l am looking into buying a 1985 Subaru GL.l red reviews on this car and it seems very reliable and fuel efficient.The problem l see with the car is it runs on 89 or higher octane gasoline but will not run on 87 octane gasoline.Is this normal for this type of car?It has a 1.8 Litre engine and is carbureted. l cannot find an answer to this question.l wanna know if this is normal for this car before l buy it.The owner of the vehicle told me that it only ran on 89 or higher octane.

>> The problem l see with the car is it runs on 89 or higher octane gasoline but will not run on 87 octane gasoline. Is this normal for this type of car? It has a 1.8 Litre engine and is carbureted.

In winter the difference between 87 and 89 would make no difference.

You can always turn down the ignition timing (retard the timing) and that will ''correct'' that. You will notice a little loss of power.


Good Luck.

This is true, the manual states that the engine needs 90 octane minimum actually. It is the way the engines were designed to last forever. Go ahead & bump ur timing UP to the factory spec maximum. Should say something like 20 degress +/- 2 . Put ur timing on the plus side for more advanced timing.

This will gain u power & ur engine will get it is best gas mileage & run great. And no matter what the price of gas, the spread is usually the same. So this will cost u no more than $2 a tank with the tiny little 50L (13.2 Gal) tank. If u run cheaper gas & pull the timing back, u will have less power & crappier gas mileage. The engine is utilizing less of the energy in the gas. And power makes a difference when u r starting out with 70-80hp. :)

l had an '86 GL with a manual tranny. l found out AFTER l had to read the manual about a scheduled maintenance issue that you're supposed to use the higher octane fuels. The car is were designed to use it because it was cleaner burning(i.e. more powerful), & actually helped to keep the car running longer with less maintenance needed in the long run to the cylinder & piston heads. Yes, u CAN run the lower grade gases, yet it is best if u add a can of octane booster to the full tank to help keep thing running smoothly. And yes, u CAN adjust the timing(plus OR minus) to help u keep the power, yet at a slight loss of fuel economy.