Mike in Switzerland

Dear all

a friend in the UK has found a 993 he wants to buy. The only issue is that during the test drive the current owner filled up with 95-rated fuel and then sheepishly admitted that he had always run it (for 2 years) on this.

Apat from the obvious worries we all have when a lovely piece of machinery falls into "Budget" hands, what could my friend expect in the way of poor running, increased/decreased carbon, wear etc.

Any help is appreciated - He still like the car but would like to know if he has a ££ point to negotiate on.

Regards

Mike

993RS

Correct me if I am wrong someone, but I thought that in the U.S. you rarely found 98-rated fuel, and therefore most cars there are running with even less than 95-rated fuel: 93 or 92. In which case do not see any drawbacks,

mags993tt

[quote]Originally posted by 993RS:
<strong>Correct me if I am wrong someone, but I thought that in the U.S. you rarely found 98-rated fuel, and therefore most cars there are running with even less than 95-rated fuel: 93 or 92. In which case do not see any drawbacks,</strong><hr></blockquote>

993RS, I too was a little shocked when I heard how low the Octane levels were in the states but I have a sneaky feeling they quote it differently to us in europe. Sure I will be corrected in no uncertain terms if I'm wrong but my suspicion is they quote the average of the RON and MON figures. If that's right our 98 octane is actually more like 93 in the states. However back to the subject - I'm sure I read in the handbook or somewhere that running down to 95 RON was fine as the automatic knock control can deal with this (by changing the timing I guess).

M

Flying Finn

M is correct, octane ratings are different in US & Europe. 93 here (US) equals 98 in Europe.

I'm no expert but like M said, I also remember owner's manual saying 95 can be used (even though hard for me to understand why one wants to save some pennies for that?). <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[nono]" />

993RS

Yes, you are right M. Looked it up in the internet:
<a href="http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010226m.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010226m.cfm</a>

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Hell, our guys out west in CA are down to 91 octane. You all are right though that the numbers are different. I don't think its really going to be a problem, but I might spend a few extra dollars (or Suisse franks or euros...) on a leakdown test at PPI time. Might stick in some cleaner like Techron too (what is the name of the stuff we got John that is available over there?)

Good luck,

E. J.

Mike in Switzerland

Thanks all. He bought the car anyway (polar silver with full red leather interior and sports seats - a very rare combination).

Dealers also suggested using a techron-like product to remove any build-up and go through the service history thoroughly.

Overall he's very happy.

Regards

Mike

pmcgrath

91 here in the land of "fruit and nuts" <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />