:cry: Wrong Octane - Now Massive Backfiring

[JDog_27]

Well over the weekend I had about a 140 mile drive ahead of me. Had maybe 3-4 gallons 92 before I hit the gas station to fill up. Being stupid I wasn't paying attention and had the attendant fill up with 87 (you don't fill your own gas in Oregon). By the time I realized my mistake the tank was full of 87.

Crap! Figured I'd be okay as long as I stayed out of boost. Well I made it about 80 or so miles and cruising about 75mph in 5th gear when the car started to bumble and stumble. I had the radio up so I thought I was running over a bad patch of road but then i heard a loud bang...felt like the whole underneath of the car exploded. I let off the gas and coasted to the side of the road while the car was giving off a rapid fire of backfiring/sputtering. Had to really steer it to the side of the road.

While sitting there at idle the car gave off one last bang and then idled fine. Got out and checked everything and all looked good...no CEL either. Luckily a friend happened up on me so we both talked then i decided to get back on the road to try and find an off ramp/gas station. Went about 10 miles then it repeated at 60mph. Friend said a big black (jet black) of smoke the size of a basketball shot of my tailpipe as my tailpipe went side to side then followed by smaller sized sputtering of black smoke. Ended up getting the car towed home...Yay for TripleA.

Sorry for the long post but figured I'd share the before story. Now my question is would the lower octane rating have caused this? I'm running a AEM EMS and not the ECU so not sure if the EMS would have saved me from screwing up on the wrong octane or is this a whole different issue? Pulled and replaced spark plugs yesterday. Car idles fine, a little high at 1200rpms, and no audible weird noises coming from the bay. Still on stock FPR with 255 pump (bad fpr?)... oh and I still have a full tank of 87 sitting in the car...

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Drain the tank, put in some fresh high octane, and drive it.

 

[JDog_27]

Is there a relatively easy way to drain the tank? Tried siphoning with a hand pump...yeah that equals next to impossible. I searched and saw that I could possibly pull one of the lines off my fpr and turn the key to the ON position and drain it that way...

 

[defury]

Isn't there a drain plug?

 

[ramsack]

Write your state politicians and tell them to change the law that was made in the 1940s when it was less than safe to pump gas. Obviously they kept the law around to create jobs, but it's usually just jobs for morons. But yea, get that gas out of there unless you can tough it out and not boost for a while. 87 octane burns no differently than 93 or 100, it is just a number to note the resistance to detonation.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

You could run the car with the return taken off the fpr. Just rig it up with maybe another hose dumping into a container. The car will stop when you run out of fuel. Then just hook up the return on the fpr and fill the tank.

note: I don't think there is a plug on the 2g like on the 1g defury, but that was my first thought too.

 

[black_gst]

Is there a relatively easy way to drain the tank? Tried siphoning with a hand pump...yeah that equals next to impossible. I searched and saw that I could possibly pull one of the lines off my fpr and turn the key to the ON position and drain it that way...

yeah this is the best way... it will just take awhile

 

[black_gst]

You could run the car with the return taken off the fpr. Just rig it up with maybe another hose dumping into a container. The car will stop when you run out of fuel. Then just hook up the return on the fpr and fill the tank.

its a bad idea to have the car running and draining fuel... good way to catch something on fire

 

[bluegs03]

I dont know about 2g's but the 1g's have a bolt in the bottom of the fuel tank that you can undo and drain the tank. Try that

 

[JDog_27]

Wow you all are fast...thanks for the quick responses! I just really hope it's the gas and not something else...

Unfortunately the 2Gs don't have a drain plug but I will try draining via the line on the FPR with the key turned to just the "ON" position.

Now the stupid question of the day... now my stock FPR is the black thing on the end of my fuel rail on the driver's side of it?

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Yes, that is your fuel pressure regulator on the end of the fuel rail on the drivers side. On a cold motor there's not much risk of fire like black gst says, but I wouldn't do it on a hot motor with a hot manifold etc. Just common sense there... But with the motor running is the quickest and easiest way for me other than removing the drain plug on a 1g. Not sure how the 2g is with aem ems, but mine will only cycle the pump for about 3 seconds with the key on, then it shuts off. I don't think it will just run continuously for you without cycling the key on and off. But, of course that would work too if you are afraid of a fire.

 

[black_gst]

with aem he should be able to turn the pump on @ "key on" i know dsmlink can do it.

another way would be to pull of your CAS and turn the key on and spin the CAS becasue that is what activates the pump

 

[1995gsx20g]

if you rewired the fuel pump then you could just hot wire the relay to power the pump.

 

[JDog_27]

Sweet! I'll give it a try this afternoon and report back on how everything went. Thanks for the suggestions as well...really helpful.

 

[DSM1G90]

(why I hate driving in Oregon - can't do my own fuel fills and have to watch the attendant if he's doing his job correctly..)

go buy you a couple of bottles of octane boost (it's just alcohol with other junk in a bottle) , shove in there and you should be good to go ...

Good luck-DSM

 

[JDog_27]

go buy you a bottle of octane boost (it's just alcohol in a bottle) , shove in there and you should be good to go ...

Will that actually work though since I'm adding it after the fact? Since I'd be adding to whats already in there, would it effectively mix with the rest of the fuel?

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

I wouldn't mess with that. Octane booster is usually only able to bring up the octane rating a couple of points if your lucky. You might be able to get that 87 octane up to an 89, but that's about it. Drain it and get some new 92-93 octane and be done with it.

 

[xe0]

(why I hate driving in Oregon - can't do my own fuel fills and have to watch the attendant if he's doing his job correctly..)

go buy you a couple of bottles of octane boost (it's just alcohol with other junk in a bottle) , shove in there and you should be good to go ...

Good luck-DSM

Yet, if you're riding a motorcycle, they won't touch the pump! It's so freaking stupid.

I don't even like telling other people I live in Oregon, I feel ashamed. We're apparently too dumb collectively as a state to pump gas and must hire "highly trained technicians"

I asked an attendant one time why is it they "have" to fill up cars but can't fill up bikes and she said "we're not trained to fill up motorcycles" WTF

Sorry to go off-topic.

My buddys gvr4 almost blew a headgasket from detonation when he filled up at the station and didn't watch the attendant who apparently thought e85 meant 87 octane.

If I were you though, I would try to siphon it again with a hose before I would mess with the fpr.

Good luck!

 

[docb002000]

I had to drain my 2g tank, theres no drain plug and a hand pump sucks!!! I went to home depot and got a out door pond pump pull the back seat up removed the fuel gauge sender 2 min later done. Hope this helps

 

[JDog_27]

Thanks Gravedigger, black gst, and everyone else. Drained the fuel from the FPR...T'd off from the fuel return line and took all of 15 minutes total drain time to empty the tank out. 45 minutes total time as I only had a 5 gallon fuel can that I would fill up then empty into my truck and then repeat the process.

Filled the 2G with 5 gallons of 92. I'll run the car tomorrow afternoon and hopefully I don't get any of the backfiring issues. I'll report back tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[1997_GSX]

some gas stations around here are like that... I refuse and pump my own gas... They are leaning on my car or spilling gas on my paint. I usually wipe out the inside of my fuel door when I fill up so it doesn't eat my paint.

 

[DSM1G90]

we're not trained to fill up motorcycles"

"trained?" mean you have to be trained to put on your pants a certain way so your shorthairs don't get caught in the zipper? OH BROTHER!!

 

[gusu]

Hey man, I've had the same crap happen to me. I went to AMPM on Lancaster here in Salem and the idiot there filled my empty car with regular gas after I had told him TWICE to make sure he filled it with premium.

I come up to the counter since I went in to get a drink and did not watch since I figured telling the idiot TWICE what to fill it with would get it through his head that I wanted PREMIUM... anyway the guy says its only 27 dollars which I found weird because its always been at least 32 bucks so I asked if it was filled with premium and he said no. So I said I wasn't going to pay for it since I clearly said I wanted premium and the attendant actually did agree with me and said sorry. As I was about to leave a cop came in and they claimed I was trying to not pay for my gas so I had to explain everything to him. The cop agreed it was total BS what they did and it was their fault but said since he was not there when they did it he could not help which is BS also but anyway because of him showing up I had to pay for their idiot mistake.

All I can say is if you want to run it out instead of trying to siphon it out DO NOT hit boost. I'm not going to say its fine to run it because you do still have a turbo making a bit more power. I did run it through on mine staying out of boost though I do not recommend doing it at all.

FYI my friend destroyed his 95 Eclipse by continuously filling it with 86 octane and hitting a full 16 PSI several times a day.

Just use your own judgment and ask yourself if you fill it is worth the risk.

 

[1995gsx20g]

you can run 87 safely if you stay completely out of boost like previously stated.

back in the summer of 08 when gas was close to $4.50 a gallon for premium i saved a good $50 on a road trip by pumping only 87oct i also had an internally gated turbo and unhooked the actuator so just incase i forgot i was running 87oct there was no chance of hitting more than 2-3 psi even if i stayed in it, the flapper was wide open and bypassed all of the pressure..

 

[JDog_27]

Now this is making me second guess if the octane was the issue of my LOUD backfiring and sputtering. I was completely out of boost leading up to the issue. Then again I'm not on the ECU whereas the ECU will pull timing if I ran lower octane. Not sure if the AEM EMS will do this to save the engine? Guess I'll find out when I drive her tonight...