Octane Boost

[Mark Harrop]

Seriously... can anyone else back this up?

The article said its because when gas sits it loses its octane rating, and by boosting it you revive it up to, and a bit past what its suppose to be, and that extra octane helps remove built up gunk in your gas. (because apparently when gas sits for a long time it glumps up.)

Octane is not a chemical that will clean out your gas....this is where the problems always start in octane discussions.

Solo2 is right on the money in his explanation. Octane is a rating (done chemically and very complex) of a fuels resistance to detonation. It's ability to be squeezed into a tight place rapidly and not explode. This is why diesel fuel has a very high octane rating...like 180 or 200 or something really high like that.
Racing gas with a high octane can be squeezed to a higher compression ratio, like 14:1. Diesels run like 40:1...and passenger cars 9:1.
So if you want to get technical, a higher octane generally means more gunk in your gas. Specifically, long chain hydrocarbon molecules that resist being pulled apart. Diesel has long chain molecules, that is why it is more oily and slippery than gas as well.

That being said...

Would it hurt your bike to run it through? That is a tough question to answer. I've seen a guy put actual diesel fuel in a honda cx 500 gas tank, fire it up...have the gas in the bowls slowly be replaced by diesel fuel...

...and then he started panicking as it started smoking like a mosquito-control truck. Once it was all flushed out it finally quit smoking, and I don't think it was damaged.

From what I've seen most folks around here tend to be very conservative in their bikemaintenance/ownership. These bikes are getting so old that it would be better to spend the 5 bucks for some fresh gas and the 20 minutes it would take to change it, then to chance it and screw something up. Parts arent getting any cheaper.

Hope that helped.

[Anonymous]

That's why this site is so great . You get answers that span from myth to scientific, all with there own sense of logic and purpose, background and requirement for a particular end result. Choose any one of them and you must deal with the work, the logic, the outcome.
Generally you need to associate high octane with compression, high.
High octane does not mean" make a low compression engine go faster,"
I think you have your additives mixed up. I believe you are thinking of "Heet", the fuel additive that has alcohol {not just any alcohol} that causes water to burn.
I use this when I suspect water in the gas.
Normally after the tanker has refilled the under ground tanks, the water which has sunk to the bottom now is stirring around.
Mark and Solo are on the money.
You probably didnt even need anything to begin with .
Good luck, no matter what you do I think your bike will be okay, just dont make a habit of the high octane. Regards ikazuki

[DarkDevil]

Well, After getting my bike on the road and riding it with the octane boost. It's much better running standard fuel, or, if you'd like, maybe a quarter of a bottle of octane boost. However, it's not worth the money or the risk. I definatly noticed difference, and not a good one, after using the octane boost. Luckly I went away with a fresh refuel.

[Mattman]

OK my 2 cents. I run high octane with some boost when i can. as well as CAM 2 I put the cheap stuff in, and let me tell ya. low octane in a 83 1100e does not run well. I do agree with dumping and starting over to much of a good thing is never good.

[Anonymous]

...let me tell ya. low octane in a 83 1100e does not run well.

I'm no expert, but 87 octane runs flawlessly in my '81 1100E. I don't think there was any significant change to the engine in '83.

You shouldn't need to add a bunch of aftermarket chemicals to gasoline to run that engine. Perhaps there is a mechanical fault? Of course, all this supposes that the engine is basically stock. With the exception of adjusting the pilot screw on some of my newer bikes, I find that box-stock bikes run better than bikes that have been modded. There are no tuning issues with a stock carb and pipes!

[Mattman]

Dude
I am happy you can run 87 in yours. I wish i could too, it would certainly save alot in gas money, But unless I use higher octane I bog knock stutter, It's an ugly ride. I would gather you are right about the engines, Other than 16 valves I don't know of much more of a difference. Geez if someone can tell me to do something different so I can run 87 I am all ears.

[gsBert]

octane and there are 2 standards here, RON, and ROZ, basically measures a fuel's ignition pressure/temperature.

here is the reason for high octane fuel: high compression or turbocharged engines (high compression is over 10:1) increase the temperature of the intake charge (because of the compression) to the point where the mixture ignites before the spark happens. this is BAD and is perceived as pinging.
the solution is to add stuff to the fuel to make it LESS combustible.

your high performance but still relatively low compression engine cannot burn all the fuel youre pumping into it under the best circumstances, so why make it worse by using high octane?

if your gs pings with 87 octane (probably caused by using super), you need to decarbonise your engine, just run some water mist through it at the carbs intake for a while, or fix the timing.

there are 2 ways to store a bike for the winter:
- empty the tank and the carbs
- fill it all up but put stabilizer in the fuel first

i prefer the stabilizer as the empty carbs tend to dry out all the seals and i have to buy a new set of o-rngs in the spring.

as you noticed your bike ran better after you flushed the high octane out. that's simple enuff to figure out, it became able to burn all the fuel and therefore extract all its power.

[Anonymous]

...Other than 16 valves I don't know of much more of a difference.

No difference there. The '81 has 16 valves, too.

[Mattman]

Thanks for the fact, I did not know that. still If I run 87 I bog and stall.

[earlfor]

Factory spec for my 85 1150 is 89 octane. I run the same in my 83 1100. No problems with either bike.

Earl

OK my 2 cents. I run high octane with some boost when i can. as well as CAM 2 I put the cheap stuff in, and let me tell ya. low octane in a 83 1100e does not run well. I do agree with dumping and starting over to much of a good thing is never good.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. Manual for my 82 1100E says any fuel with octane above 85. If I run premium, it runs no differently, but the plugs always indicate too high an octane rating (reddish color). Same when I run 89, too.

[Hoomgar]

The 1982 KZ550 I just sold wanted 93 or 94. Any less and it would ping. Engine wear most likely.

The 78 GS1000 I am riding right now burns 87 octane all day long with no complaints.

Both engines are stock. Everyone's situation is unique. If your engine has issues, sometimes running a higher octane can calm it down and I have even seen it improve fuel economy on those engines. But if your engine runs like it should on the low octane fuels then that is what you should burn in it.

[joeadams]

Seriously... can anyone else back this up?

The article said its because when gas sits it loses its octane rating, and by boosting it you revive it up to, and a bit past what its suppose to be, and that extra octane helps remove built up gunk in your gas. (because apparently when gas sits for a long time it glumps up.)

Octane is not a chemical that will clean out your gas....this is where the problems always start in octane discussions.

Solo2 is right on the money in his explanation. Octane is a rating (done chemically and very complex) of a fuels resistance to detonation. It's ability to be squeezed into a tight place rapidly and not explode. This is why diesel fuel has a very high octane rating...like 180 or 200 or something really high like that. Racing gas with a high octane can be squeezed to a higher compression ratio, like 14:1. Diesels run like 40:1...and passenger cars 9:1.

Not to be a jerk but I'm fairly sure that Diesel fuel has a much lower octane number than common gasoline. I don't have the book in front of me but I think it is generally about 50 octane. If it were super high octane, race gas wouldn't be expensive at all, you could mix your own.

[lecroy]

Not to be a jerk but I'm fairly sure that Diesel fuel has a much lower octane number than common gasoline. I don't have the book in front of me but I think it is generally about 50 octane.

Your just stating the facts... Diesel does have a LOT lower octane number than gasoline. The whole point of the diesel is to autoignite the fuel. The timing is set by start of injection. Of course the HCCI gasoline engines run in a similar manner.

[Flatline_Racing]

For diesel they use a different rating system, it is centane. It is a value of 40 or more. Also octane is a hydrocarbon chain consisting of 8 (oct) carbon atoms chained together.

For more information check out this link:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question90.htm