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Originally Posted by MNBoxster
I'm not sure I fully agree with your statement regarding not blowing up your Car should you run on 87 Octane. Aside from the issue of Knocking, you can have a variety of unburnt combustion products running through your Cats which will shorten their life as well as that of the O² Sensors. Plus, any ill effects on will be totally dependent upon circumstances. You may not have a problem driving an empty Car though the Nebraska Flatlands on a 30° Day at 50MPH with the CC on, but load up the Car with Passenger, Luggage, full Fuel Tank, or drive Up the Rockies or through the Desert at 120°F, and you could create serious problems. Ambient Temperature, Altitude, and Load are major contributors to Knock. Ever notice when you hear an old Car knocking it's usually accelerating or going uphill?
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This is why I said "drive like a grandma". Do not put a lot of load on the engine--drive the car like you're trying to get the World's Greatest Gas Mileage. Any kind of load is going to cause problems so yeah, doing a hill climb with a trailer attached probably isn't a good idea.
My point is simply that if you're in a bind, 87 won't blow up the car. I didn't say anything about it being bad for the cats or what not. Sure, it's not going to be the greatest thing for the car and hell, you might even hear some backfires, but it's not going to destroy the engine. If your choices are to tow the car a hundred miles out of your way and lose a day's worth of travel, it's not a big deal--the computer is your friend!
I'm a bit surprised to see you suggest octane booster though. That stuff has been pretty universally shown to not raise octane by any appreciable amount--in most cases it raises octane by less than one number. You'd need a couple gallons of the stuff to bring 87 up to 91.
Here's one page that has some test figures, veracity unverified by me though:
http://www.gtatech.com/news_au_articl.html