Octane boosters????

[xenon929]

Does anyone know how bad or good is to use those octane boosters that they sell just about everywhere...?And if they really actually help any, or cause more damage than good? (shrug)

[jersey_emt]

I would never use any kind of fuel additive.

What do you need to raise the octane for anyways? Doesn't the 3 recommend regular gas?

[xenon929]

I wouldn't add any of that either; specially not to my new car! But I was at the local track last night and some of the street cars were putting it in. So I was just curious as to the effects of it. I mean...if it was something worth it I might put it in my 88 CRX when I put it at the track. (dunno)

[jersey_emt]

If you need to add some octane to your car to run higher boost or something like that, then either put in race gas, or add tolulene.

[mazda3zoom]

i thought i remembered hearin somewhere that they claim it adds like 5+ octane (however u would say that) but if u look at the fine print its really 0.5
so ur payin however much that stuff is for a half a point or whatever its called. im not POSITIVE about this so someone correct me if im wrong. (first)

[harrison888]

The owner's manual say do not put any of that thing in our car

[Dexter]

+ more octane does NOT mean + more HP.

[Brian MP5T]

Octaine is a value that people use to describe a fuels resistance to detonation. I doubt that your engine has anything over a 9:1 compression and therefore requires nothing higher than 89...so sdding this shit is all in your head. More ocatine unless you need it will more than likely reduce performance due to the fuel burns slower in the chamber.

Clear as Mud??

[Brian MP5T]

Higher octaine fuel can only really be used (Needed) by cars like SVT Mustang...EVO...STI... bassically anything with a higher compression that 10:1 is a good start. As you add pressure to an engine you also increase the compression ratio, so a car with a super or turbo charger can benifit from this added margin of safety. Detonation kills pistons.

[Dexter]

Actually brian, the compression on the mazda3 2.0 is 10.0:1 and the 2.3 9.7:1, so higher than our FSDEs

[Brian MP5T]

Actually brian, the compression on the mazda3 2.0 is 10.0:1 and the 2.3 9.7:1, so higher than our FSDEs
Kewl but...

What I was trying to say was that if a car says "Premium Fuel Only" on the gas dial in the car, then it requires 91 or higher. Other than that, the octine is a bit of a waste. IE: Adding Boosters to a N/A car (crazy) etc...

The only other time one would run or have the requirement for a really high octaine is when adding boost pressures in excess of 10 Psi on an engine with high compression. Like a P5 lets say.

Super chargers
Turbo chargers
ETC...

[PeteyBoy3K]

Putting in higher octane will probably never hurt a car... It will do nothing more than burn smoother and slower. In a car that doesn't need a smooth/slow burning fuel it will not help anything. In fact, putting in higher octane when the car isn't designed for it will probably lower the performance since lower octane fuel actually has more energy and burns quicker (it's got more volatile components). Then again, higher octane fuels usually have more additives for cleaning your engine, so sometimes you'll notice a performance increase as the fuel injectors and valve-trains degunk themselves.

As Brian MP5T points out... performance cars have high compression ratios for increased power, but because of that... they require higher octane, smoother burning fuels. Otherwise, early detonation (knocking) occurs which will hurt just about everything in the engine.

Some companies (VW, for instance) have high compression ratio's and reccomend high-octane... but they also have knock-sensors and routines programmed into the computer to just retard the timing should knocking occur. Thus, on the inside of their gas cap, they say "reccomended 91, minimum 87"

Octane is a rating that measures how smoothly a fuel burns. It's called "octane" because there was a baseline measurement done for combustion rate on octane (8-carbon saturated molecule, like propane is a 3 carbon saturated molecule... I think, it's been a long time since Orgo). Since "gasoline" is a mix of several different refined fuels with different bonding structures distilled from crude oil... it has the potential to burn less smoothly or more smoothly than pure octane... and you can add more slow-burning fuels, or things that reduce the volatility (additives) to increase the octane rating.

So yea... geeky lecture reduced: adding higher octane to a car that doesn't need it is pretty much a waste of money (unless you haven't added fuel injector cleaner in a while and want the detergent additives some gas companies add). Adding lower octane fuel to a car that specifically requires it will probably hurt the engine... Creepy cars like VW give you more of a choice, and then it's just how much you want to spend.

hope this helps

[xenon929]

I really appreciate the octane 101 lecture... I wondered about it for the longest time. So thanks for clarifying that. (I love this forum!) LOL

[jersey_emt]

Putting in higher octane will probably never hurt a car... It will do nothing more than burn smoother and slower. In a car that doesn't need a smooth/slow burning fuel it will not help anything. In fact, putting in higher octane when the car isn't designed for it will probably lower the performance since lower octane fuel actually has more energy and burns quicker (it's got more volatile components). Then again, higher octane fuels usually have more additives for cleaning your engine put in, so sometimes you'll notice a performance increase as the fuel injectors and valve-trains degunk themselves.

As Brian MP5T points out... performance cars have high compression ratios for increased power, but because of that they require high octane, smoother burning fuels or early detonation (knocking) occurs which will hurt just about everything in the engine.

Some companies (VW, for instance) reccomend high-octane compression ratios... but also have knock-sensors and routines programmed into the computer to just retard the timing should knocking occur. Thus, on the inside of their gas cap, they say "reccomended 91, minimum 87"

Octane is a rating that measures how smoothly a fuel burns. It's called "octane" because there was a baseline measurement done for combustion rate on octane (8-carbon saturated molecule, like propane is a 3 carbon saturated molecule... I think, it's been a long time since Orgo). Since "gasoline" is a mix of several different refined fuels with different bonding structures distilled from crude oil... it has the potential to burn less smoothly or more smoothly than pure octane... and you can add more slow-burning fuels, or things that reduce the volatility (additives) to increase the octane rating.

So yea... geeky lecture reduced: adding higher octane to a car that doesn't need it is pretty much a waste of money (unless you haven't added fuel injector cleaner in a while and want the detergent additives). Adding lower octane fuel to a car that specifically requires it will probably hurt the engine... Creepy cars like VW give you more of a choice, and then it's just how much you want to spend.

hope this helps

Mostly right, except for the 'extra cleaning additives' you claim higher octane gas has. Premium gas doesn't have any more ability to clean out the fuel system compared to regular gas. That's another one of the myths about premium gas....that running a tank of premium every so often to 'clean things out' is good.

[SpicyMSP]

RTFM. Some turbo cars its ok and safe to do so, and you can feel a minimul improvement. However in the MSP Manual it clearly says "Do not use any fuel additives"

[Brian MP5T]

Some additives like the so called "NOS" 104+ in a bottle actually dammage your cat's if you have them installed...

[PeteyBoy3K]

Mostly right, except for the 'extra cleaning additives' you claim higher octane gas has. Premium gas doesn't have any more ability to clean out the fuel system compared to regular gas. That's another one of the myths about premium gas....that running a tank of premium every so often to 'clean things out' is good.

Many gas companies blatantly advertise detergents they put in mid range and premium gas

I'm not saying all gas companies put them in, but chevron has techron... exxon has something, I'm pretty sure amoco and shell do something special to theirs too.

Is it better/as effective than just adding techron or gumout or whatever to the tank after every other oil change? probably not... but that doesn't mean that they aren't there.

[jersey_emt]

Those detergents are in all of the grades of gas, not just premium.

And when you run premium gas in a car that requires regular, all of the fuel does not burn, and it actually 'dirties up' things more.

[bvmazda3]

So yea... geeky lecture reduced: adding higher octane to a car that doesn't need it is pretty much a waste of money (unless you haven't added fuel injector cleaner in a while and want the detergent additives some gas companies add).

I thought any additive, including most (all?) fuel-injector cleaners would actually cause the formation of deposits? Aren't they just snake-oil?

[Brian MP5T]

Oooo, Snake Oil. I'll buy some!!!