wanted to get this out there. what grade of fuel do you use in your first gen and if at all possible what types of concoctions of fuel additives you guys use? I'm also interested at what you guys pay at the pump (on average). for example once my 84 is back on the road. im using 93 octane or premium grade fuel. thank god my girlfriend works at mohegan sun casino, they have an employee gas station which is about 30 cents lower than everywhere else. the average around here is anywhere from $3.50-$3.80 a gallon for regular. premium at mohegan sun is gonna run about $3.50-$3.60 a gallon. For additives I will be running a mix of dry gas and carb/fuel injector cleaner.

I use Non-Oxygenated 92 Octane Unleaded from Duffy's. They have a special pump for use in "Collector Cars". I also use this in my small engines as well. This fuel is non-corrosive and has a higher BTU factor than low-grade oxygenated/ethanol blends. It is more expensive but the return of 12% better mileage (as unscientifically tested) and peace of mind is worth it. Nothing worse than having corrosive fuel eating away at old infrastructure! Lol.

I run bp 93 which has 10% ethanol but I do add several ounces of seafoam.Since my car sits inside I now only keep about two gallons in the tank as I just earlier this year had to drop my tank and redue my entire fuel system bc of a clogged strainer and weak fuel pump and bad sending unit for the gauge on the dash.

Not a soul on here to be surprised when I say I just run regular gas, Hahaa

Unless you've got your engine hopped up - there shouldn't be a need for high octane fuel. Remember these were just everyday economy cars back in the day.....The ethanol of course is questionable and we have (supposedly) ethanol free gas here for about 80 cents more on the gallon. Personally I have my own questions regarding these places selling ethanol free fuel - no one can crawl inside their tanks and verify actually what the hell they have down in there to start with and there isn't any way to really know. Another thought I have is that everyone uses the regular gas so it doesn't sit around in storage tanks all over the place - supply and demand here. The regular stuff is constantly being used and therefore the freshest. How long has that expensive gas been sitting in that tank down there? Who wants to buy that head of lettuce already starting to turn brown?

Reliability.....I can say I have been running the standard stuff in the old wagon since 2002 and have replaced the fuel pump once way back in '04 I think (give or take a year or two) and no other problems - put about 35k on it over that time so far. Still running the same throttle body and injector. No fuel related issues with the Pontiac nor the '94. Tammys '98 has clocked 35k on it as well since '09 and no fuel related issues to date as well. So with 4 J-Bodies spanning all 3 generations and ownership spanning from 1 to 12 years I've got some pretty consistent real life data there.

I think the biggest issue is not what kind of fuel being used - but not regularly driving a vehicle - this applies to any kind of vehicle in and outside of J-Bodies as well. You drop a tank on anything that has set for years and the it is a disaster!! Not only does regularly running keep fresh fuel in the tank it keeps the whole fuel system flushed and really keeps the whole engine and transmission in running condition. Nothing that sits around long term works well - that applies to machines and people.

In conclusion if you don't use your J's often the best you can do is try and keep additives in the tank - but eventually they will break down. As Ron discovered this year there is only one solution to the mess after that - drop the tank and replace. One possible idea (and perhaps a lunatic one at that...) would be to put a drain on your tank and keep it empty unless you are going to use the car - then run fresh in it then. The fuel?? Who dares even call it gas nowadays ..... the feds have the refineries adding a dozen additives to the actual gasoline. The stuff coming out of the pump sure aint the kind of stuff we had back in the 1980's....... but that isn't gonna change and we are just stuck with it.


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Good old 87 here as well. I'm never on the highway and get over 25mpg. When this town of mine gets their people off their butts and sync up the lights, my mileage goes over 27mpg. Funny how government is always tooting the tree hugger horn of being more energy efficient, then they do dumb things like let the traffic lights get out of sync so we're all sitting around burning $3.50/gallon gas.

Because of being in the northeast, with all the stupid changes for summer/winter blends, I run a bottle of Regain with a tank of 93 after the change to winter blend.

I don't know what's happening, but lately the dollar has been in rally mode against foreign currency, so the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to under $90 and that has sent gas under $3.30/gallon around here. With the winter blend change coming soon, I just might see $2.99 by December.

No fuel problems here, and as Orlen said, I drive my regularly. I'm using it Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to go to work, about 90 miles a week.

In my 87 cavalier with the 2.8l I'm getting 18 in the city and 24 on a 55mph highway, if I get on the interstate and go 70+ it drops down to 14. But I run normal 87 octane gas and use BG Power Enhancer. I have a buddy who works at a dealership and get kits of BG cleaner for little to nothing. So far the car has 136,000 miles with all kinds of new parts as seen on a previous form. For the engine this car has I am satisfied the fuel economy my car is getting.

Run 87 Octane from any gas station and never have had any problems. Never checked MPG but it is not really a problem for a weekend cruiser. Have stored the blue vert every year since 1987 and have always just added stabile to tank with whatever amount of gas was left at the end of the season. Has original fuel tank and all fuel related components (lines, sender and pump).

and that $2.99/gallon by December I said I would see has happened.

The main reason for the dollar's rally has been due to the ending of the QE program by the fed.

$2.65/gal over the weekend here though the news said it will probably go up as they mentioned some oil country is tightening the vice on the pipes.

There's talk of OPEC slowing production, but that's probably not going to happen as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said they won't cut and might even make up for production loss by a nation that cuts supply.

The most important factor is the value of the dollar, and as long as that keeps going up, gas will keep coming down.

just ran 108 racing octane booster mixed with 93 octane fuel and the ohv seemed to love it like a fine wine. to be honest with the neglect of the engine and having to pull the valve cover off with a towing strap to replace the gasket. i was expecting the engine to blow, but it handled it very well. gas for me now is at about $2.75 for premium in ct