Thursday 12 / December / 2024
Muscat: Changing from super graded petrol to regular will not affect one’s vehicle performance, automobile engineers and mechanics said, even as some were of the view that it could cause wear and tear of the engine in the long run.
User manual
“Some of the vehicles come with specific user manual instructions that only super graded petrol should be used. For those vehicles, if we use regular petrol, then wear and tear for the engine may happen,” an engineer from Toyota in Muscat, told the Times of Oman (TOO).
“According to the user manual, if it is instructed that vehicles should only use petrol with an Octane value of 95 and above, then super graded petrol has to be filled. If the instruction says that Octane value 91 and above can be used, then regular petrol is okay,” the engineer added.
From January 15, the price of super unleaded petrol rose to 160 baisas per litre from 120 baisas; for regular, it rose to 140 baisas per litre from 114 baisas and for diesel, it rose to 160 baisas per litre from 146 baisas.
Following the price rise, it has been seen that many are switching to regular petrol from a super graded one.
Fawaz Al Farsi, another automobile engineer, said there was no merit in names or grades.
“Super grade petrol does not mean that its quality is better than regular grade petrol for your vehicle. The idea here is to know which one is suitable for your vehicle engine,” said Al Farsi, adding that the manual for each vehicle will indicate which is the best petrol.
Faisal, a mechanic and the owner of a garage in Mabela, said switching to regular grade petrol is not a big issue.
“Most of the vehicles, especially in the United States are manufactured to use regular grade petrol. However, people here in Oman and other Gulf countries feel that using super is more suitable for vehicles following the power of the two names, super and regular,” said Faisal.
He added that some motorists had come to him in the past after switching to regular grade petrol.
“Once these people started fuelling their vehicles with regular grade petrol, they felt their vehicles shake while driving, with the little sounds and smoke. This aroused concern as they had started using regular grade petrol.
In fact, these are the normal side effects of switching between regular and super petrol,” said Faisal. He added that such faults disappeared quickly after some time.
“These might reflect in vehicles for a week and then disappear forever unless there is another fault in the vehicle,” said Faisal.
He added that this was true for most vehicles, but that he advised vehicles owners to read their vehicles’ manuals or maybe ask a specialist about this matter.
“I would like to advise those who have checked their vehicle’s fuel and decided to switch that they have to drain the remaining petrol in their vehicles before going to fuel with the other grade of petrol,” said Faisal.
He added that it’s better not to mix the two types of the petrol as motorists should at least wait till the fuel sign light to switch on and then go ahead and refuel.
George John, a mechanic at an automobile workshop in Wadi Kabir, said using regular gas in a car designed for premium would definitely damage the engine.
“We don’t believe that any modern engine claims to require premium will be damaged by using regular unleaded judiciously,” John said.
Meanwhile, a worker at a petrol station told TOO that he had not noticed any changes in demand for regular grade petrol so far.
“It’s almost the same, but some motorists have started asking about the difference between the regular and super grade petrol. It seems that they have started seriously thinking of switching to regular grade petrol,” said the worker.
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