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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!convex!news.utdallas.edu!corpgate!crchh327!crchh435!ericy
- From: (Eric Youngblood)
- Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
- Subject: Re: Premium gas to clean engine?
- Message-ID: <1992Aug20.184211.198@bnr.ca>
- Date: 20 Aug 92 18:42:11 GMT
- References: <BsxEoG.n03.2@cs.cmu.edu> <1992Aug14.015818.18321@leland.Stanford.EDU> <1992Aug20.203007.1@economics.adelaide.edu.au>
- Sender: news@bnr.ca (News on crchh327)
- Reply-To: Peon w/o Email priv (Eric Youngblood)
- Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Richardson, Tx
- Lines: 55
- Nntp-Posting-Host: crchh435
-
- In article <1992Aug20.203007.1@economics.adelaide.edu.au>, ecrjbruce@economics.adelaide.edu.au writes:
- |> In article <1992Aug14.015818.18321@leland.Stanford.EDU>, eap@leland.Stanford.EDU (Eric Perozziello) writes:
- |> >>
- |> >>I am perfectly aware of the fact that using premium gas in an ordinary
- |> >>engin won't improve performance, but my repair manual ("How to Keep
- |> >>Your Honda Alive...", an excellent book BTW), says that it's a good
- |> >>idea to occasionally fill up with premium. They say this will clean
- |> >>up the engine (from carbon deposits?). So, what does the net think about
- |> >>it?
- |> >>
- |>
- |> Over here (Australia) one of our more serious car magazines (Wheels) took the
- |> new Volvo for a test drive and found it impossible to get the car running
- |> anywhere near the quoted factory performance. Then they read the small print
- |> and found that these figures only applied if premium unleaded was used. They
- |> tried it and Voila! instant power gain of something like 10-20 horses. I
- |> realise this won't apply to all cars but does show that in certain engine
- |> conditions this sort of fuel is exactly what is claimed.
- |>
- |> regs
- |>
- |> Rob
-
- There is no additional energy in premium gasoline. regular no-lead has the same
- energy as premium. Octane only refers to the burn characteristics of the fuel.
- This includes rate of combustion, ignitability, etc...
-
- As long as the fuel you use can be properly ignited at the right time and burn at
- a fast enough (But not too fast) rate to build peak pressure during the optimal
- part of the power stroke your engine *will* produce the maximum power that its
- design will allow. So, if your engine is designed to run on premium grade fuel
- you probably need to use it to allow it to produce max power. If your engine
- is not designed to run on premium switching to a higher grade may or may not
- improve its efficiency. Two identical engines may have different fuel requirements
- depending on how close to spec they are. Also, control sensors and ignition
- systems vary from one to the next.
-
- If a fuel has more energy (example : Jet fuel) it will burn hotter and produce
- higher combustion pressures. If you were to put this fuel in an engine designed
- for gasoline it would probably burn holes in the pistons and melt the exhaust
- valves. ( This has happened to piston powered aircraft mistakenly fueled with jet
- fuel)
-
- As far as fuel deposits go a good 3 to 4 hour road trip once in a while cant hurt.
-
- The best benefit premium can add in this dept is keeping the fuel injectors clean
- so they can properly atomize the fuel for efficient combustion. Of course if you
- have a carburator then who cares as even premium forms fuel varnishes.
-
- Bottom line : if your engine has a problem with regular grade (pings etc...) then
- switching to a higher grade could help. If your engine runs fine on lower octane
- then higher octane wont help.
-
- $0.02
- Ericy
-