5 days ago
Woman Finds Out She's Been Putting the Wrong Gas in Her BMW for a Month. What's the Damage?
TikToker @lenesha_a sparked confusion by admitting she'd been putting 93 octane gas in her BMW—even though the fuel cap says 89 or 91. But is using 93 a mistake? The answer is a bit more nuanced.
@lenesha_a filmed her video from the cream-colored leather seats of her BMW.
'I've been putting the wrong gas in my BMW for the past month and here's the backstory to it,' she said. 'I bought a BMW a month ago, and I didn't know what gas goes in it, so I asked my brother, who owns a BMW, and he said 93.'
@lenesha_a said she burned a lot of fuel and had to fill up at least twice per week.
'I decided to, like, look at what was written on the gas cap for the first time since I've had it for a month. … And it says 91 [AKI], in parentheses 89 [AKI]. I don't know if this messes up my engine or not. I don't know anything. But what I do know is that it was very dumbly girl-coded and I'm fairly embarrassed.'
Motor1
reached out to @lenesha_a via TikTok direct message, but she didn't immediately respond.
So, Should She Be Worried About Using the Wrong Gas Grade?
In reality, @lenesha_a had very little to worry about.
BMW typically labels its gas caps
with a minimum octane requirement (in this case, 89) and a recommended level (in this case, 91). BMW may have designed her engine to perform optimally with 91, but higher-octane fuel like 93 is
perfectly safe
.
In fact, if @lenesha_a used 93 as she said she did, it might have offered slight improvements in performance or efficiency. Think of it as giving the engine more room to breathe, especially under hard acceleration or
hot conditions
, like the ones impacting people over the country this summer.
@lenesha_a's confusion stemmed from an assumption that using higher octane than recommended is harmful. It's not. Lower octane can
potentially be a problem
, if it causes knocking or reduced power, but
higher octane won't hurt a BMW
. In theory, Lenesha could use 93 on her BMW's engine indefinitely.
Some fellow TikTok users explained it to her in the comments. Some spelled out for her that she has actually taken good care of her new purchase.
'In other words 91 minimum. If you live somewhere that doesn't have 91 and has 93 instead use that. 93 is even better,' a user named Davonte Powell said.
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