Regular low octane by mistake instead of Premium high octane - any Quick Fix?

Hey friends, I have my 2006 525xi... All along I have been using Premium 93 octane gas... On my way back today I was running on reserve... It was very late and the only nearby gas station I could pull in was a Fuel One gas station (first and most likely the last time of my life)... I ordered premium but the attendant at the gas station put regular... I was too tired and did not notice until he handed me over the receipt... I'm lucky that I noticed the price and realized what happened... But it was too late and damaged being already done... I have now a tank full of regular 87 octane gas.

I need to know the possible quick fix and the possible risk I might run into... Is adding octane booster a good solution?

As always thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

Drive the car. It will not run great but all the computerized controls will compensate for the low octane. After a quarter tank, fill with your 93 and keep filling whenever the tank gets to a quarter. It will take a while but the car will recover.
OR suck the 87 out and donate it to someone who needs regular. Doubt octane booster will work, but I don't think it works anyway under normal circumstances.

How do I really suck it out? Is there any easy way doing that?

Insert a hose into the tank and suck it out the first time by mouth and it will keep flowing.

the car will be ok, take advantage and instead of octane booster put some fuel injection cleaner or fuel system cleaner of some sort.

When I wait to get that done, is it ok to keep the car sitting in the driveway or drive few miles here and there?

Originally Posted by bkun

Insert a hose into the tank and suck it out the first time by mouth and it will keep flowing.

no this would not work! most cars after1997 have some sort trap that will not allow this .

Going by what 'Gilgorm' suggested i.e. refilling after every quarter of gas loss with 93 octane gas... here is my math...

87 93
100% 0% 87
75% 25% 88.5
75% 25% 89.625
75% 25% 90.46875
75% 25% 91.1015625

So, basically after the 4th cycle it reaches the suggested 91 octane level... After that I can pretty much burn the whole thing or may be do few more half filling...

50% 50% 92.05078125
50% 50% 92.52539063
50% 50% 92.76269531
50% 50% 92.88134766

Trying to keep my mind occupied to something more fun like mathematics and to the power of Excel!!!

Remind me the 'half-life' property of radioactive decay

I'm essentially hearing it is NOT too bad and that gives me huge amount of peace.

Thank you all! I will keep reading your posts. Please keep it coming.

Originally Posted by 1naztyx5

the car will be ok, take advantage and instead of octane booster put some fuel injection cleaner or fuel system cleaner of some sort.

When should I be adding it? Should I wait until I burn it all? How many times should I add it and in what kind of frequency?

Originally Posted by new_kid_in_town

Hey friends, I have my 2006 525xi... All along I have been using Premium 93 octane gas... On my way back today I was running on reserve... It was very late and the only nearby gas station I could pull in was a Fuel One gas station (first and most likely the last time of my life)... I ordered premium but the attendant at the gas station put regular... I was too tired and did not notice until he handed me over the receipt... I'm lucky that I noticed the price and realized what happened... But it was too late and damaged being already done... I have now a tank full of regular 87 octane gas.

I need to know the possible quick fix and the possible risk I might run into... Is adding octane booster a good solution?

As always thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

Not to worry! If you drive moderately and do not push the engine hard you will have no problem and probably will not even notice the difference.

The engine has sophisticated knock sensors to protect itself from damage. The computer will change the electronic timing and fuel delivery to compensate.

Run half of the tank out, then top it off with 93. Then run the tank dry and fill with 93 and you are done.

Originally Posted by new_kid_in_town

When should I be adding it? Should I wait until I burn it all? How many times should I add it and in what kind of frequency?

now that you have a full tank of 87,and just drive it...frequency? well is really up to you, I do it every 3 months.

Keep things simple - just drive it conservatively until you have a 1/4 tank and then fill with 93. After that, I wouldn't even sweat it anymore.

Geez. Just drive it.

Originally Posted by todd92

geez. Just drive it.

amen.

Don't worry about it. Thousands of other people are driving around in their 525's using nothing but 87 octane and I've never read a single post about an engine blowing up due to using regular gasoline. Your engine is designed to adapt to 87 octane. Fuel mileage may suffer slightly but I doubt if you'd ever notice it.

+1 with everyone else. You won't ruin your engine. It'll automatically sense the lower octane fuel and drive like a dog. As long as you don't hear any knock on acceleration it'll be fine... just drive conservatively until you burn that gas and replace with premium.

Dude if you still worry about drive the car or if you still have a lower grade fuel in it the best way to work around it is to add octane booster...I'm surprised no one in this section even mentioned it, but I shouldn't expect it from BMW drivers lol...oh and by the way I'm on my 3rd so think before you start bashing hahaha.

Put a bottle of 104+ octane boost in it and dont buy low octane gas anymore. Problem solved

Originally Posted by crowz

Put a bottle of 104+ octane boost in it and dont buy low octane gas anymore. Problem solved

++++ ^^^^^ Good advice right there lol

It's not like he put diesel in it, shouldn't destroy your engine, just drive.

Deep breath, it'll be fine. With lower octane fuel you'll not be at an optimal performance level and fuel economy may suffer slightly and that's about it.

lol wowowowowow i hardly ever put high test. Let the computer do the work.
waste of money imo unless you have mods and tunes.. ( preparing for flames) lol

and I STILL get 30 on the hwy.

Seriously...just drive it.

Thank you so much guys! You guys are great and this forum is simply awesome!

Yes, I'm driving gently and so far did not experience anything bad.

Just drive it normally. At 1/2 a tank fill it up again with Premium and then you'll average around 90-91 octane and you will be fine. The real damage occurs when people continually fill up with nothing but 87 octane. Burning only 1/2 tank of it will do no damage.