Does a higher grade fuel do any good?

[Fox12]

Thanks.
What is canned fuels? I have read that canned fuel is the best thing to put through the system for winter storage? Is it different than gasoline?

I expect that canned fuel is a no-ethanol fuel mixed as needed to meet the fuel-to-oil volume ratio recommended for the engine. I have used them, they costing about $5.00 per liter. Because of the high cost, I now buy no-ethanol premium fuel and mix high-end 2-cycle oil and the fuel on my own because I use so much of it. With the no-ethanol fue with stabilizer added, I do not drain the fuel systems for winter storage, simply starting the engine, closing the fuel line valve and then running the engine until it stops. I then drain any fuel left in the bowl and the engine fuel system is prepped for storage over the winter. I top off the fuel tank for winter storage with the fuel line valve closed. Using this technique, I have not had any issues with starting following winter storage.

 

[sgkent]

No one believes this but I drive thru a local burg which has a no ethanol pump. I take my gas cans with me and fill them there. I run it in 3 lawn tractors dated 1973 through 2009, two newer push mowers, and one 5 year old echo weed eater. I don't have deteriorated rubber gaskets, green buildup in carb bowls, and they start right up in the spring without a fuel system flush. Check it out on Project Farm channel on YouTube. No ethanol gas is about 40 cents higher than E10.

lucky fellow. Here in CA about all we can get that is non-ethanol is either canned mower fuel or canned racing gas these days. All the places listed for non-ethanol are mostly gone now or just sell the canned racing stuff. I used to run AV gas in a boat and race car years ago, but since 9/11 most airports don't want you hanging around the pumps with gas cans.

 

[7394]

I live in deep South Ag country, so the 100% gas is around a lot here for farmers etc.. That's all I use..

 

[sgkent]

think I will move to farmer land. How are the twisters this year? Lord I hate those.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

The only station near me got rid of the Efree gas and switched to E15. So now i use regular pump gas in everything. I have a 92cc chainsaw with advanced ignition timing and running 200psi compression. It has gone through gallons of regular gas with no issues with preignition. I have never seen a piece of OPE melt down from using regular pump gas.

 

[slomo]

Higher octane is simply more resistant to detonation, which higher compression engines CAN have. Higher octane burns slower to resist knocking.

Most mower engines are 8:1 or maybe 8.5:1 compression. As in low compression, use any fuel you can buy and dump in. 87 octane is plenty in these engines.

Octane combats knocking. No power increase expected. This comes from the American thinking of more is better, higher octane. Now if you are looking for a power increase use oxygenated racing fuels. $$$$

If all else fails, read your engine manual for proper octane guidance.

 

[7394]

think I will move to farmer land. How are the twisters this year? Lord I hate those.

I believe anywhere ya live, there will be things to deal with.. Have kin up in PA, they just had another twister scare.

I lived 30 years in S Fla, & the hurricanes just got to be too much..

 

[bertsmobile1]

Higher octane is simply more resistant to detonation, which higher compression engines CAN have. Higher octane burns slower to resist knocking.

Most mower engines are 8:1 or maybe 8.5:1 compression. As in low compression, use any fuel you can buy and dump in. 87 octane is plenty in these engines.

Octane is for knocking. No power increase expected. This comes from the American thinking of more is better.

If all else fails, read your engine manual for proper octane guidance.

It is because Joe public really do not know the theory
Higher performance engines usually run higher compression, in fact a lot of older engines came with a choice of pistons from 7:1 through to 11:1 which is about the limit of petrol which is why we used to run methanol so we could go from 11:1 to 15:1
Methanol has less energy than petrol but the higher compression ratio liberates more power from the lower grade fuel than you can get from burning petrol.

However people see the more powerful versions of the engine requiring a higher octane so assume all of the power increase comes from the petrol & not from the higher compression ratio
Higher octane petrol usually does have a higher energy density than low octane fuel but not enough to account for the doubling of the HP from an engine that you can get from higher compression ratios.
When I had the time & money to play with things I was working on upping the compression ratio of some side valve engines
The 500cc engine I was playing with had a CR of 4.5 :1
We increased that to 7:1 which is getting near the limit for side valves and the HP went from 11 to 26
Based on he energy content increase of the fuel alone it would have gone from 11 to 11.25
FWIW we were aiming for 40Hp but the crankcase cracked and the con rod bent so it stopped right there
I think the K series HD's nearly doubled the output HP when you made ports in the head thus increasing the CR

 

[sofasurfer]

Ok. Thanks for all the info.
An engine burning regular will acquire carbon buildup after time. Will higher octane do the same thing? Will higher octane clean any deposits from an engine?

 

[MParr]

Ok. Thanks for all the info.
An engine burning regular will acquire carbon buildup after time. Will higher octane do the same thing? Will higher octane clean any deposits from an engine?

The burning of fossil fuels will always result in some carbon residue. That’s just the way it is. If your spark plugs show carbon fouling, your engine could be running too rich. Adjustment of the carburetor can help with that. You can also go to a higher heat range spark plug.