Saving At The Pump: Money-Saving Measures To Ease The Pain
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – With the price at the pump what it is, who can blame you for eyeing that cheaper fuel button?
So is there a cheaper substitute to save a little money and is there any harm?
Your vehicle probably can burn other fuel but be careful.
The price of gas at any pump can range widely from $5/gallon to $3.50.
"The closer you can stay with the recommended octane, the better," said automotive expert Jack Saunders.
He said to take the cheapest gas, the E85.
"Corn ethanol-based fuel that has 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent gasoline, so the only time you want to us that is if you're driving a flex-fuel vehicle," he explained.
If you try to burn it in a regular engine, it will burn faster and you will use more of it, and according to Saunders, it could cause long-term damage to the engine.
Dripping down from premium to regular unleaded will harm engine performance but if you are just looking to save a few bucks, "if you alternated tanks, probably you're not going to notice a problem," according to Saunders.
So that means alternate, don't fully switch.
"Not more than 50-50 mix, you know, the premium fill up and then a regular fill, and alternate that way," Saunders said.
He said that aside from the grade of gas, most modern cars have a fuel pump in the gas tank.
"There's more of a chance you get oxygen sucked in by the pump, instead of gas, and that typically will kill the pump," he said. "It certainly could cause it to overheat and then that can cause fuel pump damage."
The idea of running less than premium gasoline in your car, according to Saunders, using a mid-grade gas could work for a couple of tanks, then back to premium – basically a 2-for-1 mix.
And while unleaded 88 is cheaper than unleaded regular, it's because it has more ethanol – 15-percent rather than 10-percent. While it's cheaper, you'll have to burn just a little bit more to go the same distance as the regular unleaded.
