98 Octance Fuels

[navara07]

98 Octane fuel what do you think is really doing for your vehicle is it better or just costing us 10 cents extra/ litre. What do you prefer BP, MOBIL, CALTEX, SHELL, ETC. is one of these suppliers better than the other in production of thier product.
Has there been any testing to see the benefits of using 98 octane fuel.
:drink:
Thanks

[mudclub]

I use standard unleaded and my own octane booster based on a blend of specific solvents and it works a treat in high performance & standard engines engines no probs to date

[wagnman]

The extra octane only makes a difference if your engine is tuned to use it.
Its a waste of money otherwise.
If you have a vehicle that has been dyno tuned to use 98 octane fuel the extra octane rating over 91 or 95 octane fuel will allow the tuner to use more timing advance or boost (in a blown or turbo vehicle)etc to get more power out of your engine.

Most vehicles that are able to run on 91 octane fuel will show very little real gain in power and economy from simply putting 98 octane fuel in.

Some new cars have learning features in their pcm's that can run two different fuel and timing maps so that if the pcm senses that the 98 octane fuel is used they will run the more aggressive tune giving slightly more power but this is not that common and no where near as good as a custom retune of the pcm on a useing a chassis dyno.

If your car is designed to run on 91 octane then you wont see any benefit of useing the 95 or 98 octane fuels unless the 91 octane you are useing has 10% ethanol in which case the E10 91 octane fuel will use more fuel due to the ethanol and then you would see a benefit if you used the 95 or 98.

[RaeNTroy]

VPower-Go Well, Go Shell

Have only done some personal testing.
Went away on hols in a 1994 Ford Falcon and was running a bit rough (origionally thought it needed a tune) and fuel economy was crap-on the way back from the trip we decided to run th premium (as i am supposed to be advertising the stuff at work i thought i would try it to tell my customers if it REALLY worked) and we did-and for about the next 2 years after that and havent stopped! The enigine seemed to like it and ran a helluva lot smoother and the fuel consumption was great! When we ran the standard 92 octane fuel it seemed to drink it like water!

But like i say to all my customers its all about personal choice really-then what YOUR vehicle likes or dosnt like-if you put a tank of premium in and then run the standard you really wont see a differance-unless you run it all the time! Some vehicles will run GREAT on the premium (IE more milage, smoother), but then you talk to someone else and they might say that E10 is the fuel for their car (mileage and smoother also).

Believe you me-your car will tell you what it likes and dosnt like! :thumb:

[lukethedork]

Our LR Freelander, Subaru, and Mercedes A-Class all ran smoother when using 98 octane rather than 91.
Differences were the engine felt smoother but mainly that it sounded alot smoother when opening the throttle mainly on low revs.
Also notice the same difference in my current Jeep Wrangler 4.0L. Sounds and feels alot smoother on the 98.

Luke.

[TheOtherLeft]

I would say using 85 or 98 is good as it contains detergents as well that will clean out your system better then 91 which doesn't have the detergents.

I used to run 95 but now run 91 as I couldn't really tell the difference. I would only run 95 occasionaly now due to the better fuel quality and the detergents.

[Terrano-saurus]

Wagman is spot-on about the timing, etc. changing the oct rating of fuel greatly effects the timing of an engine, after rebuilding my Harley engine I trialed all three oct fuels with various spark plug gaps and timming settings before establishing that 95oct was best suited for my rebuilt engine. each time I changerd the fuel oct I had to adjust the sparkplug gaps and the timming to get optimun performance out of the engine. :thumb:


The extra octane only makes a difference if your engine is tuned to use it.
Its a waste of money otherwise.
If you have a vehicle that has been dyno tuned to use 98 octane fuel the extra octane rating over 91 or 95 octane fuel will allow the tuner to use more timing advance or boost (in a blown or turbo vehicle)etc to get more power out of your engine.

Most vehicles that are able to run on 91 octane fuel will show very little real gain in power and economy from simply putting 98 octane fuel in.

Some new cars have learning features in their pcm's that can run two different fuel and timing maps so that if the pcm senses that the 98 octane fuel is used they will run the more aggressive tune giving slightly more power but this is not that common and no where near as good as a custom retune of the pcm on a useing a chassis dyno.

If your car is designed to run on 91 octane then you wont see any benefit of useing the 95 or 98 octane fuels unless the 91 octane you are useing has 10% ethanol in which case the E10 91 octane fuel will use more fuel due to the ethanol and then you would see a benefit if you used the 95 or 98.

[eldo]

terrano never run shell optimax in your bike champ, it will fowl up your plugs, that is my tip for the day.

[Terrano-saurus]

Thanks for the tip. I normally buy BP

terrano never run shell optimax in your bike champ, it will fowl up your plugs, that is my tip for the day.

[FERAL ERROL]

my 4500 petrol, patrol with aftermarket programable cpu was tuned to run on 96 octane and ran quite good decided to put some e10 in it to try, and it goes so much better it is not funny no longer pings and has heaps more go so i for one will not be using the premium fuels. E10 is 12cents per litre cheaper and performs much nicer.

[ice_spy]

Well, i used to own a jetski, my jetski repair shop was sent a book from SHELL that conatined all the models that SHOULDNT run thier OPTIMAX. which is no longer available anyway. So i think SHELL is crap!!.imo.
My mech at the time (has C.dyno) did some tests of his own and said to me use MOBILE 98. its the best. and i agree, i get the best performance and economy out of MOBILE high octane.

My advice is dont buy any fuel which contains etholnol. It attracts moisture big time! like 15L into my boat tank (had 5ltrs ethonal left in it) over 6 months. was pretty much just water in the tank.

Im also a bit wary of all these Idian 7eleven's because who knows what they're mixing in thier fuel.
I think SUPER was the best fuel. like in the 1970's.
if i had to make my own list it would be:-
1st:- mobile
bp
caltex
all others i try to aviod. and i'd rather push my car than use ethonal!

[ice_spy]

my 4500 petrol, patrol with aftermarket programable cpu was tuned to run on 96 octane and ran quite good decided to put some e10 in it to try, and it goes so much better it is not funny no longer pings and has heaps more go so i for one will not be using the premium fuels. E10 is 12cents per litre cheaper and performs much nicer.

Water injection stops pinging. hence E10

[Terrano-saurus]

WE must be getting ripped off here in QLD because the E10 is always the same price.


my 4500 petrol, patrol with aftermarket programable cpu was tuned to run on 96 octane and ran quite good decided to put some e10 in it to try, and it goes so much better it is not funny no longer pings and has heaps more go so i for one will not be using the premium fuels. E10 is 12cents per litre cheaper and performs much nicer.

[A1 Mech]

I run BP ultimate98 in my RS turbo liberty and it seems to run the best on it and I can get a far better milage out of it. I hav found and hav read from alot of other subaru owners that the EJ20 motors does not like shell fuels, mine pings and has a lumpy idle on all shell fuels and anything below 95 octane from other stations. In My books I get best petrol milage and IMO power from BP ultimate and closely followed by caltex vortex98. As others hav stated If ur motor is not designed or tuned for 98 octane u probably wont notice much from it.

[cac]

i tried my 3RZ hilux on premium fuels and E10, with little to no performance or economy benefits....

have just upgraded to an 01 grand vitara V6 though...and you notice the difference straight away when you put e10 in it instead of regular unleaded...it runs smoother, and quieter...though i haven't had the vehicle long enough to do economy comparisons....though i'm going to keep using the e10 i think...

my first tank of e10 was from a mobil servo, and my second from a united servo...be interesting to see if the economy is different...

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Most of the MPi vehicles that I've had access to recently have taken a few tanks of premium fuel before showing the real advantages, but in every case after those few tanks (giving time for their computers to 'learn' that the fuel is higher octane rating and respond with the various timing settings etc) they have shown a fairly significant and quite measureable fuel economy advantage, as well as a 'seat of the pants' detected power and smoothness advantage!

So if you are gonna try it, give it at least a tank full or two before you discard the idea. Our savings are pretty reasonable, even tho it costs more per litre, we are using fewer litres for the same km travelled and overall paying less to run the vehicles! (total service costs have been less too!)

Good Luck!

[eldo]

i ran premium in my 2.7 hilux 2wd for the 3 years i owned it, always tried to run caltex , in nsw there is 2 premiums vortex 95 and vortex 98, i always ran the 95 and it was great, the vortex 95 is meant to burn like old super , it is the specific gravity of the fuel and the way it atomises.
optimax is a dense fuel and in older cars and 99% of motorcycles it doesnt atomise properly and that is why it fouls up plugs, unless the vehicle has been jetted/tuned to run it all the time. we also found with our customers bikes that BP ultimate would sometimes foul plugs. in injected cars i still recon the vortex 95 , however any of the brand name servo premiums are good. caltex is probably my fav as they are everywhere you go these days and you really should stick to one brand to reap the benefits of using premium. diesel on the other hand i know nothing about, ive had my 3.0TD hilux for 18 months and it is the first diesel i have had anything to with. my local independant guy is where i get it from and i have joined their diesel club and get a 2%discount on all diesel, this discount together with his cheap fuel prices means i usually save around 5-10 cents per litre. does any one know how to check what is actually in the diesel that the servo's are selling ?

[MOPAR or NO CAR]

only the good stuff goes into my kingswood - BP Ultimate 98, anything else and she runs like shite. I fill up at the same time every week reguardless of how full the tank is (stupid weekly fuel cycle) so it spreads out the cost for a 'P' plater...

[Marc 1]

The key is whether your engine has a knock sensor, if it does, the ecu will advance the ignition to take advantage of the higher octane fuel. My Subaru has a knock sensor, and it benefits possibly in power and smoothness (had to tell without a dyno test) and measurably in economy, whereas the Daihatsu does not, so apart from the better additive package in the fuel it's wasted in the little car.

[ice_spy]

Im telling you guys, try mobile 8000 -98. If anybody thinks the BP and the Caltex are good, you will more than likely find the 8000 better again.
Also i thought Mobile and United are the same, soon all Mobile will be united stations i was told. I found only a select few Mobile stations have 8000.

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

I take it you actually mean MOBIL, a company that makes petroleum fuels, not Mobile, an adjective that means movable?! ;)

Im telling you guys, try mobile 8000 -98. If anybody thinks the BP and the Caltex are good, you will more than likely find the 8000 better again.
Also i thought Mobile and United are the same, soon all Mobile will be united stations i was told. I found only a select few Mobile stations have 8000.

[ice_spy]

HAA, yes that would be it. So i guess i wont be getting that job as journalist with 4wdmonthly. ? bugger.

[MUDRATGQ]

I usly run 98 when it isn't so price'y an the differance ive found economy wise is well worth the extra price compared to 91 an other fuels like E10 with Ethenol in them i filled up the Gq the other day with E10 cost me 226 bucks for 170L an all i got on highway kays was a piss poor 675 kay were on 98 i would normaly get 1200

[ice_spy]

Yes the government are tryn to push this ETHENOL CRAP again. now called E10. Really if cars were meant to be run by a wheat/barley farm or whatever supposed natural ingredient they make it from then heck, i"ll just poor my leftover weetbix in the car each morning.

[A1 Mech]

real champions dont hav any left ova wheat bix ;)

[Jarrod.]

would i be alright to put 98 octane fuel into my 85mk patrol with 432,000km on it. i have no idea about fuel just though id ask before i put it in

[MUDRATGQ]

Yes the government are tryn to push this ETHENOL CRAP again. now called E10. Really if cars were meant to be run by a wheat/barley farm or whatever supposed natural ingredient they make it from then heck, i"ll just poor my leftover weetbix in the car each morning.Ethenol is a great fuel if added to a better high opctane fuel an the engine tuned to run it i used a 30/70 mix of ethenol in some of my old race an street cars an it was great heaps of power an great fuel economy but to use it as a replcement fuel with low octane fuel is no good now if they bought back the old 100 an 110 octane fuels of the leaded day's but without the lead content cars would use less fuel an be a lot more efficiant an economical.

[cac]

i use the E10 stuff from the united servos....its got 95 octane on the pump....the car loves it...runs smoother, and seems to make more power...though its a bit hard to say for certain..as i only put a few kays on it with regular unleaded....

have to agree with the comments on having a car tuned for it though...i got virtually no difference when running my hilux on E10 instead of regular unleaded...

[et4wd]

I run the 98 octane and 2 bottles of Extreme Octane boost in the GQ race car.
I have also pulled the timing out a few degrees more to give me the benifit of the higher octane level and slightly opened the plug gap by about .5mm.

Seems to make a big difference as i raced my mates GQ shorty ( i have done the work on that as well) on the mud Drags at the last event and i kicked his bum in a straight line drag, he caught me in the turn at the end and then i pulled away from him to the finish line.
So for my money it works in my application so i will keep on using it i reckon!

Steve.

[ice_spy]

All i know is that back in the day when i used to fill up with BOGAS, (ethenol blend fuel) I left 5 ltrs in the boat tank after the day out. About 4-5 months later i took the boat out again and thought wow! i got a full tank, but funny because i dont remeber leaving a full tank of petrol in the boat. When i launched the boat the motor wouldnt start. I looked inside the tank and it had a small oily stain on top of what i thought was fuel. WRONG it was all WATER, the ethenol had sucked in 20ltrs of water in that time.
Ethenol attracts moisture.
After that i will never use the rubbish fuel again. Better fuel econmy because over night your tank sucks in a few 100mls of water!!. yes water injection is good for more advanced timing. but doesnt anybody remember corroded fuel line problem in holden commo's? I know i dont want water in my fuel tank.
Water is heavier than fuel and the pump station tanks with ethenol have water in them. fact.

[dragster]

run the good brew in my clubsport. between pays I have put the cheap and nasty in and just take it easy with the go pedal.
In the cruiser run gas but always have a tank of standard. have tried premium but absolutly no difference in my opinion

[PALI]

eyy mate
it doesnt matter if u motor is tuned for it or not i still givs u more bang wen it sparks coz there is more octane. a grandma would even now that the known fuel is better than 7/11 fuel. most fuels are mostly water n other shit anyway but the best is mobil n shell. if u dont race u wont now the difference only ur motor will.u really need to look it up n spend som time on the computer if u really care about it.
cheers

[steelo]

I generally use the United 95 ethanol blend with Flash Lube Injector Cleaner (50ml for 50L) & have for about 3yrs now in my old Paj 2.6L petrol & both my 4.0L Explorer's & haven't had any probs whats so ever.
It did/does make a difference running the injector cleaner through it every now & again though.
There is also a small but noticeable running improvement all round specially when you can't get it & use ordinary fuel then use the 95 again.
But thats just me & mine.:D

[Kitika]

I use standard unleaded and my own octane booster based on a blend of specific solvents and it works a treat in high performance & standard engines engines no probs to date

Hey Mudclub would you like to share these ingredients for high octane fuel? My sierra seems to run smoother on higher octane and i've slightly advanced the timing etc to suit but it's getting a little bit expensive to keep filling up on the stuff. A cheaper (possibly better?) alternative would be awesome:D

[Chuckanoo]

I use the E10 petrol in my 82 Hilux (18R motor) whenever I can, not only is it cheaper (by 2 cents) but is has the same power and economy as if I was using a 95 octane rated fuel. I have tried all the octane rated fuels from 91 to 98 and found that for each one, I had to re adjust the Idle mixture screw to get the motor running smoother.

The wife uses E10 in her 93 Nissan Pulsar (N14) with no problems, and so does my dad in his EA Ford Falcon (fuel injected). Both cars now run smoother and had a slight increase in performance.
Also tried E10 in a 1983 Nissan Bluebird which has the L20B motor, runs a lot smoother than 91 octane fuel.

If you check the handbook that comes with your vehicle, it normally mentions what the 'minimum' octane fuel you should use. So far, it has always been 91 octane (in the books I've read).

Now I always get my E10 from the IFS servo at Burpengary. Except for Diesel and LPG, they know only sell E10. Plus they give you 2 cents off the purchase price when you go to pay (at the time of writing). this gives a high turnover of fuel, so hopefully, no water in the tanks.

Of course, it is up to yourself on what type of petrol you want to use.
It is better to try different brands and types to see which is the better for you car. And when you find a good one, stick with it.

By the way, from what I have been told. That E10 petrol with a 95 octane rating is supposedly a 98 octane rated fuel with ethanol added. Can someone tell us if this is true?:confused:

[ice_spy]

2c a litre? so when you fill up 50ltrs your saving $1.00 ! i throw that at the buskers when i walk down the street. Its like that 4c off woolworths docket scheem. So you save about $2.40 a tank. WOW! amazing saving. or spend ANOTHER $5 in store to get another 4c off. So you would have to fill up about 200ltrs to get your $5 worth of stuff free. and why does it say on E10 pumps "may have an increased consumption of fuel economy". ?.yeah that sounds good!
I run the best fuel i can get my hands on to save $$$ on engine damage in the long term. My mate who runs a race/street car uses a funnel and a filter as he fills his tank. you should see the crap that he stops going in his tank! Eventually you will find a good station if fuel means that much to you as saving a couple of dollars doesnt count to me. In Sydney pump stations were found to be adding there own chemis to "water it down" like metho. If 100+ octane was available for $2 a ltr... id buy it. shikes i even run 98 in my lawnmower! you should see the bugger cut grass now!

[steelo]

For some of us every little bit counts & matters, it all adds up in the long run. As a pensioner bringing up 3 school age kids I'm afraid I fall into that description & as I've had absolutely no hassles whatsoever with the United 95 octane :D ethanol fuel I'll keep using it. Its usually 2c to 3c cheaper than the 91 octane unleaded fuel.

[suzi 1]

My dad has a 98 pajero lwb (standard motor) and he runs on the 98 octane fuel. the car has more power than before.

a mechanic told me this..... if you leave it for a while it will kill your hoses and stuff but if you use it farly often it wont do anything bad.

cheers

[Chuckanoo]

a mechanic told me this..... if you leave it for a while it will kill your hoses and stuff but if you use it farly often it wont do anything bad.

Hey Suzi 1, Was he talking about E10 or 98?:confused:
Either way, If i could afford it, I would use the 98 Octane rated fuel:thumb:
As it is, E10 is cheaper and has done no damage to my motor:thumb:

[HOLDN-ON]

Evening all,
I recently filled up my 92 4Runner RV6 with BP ultimate as I was told it would run a bit better and get more kays per tank. It does nothing but rough idle, flat spot, cough and splutter. Not too impressed. Have used normal unleaded in it and had no problems. BP Ultimate....not worth the extra cost per litre. IMPO

[Harb]

Unless you are setup to get an advantage from higher octane fuel, its a total waste of time.....
I have to run 98 octane or better in my GQ, and find Shell Vpower Racing although really hard to find, to be the pick.......

[sudso]

eyy mate
it doesnt matter if u motor is tuned for it or not i still givs u more bang wen it sparks coz there is more octane. a grandma would even now that the known fuel is better than 7/11 fuel. most fuels are mostly water n other shit anyway but the best is mobil n shell. if u dont race u wont now the difference only ur motor will.u really need to look it up n spend som time on the computer if u really care about it.
cheers
Hmm, dont know about that.
All that hi octane fuel does is slow down the burn rate so it doesnt pre ignite (ping) in the higer compression engines. My old worked 208ci Holden 6 with 10.5:1 compression could only run no mor than 4-6 deg advance once leaded was no longer available and only std ULP was.
Most ULP cars since the late eighties have low compression motors and run fine on std ULP.
The premium blends are supposed to have more of the impurities refined out of them too so putting it in a car designed for std ULP may get a little more power and/or economy.
I tried some 98 fuel in my V6 Rodeo and there was no noticeable difference at all, its a low compression engine.
Only thing thats made a difference is the FuelX additive I've been using. It raises the RON by 3 and 'cleans' the fuel. In my diesel Patrol I use the Diesel Guard FuelX which has a cetane booster and vapourises any water present as well. Good stuff.

[Marc 1]

Incidentally - Shell V-Power is back in servo's around Sydney - Looks like they finally fixed the problem at the refinery.

[Harb]

Pali Higher octane fuel actually has less "bang" than lower octane fuels.
It is designed to burn slower and longer to avoid flame front detonation when eariler timing curves and higher compressions are used to get more advantage out of the burn...... the more the expened power is used from the burn stroke, the more power out of the engine.

And Marc 1 , thats good news......
Have you seen any Shell Vpower Racing 100 octane (as aposed to just Vpower 98 octane) around.... one of the few places that has it is the last shell before you turn onto the F3 leaving sydney...... lucky its on the way to the watagans !! haha

[Marc 1]

And Marc 1 , thats good news......
Have you seen any Shell Vpower Racing 100 octane (as aposed to just Vpower 98 octane) around.... one of the few places that has it is the last shell before you turn onto the F3 leaving sydney...... lucky its on the way to the watagans !! haha

Yeah, Shell on Epping Rd (the roller coaster section near Macquarie Uni), and plenty of places in Melbourne (from when I used to regularly drive to Melb from Wodonga for some damn meeting or conference or similar gabfest).

[Corindi]

Unless you are setup to get an advantage from higher octane fuel, its a total waste of time.....
I have to run 98 octane or better in my GQ, and find Shell Vpower Racing although really hard to find, to be the pick.......Keep in mind next time you are up our way Harb, it is available at the shell all nighter at Halfway Creek.

[disco_nex]

Thought I'd run 98 and 95 octane over a few weeks to compare fuel economy over the 91 in my XJ 4L. While the fuel definitely lets the engine run smoother, I find Im getting worse economy out the engine. Better off on 91 for me.......

[suzi 1]

he said it was for 98

[ice_spy]

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