Poor fuel choice

agf

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Feel like a bit of a goose for doing this last night:
short story long......
did the radio show last night with my brother and as I arrived at the studio, he was on the phone to his boss, resigning from his job so our discussions were a little distracted and he left his wallet in his car. 1/2 way through the show he goes to put some stuiff in the car and his window is smashed :spank:, wallet nicked with $600 in it. So he leaves the studio and I finish the show in a somewhat distracted way:confused:
So where does all this lead, well I stop for fuel at me regular garage but a different pump, ( another thing that isn't as per normal, I'm a creature of habit) get off and start filling only to realise as I get near the top of the fuller neck that I have put in 91 octane Standard not my usual 98.:(


So the bike runs ....ok .... but not the same zingy pickup and acceleration,
question for you all is, should I syphon it out and use it in the mower or just ride through it, I know it wont harm the bike but it sure runs more sluggishly
what would you do?
 

mave2911

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Just ride through the tank, Ade.

I tried a couple of tanks of 91RON to see if there was any efficiency gains to be had - and it was worse.

Definitely not []i]bad[/i] per se, but not the best, in my opinion.

Seems like a good excuse to go on a road trip to use it all!

Cheers,
Rick
 

ChevyFazer

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youll be fine, you might hear some strange noises like pinging if your use to running higher, at least i know i did when i switched back to regular for a tank. the bike almost sounded like a diesel it got so loud (although its not exactly stock anymore-reason why high tess helps on my bike)

if your really worried about it go pick up a bottle of octane booster, every once in a while ill run some stp octane booster through mine when my regular store dont have the fuel treatment.

by the way that sucks about all that other stuff that happend, i really feel for your brother becasue i know what its like. But in my case my wallet was sitting on my damn kitchen table with like $400 in it and one of what use to be my really good friends was sleeping on my couch. Well i herd him drive off at like 3am but didnt think nothing of it until the next day i realised my wallet was gone. I didnt want to beleive that he did it so i kind of convienced myself that i lost it somewhere else for a while even though he was coming over to my house everyday prior but i didnt see him for 2 months after. About 6 months had passed and i had all but let it go until i get a random message on facebook from someone i have never met before, a guy who worked for the company that was paving the roads found my license on the side of the road about 2 miles from "my friends" house and was trying to return it to me....


Moral of the story kids..... (dont do drugs)
 

TownsendsFJR1300

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My bike runs better on regular than high test.

With that said, I don't know how the octane ratings rate between the two countries,

As posted above, if its not pinging (detonation), your fine running that tank out...
 

Erci

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+1.. I would just run it. I've never run anything, but regular (87 here in US) in my FZ6 and same goes for FZ1.
I know many people say they feel the difference when they run higher octane, but the science explains that there are no gains to be had by running more expensive fuel in an engine designed for regular.
Anyway.. just don't sweat it and ride it out and go back to whatever felt best :thumbup:
 

mave2911

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My bike runs better on regular than high test.

With that said, I don't know how the octane ratings rate between the two countries,

As posted above, if its not pinging (detonation), your fine running that tank out...

87PON (Pump Octane Number) = 91RON (Research Octane Number)
91PON = 95RON
95PON = 98RON

You guys work on PON, whereas we work on RON.

BUT, we have NO ethanol in our fuel, unless we choose E10. (and I wonder if it's the greater concentration of ethanol in your higher octane fuel that makes your bike run worse? My Fizzer DEFINITELY likes 98 better)

Cheers,
Rick
 

Erci

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I wonder if it's the greater concentration of ethanol in your higher octane fuel that makes your bike run worse?

I thought we had 10% across the board :don'tknow:

What's important is that running 91RON is totally safe, so certainly no need to siphon it out.
 

iSteve

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There are only 10 states in the US that mandate E10. Although most fuel in the US may have some ethanol added, it is nowhere near 10% unless the pump is marked with a E10 sticker.

Also many countries including Australia have E10 fuel.

Ethanol will boost octane rating and is used in most octane boosters.
 

ChevyFazer

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I know many people say they feel the difference when they run higher octane, but the science explains that there are no gains to be had by running more expensive fuel in an engine designed for regular.
Anyway.. just don't sweat it and ride it out and go back to whatever felt best :thumbup:

Interesting read http://www.caranddriver.com/features/regular-or-premium-test-results-page-2?redirect=no

I've posted it before but it's been awhile since I've read it but if I remember right all the vehicles that required regular picked up a few extra horsepower on premium. So there are some benefits but wether the "benefits" match the price is up to the person filling it up. Ive found that on many vehicles (all suggesting regular) that I've owned that when I started messing with the exhaust and intake is when I noticed a difference between reg vs pre, and running way better on premium. When they were close to stock regular was just fine, and on my fz I've noticed it WAY more, I'm guessing it's because of the higher compression combined with just how much I've modified the intake and exhaust that makes it ping so much on regular.
 

ChevyFazer

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There are only 10 states in the US that mandate E10. Although most fuel in the US may have some ethanol added, it is nowhere near 10% unless the pump is marked with a E10 sticker.

Also many countries including Australia have E10 fuel.

Ethanol will boost octane rating and is used in most octane boosters.

Yeah every pump that I've used all have a sticker that says the "the fuel may contain UP TOO 10% ethanol" but I guess there is no way of knowing for sure just how much is in it or is there?
 

Erci

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Yeah every pump that I've used all have a sticker that says the "the fuel may contain UP TOO 10% ethanol" but I guess there is no way of knowing for sure just how much is in it or is there?

Same here @ sticker.
 

Erci

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Interesting read Test Results

Very good read :thumbup:

And this makes perfect sense to me: "Our tests confirm that for most cars there is no compelling reason to buy more expensive fuel than the factory recommends, as any performance gain realized will surely be far less than the percentage hike in price."
 

agf

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And I guess that's the sticking point performance vs price

Since my last post I rode home and the diff is very noticble
Winding it out in1st, seemed to get to 8 k and it strangled
Wanted to power take off and it nearly stalled it was totally different to what I'm used to
If nothing else it's a good experiment

I will gladly pay 20 c a litre more for the added knowledge that when I twist that throttle it will run out to 10 k and keep accelerating and when I plant it on take off it doesn't cough and then think about it
I had wondered what lower octane would be like and put off trying it not wanting to be disappointed. Now that I have done it out of mis guided error I don't think I will make the mistake again
98 for me from now on..... No mistake!!!!!
 
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ChevyFazer

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And I guess that's the sticking point performance vs price

Since my last post I rode home and the diff is very noticble
Winding it out in1st, seemed to get to 8 k and it strangled
Wanted to power take off and it nearly stalled it was totally different to what I'm used to
If nothing else it's a good experiment

I will gladly pay 20 c a litre more for the added knowledge that when I twist that throttle it will run out to 10 k and keep accelerating and when I plant it on take off it doesn't cough and then think about it
I had wondered what lower octane would be like and put off trying it not wanting to be disappointed. Now that I have done it out of mis guided error I don't think I will make the mistake again
98 for me from now on..... No mistake!!!!!

I'm on my phone so I can't see your sig but do you have a am exhaust on your bike? Air box mod? Any of that kind of stuf?
 

Motogiro

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And I guess that's the sticking point performance vs price

Since my last post I rode home and the diff is very noticble
Winding it out in1st, seemed to get to 8 k and it strangled
Wanted to power take off and it nearly stalled it was totally different to what I'm used to
If nothing else it's a good experiment

I will gladly pay 20 c a litre more for the added knowledge that when I twist that throttle it will run out to 10 k and keep accelerating and when I plant it on take off it doesn't cough and then think about it
I had wondered what lower octane would be like and put off trying it not wanting to be disappointed. Now that I have done it out of mis guided error I don't think I will make the mistake again
98 for me from now on..... No mistake!!!!!

Ade,
That almost sounds like they added water to your fuel! :eek:
 

agf

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No mods and after my last post I took it for another run and its ok just not as perky
It's ok only 140ks to go and we will be back with the good stuff
Just been down the coast by car for a week so no bike
I hate that and the weather this weekend is lousy so we will wait til the commute on Monday
Cheers
 

TownsendsFJR1300

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I found this link on-line and found it interesting Re high test vs regular (in different engines higher performance engines and lower performance engines):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4boT3iwgZKI]Fifth_Gear-Thor_Racing.avi - YouTube[/ame]
 

Dave in Houston

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Yeah every pump that I've used all have a sticker that says the "the fuel may contain UP TOO 10% ethanol" but I guess there is no way of knowing for sure just how much is in it or is there?

As a control engineer with some experience in gasoline blending control, I can tell you that to make E10, refineries blend a mix known as RBOB (regular base for oxygenate blending) or PBOB. RBOB and PBOB are blended in such a way that they will meet specifications for octane, vapor pressure, etc after 10% ethanol has been added.

The RBOB/PBOB is then shipped by pipeline to a shipping terminal where the ethanol is added, then the resulting E10 gasoline is loaded on trucks for transport to the retailer.

You wouldn't want it to have less than 10% ethanol, because it would be off-spec on octane.

Sometimes when ethanol is cheap, greedy distributors may add extra ethanol. You really don't want that either, because it will make the combustion too lean.

Ethanol test kits are available, but your best defense is to buy your gasoline from reputable retailers.
 
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mave2911

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Good link Scott.

I notice the 'supermarket' brand is 95 though, not the lowest at 91RON (87PON), so one could postulate there'd be a greater difference between 91RON (87PON) and the 98RON (95PON) Adrian and I run in out bikes.

So there ARE performance differences between 91 & 98, and that's not even considering the cleaning effects of the detergents as part of the additive package.

I took my missus Rav4 in to get serviced, and they were saying at 50000kms, it should have a $160 fuel system clean etc.

I said that I used nothing but 98 and the service manager said no clean necessary then.....

Run what you will, but this test just cements the seat of the pants dyno from Adrian and myself - our bikes definitely perform better on 98RON (95PON)

Cheers,
Rick
 
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ChevyFazer

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I found this link on-line and found it interesting Re high test vs regular (in different engines higher performance engines and lower performance engines):

Fifth_Gear-Thor_Racing.avi - YouTube

Pretty cool video, thanks for posting! They got pretty much the same results as the car and driver test did. I'd now like to find a article or test where they do a very similar thing with motorcycles. I've always known that there are advantages in running premium it's just wether those advantages out weigh the cost to the person purchasing it. I've got a feeling though on smaller displacement engines it would be a lot less noticeable.
 
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