I have a 2002 Cadillac Escalade. I have always used premium gas, but want to know if I can switch to regular gas without hurting my engine.
Asked by LukeDukeIsFast Mar 29, 2014 at 12:36 PM about the 2002 Cadillac Escalade 4WD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
5 Answers
Lower the octane rating on the fuel the quicker the fuel will burn. It won't hurt it, but it may decrease performance a bit..
try mid grade for awhile before you drop to regular. Most GM engines will run on regular (no E85). Depending on your driving style - maybe you will notice a slight drop in performance. As for mileage - "maybe" it will drop a little - but not even close to as much money as you will save going from Premium to Regular gas. If possible, stick with Tier 1 gasoline. It has higher cleaning and performance additives than the minimum required by law.
I saw a TV show (in Canada) where they debunked the myth about regular vs high test - they ran tests and diagnostics and concluded that regular was just fine in all cars. We pay the lovely price of $1.25/litre for regular and $1.45/litre for 93 octane, so I switched to regular - BIG MISTAKE, car started to run crappy and mileage dropped. I went back to 93 octane and after a few tanks the performance was back. ($4.60 and $5.30 per U>S? gallon) I gladly pay the extra!! STICK WITH HIGHEST OCTANE YOU CAN GET
If you went straight from Premium to Regular - I would expect those results. My original post suggested using Mid-Grade which is 89 Octane. Switch to Mid-Grade and stay there awhile. At 89 Octane, it is normally a good choice between the pump 93 Octane and the recommended 91 Octane of some engines.
I always fill up at half a tank so the change down is indeed gradual because it mixes half tank of high test to half tank of low test and you get first time a mixed blend in the tank of about 91.5,second time you end up at about 90 etc.. I'm staying at 93 now that I'm back;only adds $15.. to a full tank (ie:costs me $7. extra each time I gas up and where I live that won't buy me one pack of smokes.)