the modern engines are designed for 87 octane unleaded. Stabil in the tank if it's gonna sit over a year is a good idea. If less than a year, don't worry about it.
sounds like you were talking to an old timer that didn't know shit.
In the US, the government stepped in long ago and makes sure all grades and brands of gasoline have cleaning agents and are not supposed to need any other store bought additives. How often do you hear about actual clogged fuel injectors these days? I've never had a clogged fuel injector and I use the cheapest 87 octane I can find. I don't know of anyone in the last ten or more years that has had a clogged fuel injector. Do you?
It is my understanding on smaller engines the 92 octane is a far too rich to be used perhaps causing the engine to run too hot? And in my area finding the ethanol-free gas is getting extremely difficult.
If you RTFM, on most small engines, 87 octane is the highest recommended. But who reads those? Now, I said MOST. That does not mean ALL. If you have any doubt, just look in that little paper manual that came with the machine. Remember that? No. Oh, well, you can download one.
Steve
Rich? Please define what you mean by rich.
I am pretty sure that my Stihl chainsaw calls for gasoline with an octane rating of greater than 87. I'm not sure if it calls for 89 or 92 octane.
Sorry. I was *meaning* "lawnmower" the OP mentioned.
Well-seasoned? To me that says old, and old gas is the stuff that varnished up your carburetor...
If the first two are throwing you for a loop, push the mower out to the side of the road now and put a sign on it that says "FREE." Then hire your lawn mowed by a professional... It's not difficult to push the "92" button on the gas pump, or to follow the directions on the Sta-Bil bottle. You can buy Sta-Bil practically anywhere...
92 octane doesn't hurt. It doesn't help, but it doesn't hurt. The Sta- Bil is a proven product that keeps your gas from going sour by sitting around for many months.Lead additive... That's snake oil. Even if you can find lead additive and it does do something, your mower doesn't need it unless it is really really old. Truth is lead additive doesn't do anything, and nobody sells it.
SOME 2 strokes have reed valves. Some have rotary valves, and SOME are totally port timed.using no valves at all. Then there are 2 stroke engines that use valves just like a 4 stroke and use forced induction.(and have oil in the crankcase like a 4 stroke)
However, the most common 2 strokes are either valveless or have reed valces - which are not exposed to the "dragon's breath" and therefore do not suffer from seat welding/erosion like 4 stroke engines - which is what lead in the fuel was pretty good at preventing. - so - lead is NOT required on most 2 stroke engines, and in fact is more of a problem than a help.
Yes, the valve protection was a side benefit - and most 2 stroke utility engines do not need high octane. Those that do (racing marine and snowmobile come to mind) like unleaded high octane much better than leaded. Without lead, better seat and valve face material is required for long life on 4 strokes.
FALSE
ANd not necessarily true. There are many high octane fuels that burn as fast or faster than many low octane fuels.
On some cars. On others the computer adjusts for the low octane fuel, retarding the timing and increasing the amount of fuel burned so you save a lot less than you think you will.
>
I just told you. Shell Ultra (gold) gas does not have ethanol in it in Canada.. So you can buy it at any Shell gas station in canada.
Also, AvGas NEVER has ethanol in it.
Cannot legally put av-gas in a boat.
Switching to a different brand would likely have done the same. - depending on the problem. A lot of American gas uses ethanol to increase the octane - and THAT can make an engine complain because ethanol has roughly half the fuel value gasoline has - and it absorbs water too, making the mixture even leaner yet.
My little remington is extremely high compression and definitely likes high octane fuel. My partner would likely run on kerosine
I think you're right. When fuel injectors started to be universal, there was a fight between the gasoline companies and the car companies. The car companies would only recommend a few gasoline companies that had sufficiently filtered gas that woudn't clog the injectors. The gas companies said the injectors should be made better (although I personally don't know how) I presume the gas companies lost and they all had to make gas that would work with fuel injectors.
Fuel injectors were necessary to get the gas mileage that the law required. Because gas could be dispensed in amounts more suited to the need of the moment, and not just plenty all the time.
Neither have I. I use injector cleaner when I'm having a problem but I don't know for sure it's ever helped. The last time was recently and it didn't help now I thihk the problem was one spark plug wire wasn't on well.
That's not been my impression. I don't know how you've done so well.
Well I guess that is how. I'm glad you added that or your post would have been very misleading, since you started off calling calling all of it, including the stabilizer, a crock.
Lead was a way of acheiving higher octane (resistance to knocking). High compression engines will knock with too low octane, but maybe that is lessened with fuel injection (just a guess), or with a different spark timing, or maybe cars don't come with 10.5:1 compression ratios anymore.
They've even lowered the octane of gas with the same octane number. About 20 years ago I think. 92 octane used to mean one thing, but now
92 octane is the same as 89** octane used to be **not sure of the number.So no he doesn't need it, but it used to be important.
Used to be a LOT of injector problems on 2.2 and 2.5 liter K-Cars with TBI - and cleaning very often fixed them. They didn't block up , they leaked. Get the gum out and the pintles could seal properly when they closed, and the stumbling, smoking, and assorted other problems dissapeard.
Used to have some prblems about the same time (early 80s) with bosch L-Jetronic based systems too, where the injectors would dribble. A can of BG 44K usually fixed them up if you caught them soon enough.
Some brands of gas were better than others.
The octane ratings have not really changed - in North America anyway, it's always been R+M/2 (reaserch octane plus Motor octane devided by two) for automotive gsoline. Aircraft gasoline is totally different - with the two numbers, say
85/90 being rich/lean ratings.. The aviation lean motor rating is close to the automotive R+M/2 octane in most cases.RON, or research octane number, is a mostly theoretical number, comparing a sample of fuel to a standard mixture of "octane" and "heptane". The MON, or Motor Octane Number, is measured knock resistance using a standardized variable compression engine in a closely controlled load test to detect actual knock resistance under load in an engine.
In many parts of the world the RON was (and still is) used - In North America the R+M/2 or "road octane" rating has been used since the late
30s or early 40s.
Let us know when you find out. As has been pointed out, the recommendation for 87 octane applies to MOST small equipment engines. You may have one of the few exceptions. What model is your saw?
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