lumix

I bought 2012 Ml350 at the end of 2011. Milage 30k now.
Did not pay much attention on fuel.
I have been adding #89 for 3 years.
Just realized it requires #91 or above.
Anyone can tell me if there is bad outcome down the road?
Any action I should take?
Thanks a lot.

GregGebhardt

The only result for your error is you have saved money. You vehicle will be just fine and no harm has been done. The octane is only a recommendation from the maker to get the horsepower in their specs.

MannyS430

I totally agree. you made less of a dent in your wallet!

rtw_travel

This is an often debated topic on the internet. Your engine should have had less mileage and less power running on lower octane.


As far as lasting damage, the engine knock sensor should have retarded the timing to avoid pinging due to the lower octane. If it was successful, then there should be no damage to your engine at all. You would notice the pinging the most under hard acceleration.


Its wiser to run an engine requiring high octane on high octane.

Shadow5501

You're fine. Mercedes engines are designed to run on European regular, which is 95 RON octane. The U.S. uses pump octane numbers, so the values are not comparable. The 95 RON equates to roughly 89.5 or 90.0 octane in the U.S. So you're a little bit shy of the desired octane number, but not enough to matter.

lumix

thanks a lot. what a relief!

frtdog

I was told that as long as you don't do a lot of high RPM driving it should be OK. One question that comes up is, is the warranty effected because you don't use the recommended fuel?