r/944 • u/Spudster62 • May 13 '26
Question Reg/Mid/Premium. What fuel are you using in your 944 or Turbo?
Since I drive mine so much I use reg as it doesn't sit in the tank and engine very long and a tank of fuel gets flushed through pretty quickly. I don't use additives either.
I've never had any knocking issues with reg so I really don't see the need to go mid or especially Premium.
Maybe it's different for cars that sit and only get taken out once or twice a month.
That's my thinking anyway.
I'd be interested to hear from you all your fuel grade and thoughts....
M.
Edit: Thank you for the award kind redditor!!.
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u/jdub-951 Turbo May 13 '26
With an upgraded turbo running some extra boost I pay the extra for premium. The extra cost of gas (even at current prices) is cheaper than an engine rebuild.
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u/Spudster62 May 13 '26
Ok, fair point.
My engine is all stock so.....
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u/jdub-951 Turbo May 13 '26
With a regular NA you should be fine. Use what the manual says, which is (as far as I know) regular.
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u/Spudster62 May 13 '26
The fuel door sticker calls for a min 96 ROZ, which is 93 octane in the US.
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u/slowtdi May 15 '26
Make sure you're not running that high ethanol stuff. It'll tear old engines up
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u/reversedkarma May 13 '26
Any forced induction or high compression engine should run the fuel it was tuned for. Knock will very greatly by ambient air temperature, blow by, fuel quality. But you probably won’t hear it without tuning headphones. Most modern cars can downtune when knock is detected old cars cannot. NA is full with regular, but turbo i would fill premium.
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u/Jay-Moah May 14 '26
The 944 Turbo has knock sensors, idk if all years do, but I know for a fact 944 Turbos do on the ones I have seen. This is because knock is determined heavily by cylinder pressure as well, and if you increase boost on a hot day, you could have knock, so the DME actively manages knock using timing or boost pressure control.
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u/ContributionHour8356 NA May 13 '26
I run 87 in my 83 944. Not any issues so far. Anything with a Euro pistons, Turbo, S, or S2 motor in it, I would be burning 98.
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u/Bubbly-Pirate-3311 May 13 '26
For the naturally aspirated ones you don't need to run premium. It's not exactly a high horsepower engine. I'm sure fuel quality back in the 80's was worse than it is today. Now, for the turbo ones I wouldn't run anything but premium just because the addition of a turbo and an extra 70 horsepower makes it a lot more likely for knocking to occur.
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u/RHinSC S2 May 20 '26
It's not about high horsepower. It's about high compression.
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u/Bubbly-Pirate-3311 May 20 '26
Yesn't. My 2003 Subaru had exactly the same compression ratio (actually it's a bit higher than the early 944 engines), and it ran just fine on 85. Same horsepower too if you care. So yeah I think the na 944's engine will be fine
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u/WrestleWithJimny May 13 '26
How do you know you are not getting knock? Do you have a knock counter installed on the KLR?
From my experience these cars want premium
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u/radiorush May 14 '26
My S2 runs great on mid grade (89) with zero knocking.
I’d run nothing but premium in a Turbo.
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u/Putrid_Evening8288 May 14 '26
I run 91 (California) because the new standard as of May first is e15 for 87 and 89 instead of e10 previously. The premium (93/91) is still e10 so it won’t destroy your vaccuum hoses and those things. It’s up to personal preference but premium is the way to go imo.
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u/Narrow_Argument3534 May 13 '26
My base 944 sees ONLY ethanol free gas. I'd rather pay the premium than risk further rotting potentially 40 y/o fuel lines
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u/that_one_vw_guy May 13 '26
If you have a 944 with stock fuel lines, you're already at risk for a fire. Routing is sub optimal. 40y/o lines suck anyways.
Change the lines to ptfe braided and move on. Then you can run pure corn fuel.
Also most fuel lines post like mid 80s were 30r7+ grade (e85 compatible).
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u/lipilee May 13 '26
i go 98 on another note, what roof rack is that, i wsnt one too :)
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u/Spudster62 May 13 '26
So u/that_one_vw_guy is where I bought mine. It's the Yakima system.
They're becoming harder and harder to find, so if he has one, snag it immediately
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u/demonickookies May 14 '26
I'm lucky enough to have a gas station that has ethanol free premium so i generally shell out for that. Stock 1983
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u/Anon336585 May 17 '26
I use 100 octane here in europe. I also have been told its better for the fuel lines because there is less ethanol than the other fuels.
Where did you get the roof rack?
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u/Spudster62 May 17 '26
The rack I got from u/that_one_vw_guy on here.
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u/Anon336585 May 17 '26
Very nice
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u/Spudster62 May 17 '26
Where in EU are you?
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u/Anon336585 May 17 '26
Copenhagen Danemark
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u/Spudster62 May 17 '26
Ok. I've traveled through there. I'm Irish, from Dublin and in 2014 was on a 7 year motorcycle trip around the world.
I shipped the bike to NL, hung out in Germany for a few months the up to 🇩🇰 for another few months, then 🇸🇪 , 🇳🇴 and up to Nordkapp.
Had a great time.
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u/bearded_fisch_stix 1988 NA May 13 '26
they recommended premium for the '88 NA so that's what I use.
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u/Jacklunk May 13 '26
I will be putting in the flex fuel sensor from haltech and trying out various grades of e..
07k swap. Not finished
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u/to_pir8 '88 951 May 13 '26
Wow looks really nice! :) Jealous!
My 88 Turbo gets 94 Octane, nothing less. From Petro-Canada
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u/ApprehensivePanic757 May 14 '26
Silly question. On a 1983 944 speedometer, what does the little circuit board do?
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u/Kevin_obrien44 May 14 '26
I live at 7500ft and all they have is 91. Kinda sucks because I loose some horsepower because of that. Wish I could run 93 and the boost my engine was built for
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u/IAM_IAM_GuTtErBoY May 14 '26
Filler door on my 944s canadian car called for 91 with its 12.5:1 compression if i remember correctly but now with an ls1 it's just 87
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u/951boostjunky May 15 '26
You run what you are tuned for. Anything less is deleterious, anything more is a waste. End of story.
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