ghopkins Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 :oMy 1996 SLS fuel guage says "Premium Fuel Only." However, a friend said he was told by a person who helped develop the Northstar engine that regular fuel was okay as long as predetonation pinging was not heard. I've been using regular for a couple years...runs fine, no pinging even on slight grades. Averaging slightly above 20 MPG mix town and country driving, around 25 on interstate trips at 70 + MPH. Am I hurting the engine by doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 The general consensus here is that running 87 or 98 octane won't hurt the 1993-1999 Northstar. You may lose a tad of performance and gas mileage, but if you're happy with what you've got there is no compelling reason not to stay with it. My personal preference is to run 92 octane in my car because I'm a performance-first guy. I don't think that it pays for itself with better gas mileage, but I do get some of it back. I would run a tank or two of premium grade through it every year or so to keep the injectors clean. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 You're not hurting a thing and you will never hear any pinging. The Northstar has a knock detector that will retard the timing if spark knock is detected long before you hear it. I used regular in my '97 for at least 3 years and never noticed any difference in performance or mileage. Bottom line is it is fine. If you're gonna race it, use premium to prevent timing from being retarded to get the most out of it, otherwise she's perfectly happy on 87. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 I find that I will ping on take off in the hot summer weather when I use regular, I use the middle grade Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghopkins Posted November 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 The general consensus here is that running 87 or 98 octane won't hurt the 1993-1999 Northstar. You may lose a tad of performance and gas mileage, but if you're happy with what you've got there is no compelling reason not to stay with it. My personal preference is to run 92 octane in my car because I'm a performance-first guy. I don't think that it pays for itself with better gas mileage, but I do get some of it back. I would run a tank or two of premium grade through it every year or so to keep the injectors clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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