Octane Booster.........
#2
They work pretty good, they work better for for getting moisture out your fuel system. Airplane (Av-gas) is what really works good for racing. But unless your car is spark knocking,pinging, I wouldn't worry about it. I have tried premium and midgrade and notice no difference in power or economy, I know someone will say else wise. If my full size pick up that is a different matter. premium all the way, for that pig. Premium makes big difference in how she runs. Bill
#6
Absolutely no need to run higher octane fuel in this or any engine that is not set up to take advantage of the higher octane rating (ignition timing/compression/forced induction). An entire book could be (and has) been written on this topic.
Call me if you really want an earful on the thread, I started posting three times before I gave up. Its really quite difficult to put into a paragraph post.
Mike
Call me if you really want an earful on the thread, I started posting three times before I gave up. Its really quite difficult to put into a paragraph post.
Mike
#8
dont use any booster or fuel cleaner in the tank. i have gotten a few cars at work with melted fuel pumps. the denso fuel pumps rubber diaphram melts because those additives are too strong.
#11
Senior Member
Team Sushi
SL Member
Team N.V.S.
Scion Evolution
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Posts: 4,322
I don't remember if it is pre-detonation or late detonation, knock or ping. . . forgot, but I also heard this from a reputable source.
My best friend's father worked(retired) for Shell (he refuses to fill at Shell hahaha) and said that it isn't unheard of, although rare, that you get one of those effects if you use high octane in a car designed for low octane, but this was more common when computers weren't as advanced and could compensate for the change in octane like modern cars can. One thing is for sure, there is absolutely no gain, and is a definite LOSS in performance. Motortrend, Car and Driver, or Road and Track (forgot which one) did a test on this about 3 years back, and showed a consistent loss in performance and fuel economy when you use premium in a car designed for low octane. . . now if you have major mods this might be different.
My best friend's father worked(retired) for Shell (he refuses to fill at Shell hahaha) and said that it isn't unheard of, although rare, that you get one of those effects if you use high octane in a car designed for low octane, but this was more common when computers weren't as advanced and could compensate for the change in octane like modern cars can. One thing is for sure, there is absolutely no gain, and is a definite LOSS in performance. Motortrend, Car and Driver, or Road and Track (forgot which one) did a test on this about 3 years back, and showed a consistent loss in performance and fuel economy when you use premium in a car designed for low octane. . . now if you have major mods this might be different.
#12
you will pre detonate if you are running lean, higher octane fuel burns faster therfore if your fuel system and your computer are not set up for this you will pre detonate. so instead of rolling your eyes and saying um no why dont you try posting something useful instead of being a child.
#13
if you're gonna be driving in extremely hot weather, putting higher octane gas (like 89-92) might be a good idea, because in really hot weather the onboard computer will retard the engine to make it run with 87 octane fuel. but, still, the diff is gonna be minor. maybe on the trip from cali to vegas.
#15
Originally Posted by UnFocused
those octane boosters that claim " adds 4 points"- That really means .04 points. My pops thought he could get regualr and add that stuff to get premium- umm NO!!
#16
Originally Posted by w0mbatizlle
you will pre detonate if you are running lean, higher octane fuel burns faster therfore if your fuel system and your computer are not set up for this you will pre detonate. so instead of rolling your eyes and saying um no why dont you try posting something useful instead of being a child.
Thats not how it works at all. The higher the octane number, the slower the fuel burns. Try reading around.
The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.
The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.
The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.
It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.
During WWI, it was discovered that you can add a chemical called tetraethyl lead to gasoline and significantly improve its octane rating. Cheaper grades of gasoline could be made usable by adding this chemical. This led to the widespread use of "ethyl" or "leaded" gasoline. Unfortunately, the side effects of adding lead to gasoline are:
Lead clogs a catalytic converter and renders it inoperable within minutes.
The Earth became covered in a thin layer of lead, and lead is toxic to many living things (including humans).
When lead was banned, gasoline got more expensive because refineries could not boost the octane ratings of cheaper grades any more. Airplanes are still allowed to use leaded gasoline, and octane ratings of 115 are commonly used in super-high-performance piston airplane engines (jet engines burn kerosene, by the way).
#18
Originally Posted by w0mbatizlle
you will pre detonate if you are running lean, higher octane fuel burns faster therfore if your fuel system and your computer are not set up for this you will pre detonate. so instead of rolling your eyes and saying um no why dont you try posting something useful instead of being a child.
nice post clean. If I had typed that instead of the , I'd have been here for an hour.