Octane

E

Eric Lawson

Well-Known Member
Visit site
I was just curious as to what octane gasoline most on here use in there FZ1? Although the owner manual says 87 octane is fine, i have always used mid grade 89. A friend of mine that had gen 1 FZ1 always ran 93 Octane premium. I dont know if the extra cost per gallon for premium amounted to any performance gain or would make the bike run better? Also does higher octane become more important after you put aftermarket exhaust on?
 
I use only regular unleaded. There is really no benefit of higher octane fuels in this engine.

I do, however, add Stabil and Sea Foam to every tank. Ethanol is a horrible thing for pastic parts in your fuel system. Stabil helps to keep the ethanol suspended and from settling to the bottom of your tank. It also helps to keep the ethanol from absorbing moisture. Did you know ethanol absorbs moisture and that it is heavier than the regular fuel in your tank?

The sea foam helps to keep things from varnishing and keeps things clean.
 
I know about the ethanol and damage it can do to engine, but i think most manufactures design modern engines to run on 10% ethanol, which is ratio of gasoline i get in my area. I am not familar with Sea Foam?
 
Just having your bike sit up for a few weeks you start off with 80% + ethanol because it settles to the bottom. Ever start her up after a few weeks and have it sound a little rough or sputter? It really causes problems when it has had time to settle.


Sea Foam
Motor Treatment - Sea Foam
 
It's hard to believe the alcohol would settle out of the fuel; what would keep that from happening in the storage tanks in the ground? You'd get all alcohol at first out of the tank.

I haven't researched this at all, just doesn't sound like it would make much sense to sell fuel that would separate.

As for octane, what they said; running octane higher than your engine needs doesn't help, and can actually hurt power.

I ran some 93 octane in mine the other day, as opposed to the 87 I usually run, and it honestly didn't seem to run as well overall. I'm using only 87 from now on.
 
There is only one reason to run higher octane gas in any vehicle you own, than what the manual recommends, unless you experience pinging in the engine. Other than that, there is zero benefit.
 
Higher octane fuel prevents pinging because it has a higher ignition temperature. It resists detonation in a hot engine at times other than when the spark plug fires. The FZ1 (I'm guessing) only needs 87 octane because it has a good cooling system and a reasonable compression ratio.
 
I have run both and its not needed. I have yet to hear a ping or a backfire from regular unleaded. If you have your bike set up for any type of timing advance, then probably. I run methanol injection in my STI with 21psi of turbo boost. It raises the octane to 118 or so. My timing is advanced as far as it can go and the boost is all the way up with no pre det.

The FZ1 motor is set up for regular. Dont waste the money on supreme.
 
Yeah, I think one of the cool things about the FZ1 is the fact it only needs 87 octane! I love filling up with regular. :) Runs awesome with it!
 
Quality vs. Octane

An important point to add.. During my flight training I learned something about fuels. Running a '"Branded" fuel is more important than you may have ever thought. According to the regulations on commercial fuels, an unbranded fuel - say, unleaded 91, may contain upto 10% other.. as in unleaded 83, desiel, or heating oil. As unbranded or ''Discount stations" do not have thier own refineries and trucking tankers they buy the stuff on the Spot market. So the previous load may have some remainant from whatever was being sold from the last load. Accoring to my flight instructor if- say, Chevron advertizes as 91 with Techron - IT HAS TO BE 100% what they say. Also with a branded gas, the additives they put in are truly benifical to keeping the top end clean, it's not just a selling ploy.. To ramble on, I never fill up when I see a tanker filling up the underground tanks. I have heard when they do all the crud is stirred up on the bottom of the tanks.. I just ride to the next station instead.. :stirpot: Personally, I say run the best you can afford..
 
harra said:
An important point to add.. During my flight training I learned something about fuels. Running a '\"Branded\" fuel is more important than you may have ever thought. According to the regulations on commercial fuels, an unbranded fuel - say, unleaded 91, may contain upto 10% other.. as in unleaded 83, desiel, or heating oil. As unbranded or ''Discount stations\" do not have thier own refineries and trucking tankers they buy the stuff on the Spot market. So the previous load may have some remainant from whatever was being sold from the last load. Accoring to my flight instructor if- say, Chevron advertizes as 91 with Techron - IT HAS TO BE 100% what they say. Also with a branded gas, the additives they put in are truly benifical to keeping the top end clean, it's not just a selling ploy.. To ramble on, I never fill up when I see a tanker filling up the underground tanks. I have heard when they do all the crud is stirred up on the bottom of the tanks.. I just ride to the next station instead.. :stirpot: Personally, I say run the best you can afford..
Click to expand...

I call bullshysties on it all. I have seen a tanker leaving a Shell station and then stopping across the street to fill up the no name station. And in todays lawsuit happy society, do you really think gas stations are going to leave themselves open to ruining engines because they allowed someone to fill up while the tanker was filling the tanks? Fact of the matter is, there are several filters between the bottom tank and the tank of your vehicle. If the old wives tale about the stirring up junk were truly a problem, the stations would be forced to stop selling fuel for an hour or so, so that everything could resettle.

I used to mow lawns on the side and frequently found myself filling up my gas cans when tankers were filling up the station, and I have never seen any kind of contamination in my gas cans and I have never had any fuel contamination problems in my equipment or my vehicles.

As far as best your money can afford. You go ahead and keep throwing your money away. I used to fill up exclusively at Shell or Exxon stations until about six or seven years and then definitely stayed away when gas prices hit the roof. About two years ago, I had to change my fuel pump as it finally went out after almost 11 years and 195,000 miles on my Blazer, and the inside of my tank was crystal clean. Not a grain of sand or a drop of water to be found.

I am still exclusively running the cheapest gas from the smallest stations I can find, and I still get the best gas mileage, and suffer no performance problems at all. Not in any of my bikes or either of my two cage vehicles. 1997 Blazer with 242,000 miles and 2000 F-150 with 110,000 miles.
 
Throwing GAS on the fire

:stirpot: Yeah, you Are probably right about contamination getting stirred up not being a problem. They probably Always maintain the filters. Trust them? You can. I am just leery that people always do the things they're supposed to.. I'm just saying I'll pass it by if there's another station down the block.. As for the main comment --the spot market, I've yet to be dissuaded.:fencers:
 
harra said:
An important point to add.. During my flight training I learned something about fuels. Running a '\"Branded\" fuel is more important than you may have ever thought. According to the regulations on commercial fuels, an unbranded fuel - say, unleaded 91, may contain upto 10% other.. as in unleaded 83, desiel, or heating oil. As unbranded or ''Discount stations\" do not have thier own refineries and trucking tankers they buy the stuff on the Spot market. So the previous load may have some remainant from whatever was being sold from the last load. Accoring to my flight instructor if- say, Chevron advertizes as 91 with Techron - IT HAS TO BE 100% what they say. Also with a branded gas, the additives they put in are truly benifical to keeping the top end clean, it's not just a selling ploy.. To ramble on, I never fill up when I see a tanker filling up the underground tanks. I have heard when they do all the crud is stirred up on the bottom of the tanks.. I just ride to the next station instead.. :stirpot: Personally, I say run the best you can afford..
Click to expand...

Regarding additives in name-brand gas - Some years ago the federal regulations about detergent additives in gasoline were significantly lowered. A number of auto companies, including BMW, Honda and GM were concerned about the effects of this on their engines. There is now an independent standard called Top Tier Top Tier Gasoline. To meet these standards, a gas company must have a higher level of detergent additive in all of the fuels it sells, regardless of the octane rating. The only major brands that I noticed were missing from their list were Exxon, Citgo, and Valero. After seeing JD's thread about pulling his injectors and having them cleaned, I started using the better fuels whenever I can (though I can't be sure how much difference it makes).
 
Top Tier

Thanks, the links you provided were very informative. Jondaddy's injectors were pretty dirty according to the test/spec sheet. And the Top Tier site really shows light on the aspect of fuel quality.:cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top