Octane gas
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Junior User
Joined: Nov 2008
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Octane gas
I read that if i put higher octane gas in my truck it will run better with more horsepower. if thats correct. how do i know what one to put in.. i don't want to choose one thats gunna mess up the truck.. what one will work?
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 19,763
Likes: 1,082
From: St Louis
Read your owner's manual. It tells you what to use.
There is no more horsepower from higher octane gas. If your engine is working as designed and is without modifications, you won't get anything except a larger fuel bill from running premium.
Steve
There is no more horsepower from higher octane gas. If your engine is working as designed and is without modifications, you won't get anything except a larger fuel bill from running premium.
Steve
Postmaster
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,241
Likes: 3
From: Broken Arrow, OK
There's an article in Popular Hot Rodding this month about this very topic, but they tested the higher octanes. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but the conclusion was that 91 octane made more power than 110 or 118 even after retuning it. Higher octane is a waste of money if your engine doesn't need it.
Former ******
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,901
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From: Salt Lake City, Utah
If you really want to know about octane, just look it up on wikipedia
Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
People who claim you can get more power with higher octane do not understand what octane is.
The higher the compression, the more power the engine can produce and the more efficienct it is. However, as the compression increases, so does the temperature of the mixture being compressed. Once you go beyond a certain point, the gases get so hot that the mixture will ignite prematurely. Higher octane fuels fight this preignition by basically raising the flash point (ignition temperature) of the fuel. This also slows the burn speed, which can be useful in that it allows more timing advance.
However, if you use high octane fuel in a standard engine, the fuel burns too slowly, robbing the engine of power. Custom tunes can allow you to use a slightly higher octane by advancing the timing more, but you can only advance the timing a little bit. The only way to really take advantage of a higher octane fuel is to either increase the compression ratio, or used forced induction to force more air into the engine.
Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
People who claim you can get more power with higher octane do not understand what octane is.
The higher the compression, the more power the engine can produce and the more efficienct it is. However, as the compression increases, so does the temperature of the mixture being compressed. Once you go beyond a certain point, the gases get so hot that the mixture will ignite prematurely. Higher octane fuels fight this preignition by basically raising the flash point (ignition temperature) of the fuel. This also slows the burn speed, which can be useful in that it allows more timing advance.
However, if you use high octane fuel in a standard engine, the fuel burns too slowly, robbing the engine of power. Custom tunes can allow you to use a slightly higher octane by advancing the timing more, but you can only advance the timing a little bit. The only way to really take advantage of a higher octane fuel is to either increase the compression ratio, or used forced induction to force more air into the engine.
