Wrong Octane Used...

[chris3896]

My sister has a 2001 325i. She was almost out of gas and pulled into a gas station that only offered regular unleaded. She used that gas and surprise...The car has been choking and stalling (automatic tranny).

1) Is there any permanent damage being done to the car?

2) She has since purchased 93 octane gas, but the car is still running sluggish and choking.

3) What can she do to fix the problem?

[3050rpm]

Running regular unleaded shouldn't be a problem, at least I hope she didn't fill up the tank but only put in enough to get to another station. A few things might be going on here... 1) she ran it down so low that sediment entered the fuel lines, which may clear itself out over time, but in any case put in a bottle of injector cleaner; 2) the timing may be making clumsy adjustments to the lower octane gas, in which case again running a tank or two of the premium fuel will get it back to normal; 3) the fuel filter could probably stand to be replaced. Those are a few guessed, but in the meantime, keep the engine load low, no hard accelerations or stuff like that.

[chris3896]

thanks that sounds about right. she has since used around a tank of premium and i believe my dad tossed in an injector cleaner. i'll check on the fuel filters and her driving habits. she is like me and picked up the speed genes. once again thank you for the suggestions.