in your car every so often? I think that some of the premiums have that additive to help keep the lines unblocked and maybe thats what its doing I really don't know. Do you think you just got bad gas?

It does remind me of Matt borrowing his buddies car a long time ago. Apparently the guy never changed the oil but would just add oil when it got low so anyways, Matt was trying to be nice when he borrowed it and had the oil changed to be nice. You know what's coming right? Yes, the engine block completely blew. I guess the new oil blew it's top off lol. I hope thats not the same with your car. What if you car gets used to that expensive gas

 

[CathrynRose]

Yes a higher octane gas can upset your car's tummy (if it's used to lower octane). However I have a feeling the owner sold you bad gas instead. He wasn't doing anyone a favor. He was probably getting rid of his over-priced inventory before it expired (yeah, gas can go bad with time)

Ummmm - can recovery occur from bad gas?

Im so sad about this. Because she's an old-timer, I probably wouldnt get her fixed, and that makes me so sad. And then Im looking at car payments.... UGH!

Do you think once the possibly bad gas is gone, she'll be okay?

I dont want to take any pictures of her right now. She's not feeling well.

 

[mickeyboat]

I have always been told not to let my gas tank go really low in the winter for two reasons:

1. Some blah blah blah (mechanical talk) about moisture getting into your tank; and

2. Some blah blah blah (mechanical talk) about the yucky sludge in the bottom of your tank

I sure hope the old gal starts feeling better soon.

Denae

 

[Mono~rail]

Our PT Cruiser (that we sold) and our Grand Caravan owner's manuals both said to only use Regular Unleaded gasoline because higher octane can damage the engine.

I don't *think* one tank would hurt it, but repeated use could. You could always drain the high octane gas into a gas container and put in the regular unleaded.

My dh drives a 93 toyota corolla, and he gets lots of razzing over it from his buddies - it is white though, not shimmery pink. It runs and gets him where he wants to go for not much gas.

At his office Christmas party, he was looking at a really large painting and thinking about buying it. The secretary said really loud so the whole room could hear - "I don't think that big painting is going to fit in your little car!" Recently, he's been mentioning he wants a toyota truck.

I want to get him a "Don't laugh, it is paid for" bumper sticker, but he got a little upset when I suggested it.

 

[CathrynRose]

I found this picture online - so small - but this is her twin sister.....

 

[piglet too]

My Jewel Express was doing the same thing yesterday! No "regular" so we got the premium for the same price. As I was filling up, the fuel truck showed up.

I am sure your car will be fine. Try adding some "Heat" to it next time you fill up, I have heard it is supposed to help in this weather. (that is another thing that may have caused it, you were so low and it is soooo cold out there.)

 

[Hedy]

Our PT Cruiser (that we sold) and our Grand Caravan owner's manuals both said to only use Regular Unleaded gasoline because higher octane can damage the engine.

I don't *think* one tank would hurt it, but repeated use could. You could always drain the high octane gas into a gas container and put in the regular unleaded.

My dh drives a 93 toyota corolla, and he gets lots of razzing over it from his buddies - it is white though, not shimmery pink. It runs and gets him where he wants to go for not much gas.

At his office Christmas party, he was looking at a really large painting and thinking about buying it. The secretary said really loud so the whole room could hear - "I don't think that big painting is going to fit in your little car!" Recently, he's been mentioning he wants a toyota truck.

I want to get him a "Don't laugh, it is paid for" bumper sticker, but he got a little upset when I suggested it.

DSIL used to have a '92 pink Corolla-I was once referring to it in passing, and DB got very offended and was all "It was dusty rose! Not pink!"

 

[shrubber]

Higher octane gas will not hurt your car.
The odds of getting 'bad gas' these days are pretty slim especially from a national chain.
Higher octane gas is formulated to ignite 'slower' than regular making it ideal for higher compression engines. It is also useful for using in motors that are 'pinging' or 'knocking'.
That means that they are pre detonating. (firing in the cylinder to soon)

My guess would be to check the spark plugs and wires. When were they last replaced?
If you do not have adaquate spark, the car would run ok on regular gas, ( easy to fire)
and miss some on High octane gas ( harder to fire in a low compression engine)

Switch out your plugs and wires ($75 ish) and I bet it'll solve the problem.

 

[nuke]

Hate to scare you but my Hyundai Elantra was running crappy for a few weeks. I would have to gun it to get it to go and then after it warmed up it would run fine. Turned out that a coil was blown in the engine. It cost about $450 to fix it.
I've also had to replace the oxygen sensor a couple of times. That's another thing that makes it idle funny.

 

[mickeyfan2]

It seems that the higher octane gas cleaned out your systerm and now your fuel filter is dirty.

 

[shrubber]

It seems that the higher octane gas cleaned out your systerm and now your fuel filter is dirty.

had'nt thought of that

 

[Boo'sMom]

Yes a higher octane gas can upset your car's tummy (if it's used to lower octane). However I have a feeling the owner sold you bad gas instead. He wasn't doing anyone a favor. He was probably getting rid of his over-priced inventory before it expired (yeah, gas can go bad with time)

This is likely the problem. This has happened to us before, the first time, some dry gas helped, the second time....well, we won't talk about that here..

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

hope it gets better CAT!

 

[Enchanted Tiki Bird]

Higher octane gas will not hurt your car.

I have a 2004 Chevy Optra 5 and when I purchased it, I was warned to only put in regular unleaded gas AND there is a similar warning in the owner's manual so I'm not sure about your claim that the higher octane gas cannot hurt different types of cars.

 

[Mono~rail]

I checked my owner's manual for my van, and it says to use regular unleaded gasoline because high octane fuel can cause poor performance and in some cases *could* cause damage.

I'm not a mechanic, but I do read my owner's manual and take the information seriously.