Octane Booster?
12-20-2016, 06:59 AM
#21
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I personally, have never melted or damaged an engine down , from gas. I fill the boat up where ever its convenient, as around here, alot of stations don't have room for a truck and 38ft boat to pull into. I've seen more guys melt down engines , and their engine builder always comes up with the same story "you sir, got some bad gas" .
The average person probably burns 1000 gallons a year per car/truck in their household. How often are dealerships replacing and rebuilding engines due to melted pistons and other carnage from all this "bad gas" everyone is getting?
Not saying its impossible to get bad gas, but I bet 1 out of 10 engine failures blamed on bad gas, was actually from bad gas, and not something else. Especially, when a particular builder, seems to have half a dozen customers engines that melted down in the past couple years, and they all heard the same thing "you sir, got bad gas".
Just last week, a co worker's F150 died at work, and wouldnt restart. Of course,, he said "I think I got a bad tank of gas, it was running fine, until I gassed up this morning" . I told him I doubt it, something else probably is the issue. Had truck towed to shop. What the issue was? Fuel pump relay.
The average person probably burns 1000 gallons a year per car/truck in their household. How often are dealerships replacing and rebuilding engines due to melted pistons and other carnage from all this "bad gas" everyone is getting?
Not saying its impossible to get bad gas, but I bet 1 out of 10 engine failures blamed on bad gas, was actually from bad gas, and not something else. Especially, when a particular builder, seems to have half a dozen customers engines that melted down in the past couple years, and they all heard the same thing "you sir, got bad gas".
Just last week, a co worker's F150 died at work, and wouldnt restart. Of course,, he said "I think I got a bad tank of gas, it was running fine, until I gassed up this morning" . I told him I doubt it, something else probably is the issue. Had truck towed to shop. What the issue was? Fuel pump relay.
I'm not talking about a stock package, like a C7 ZO6, more along the lines of a aftermarket build.
I would agree that an engine builder would be quick to blame a failure on bad fuel. It protects their reputation, and it's likely the Customer does not have any data to back up a tuning or rigging problem that may have led to the cause.
12-20-2016, 08:02 AM
#22
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The fuel charge in an engine doesnt explode, it burns. Generally the faster it burns the more power the fuel charge can make, up to the point it explodes, which is bad. The more octane the slower the fuel charge burns.
Its winter, you go out to breakfast but your truck gets stuck in the driveway.
3 guys on there way in (lower octane because they are hungry and want to get in to eat) they push your truck out real quick because they want to get in to eat.
3 guys on their way out (high octane they just ate and want to take a nap) They take a while to push your truck out because they are full, fat and lazy so they push slow
Bubba rams your stuck truck with his plow at 40 mph because your blocking the driveway and he is freaking hungry(detonation,. way too low octane) this is NOT good
12-20-2016, 07:24 PM
#25
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To simplify in plain english...
The fuel charge in an engine doesnt explode, it burns. Generally the faster it burns the more power the fuel charge can make, up to the point it explodes, which is bad. The more octane the slower the fuel charge burns.
Its winter, you go out to breakfast but your truck gets stuck in the driveway.
3 guys on there way in (lower octane because they are hungry and want to get in to eat) they push your truck out real quick because they want to get in to eat.
3 guys on their way out (high octane they just ate and want to take a nap) They take a while to push your truck out because they are full, fat and lazy so they push slow
Bubba rams your stuck truck with his plow at 40 mph because your blocking the driveway and he is freaking hungry(detonation,. way too low octane) this is NOT good
The fuel charge in an engine doesnt explode, it burns. Generally the faster it burns the more power the fuel charge can make, up to the point it explodes, which is bad. The more octane the slower the fuel charge burns.
Its winter, you go out to breakfast but your truck gets stuck in the driveway.
3 guys on there way in (lower octane because they are hungry and want to get in to eat) they push your truck out real quick because they want to get in to eat.
3 guys on their way out (high octane they just ate and want to take a nap) They take a while to push your truck out because they are full, fat and lazy so they push slow
Bubba rams your stuck truck with his plow at 40 mph because your blocking the driveway and he is freaking hungry(detonation,. way too low octane) this is NOT good
If lower octane makes more power, why do strong motors want more of it?
So we go back to the 3 average guys pushing on the back of your truck, they cant push all that hard. now take 6 big buff guys and they all of a sudden push real hard and it dents your tailgate.. (not enough octane) or they all sort of pretend to push like skinny jean wearing, man bun having bearded douche flute huffers (too much octane) and it doesnt make much force BUT..if all 6 guys push with controlled force they make a lot more power than the original 3 guys
12-20-2016, 07:29 PM
#26
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That was the perfect explanation phragle ^ !
12-20-2016, 07:51 PM
#27
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Good to know about boostane. I tow my boat and put 93 pump gas in it. Sometimes we cant find 92 or higher gas on the water. Ive used some other additives in the past without any problems. Maybe we were just lucky. I also dont run it hard until putting in fresh 93. The boost does not kick in on my motors till 4k on the tacs.
12-20-2016, 07:59 PM
#28
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Always been my understanding that as long as you aren't pouring boost to the engine since most are setup with low compression you can limp back to some good fuel as long as you aren't pushing it hard.
12-21-2016, 07:13 AM
#29
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To expand a little further....
If lower octane makes more power, why do strong motors want more of it?
So we go back to the 3 average guys pushing on the back of your truck, they cant push all that hard. now take 6 big buff guys and they all of a sudden push real hard and it dents your tailgate.. (not enough octane) or they all sort of pretend to push like skinny jean wearing, man bun having bearded douche flute huffers (too much octane) and it doesnt make much force BUT..if all 6 guys push with controlled force they make a lot more power than the original 3 guys
If lower octane makes more power, why do strong motors want more of it?
So we go back to the 3 average guys pushing on the back of your truck, they cant push all that hard. now take 6 big buff guys and they all of a sudden push real hard and it dents your tailgate.. (not enough octane) or they all sort of pretend to push like skinny jean wearing, man bun having bearded douche flute huffers (too much octane) and it doesnt make much force BUT..if all 6 guys push with controlled force they make a lot more power than the original 3 guys
I have a first hand experience with a demo on octane. Years ago in shop class we had some manufacturers do demo's for us. Snap-on, Champion, AC Delco, and a few others. The Champion guy had a GREAT demo, and went like this:
To demonstrate the relationship of detonation with regards to octane, ignition timing, etc, he took a clear plastic tube that was capped/sealed on one end and put a small cup of "regular" fuel in it. Then he took a rubber ball and inserted it into the tube and rolled the tube back and forth with his hand over the open end. This was to atomize the gas. Then he removed his hand and took a lighter and lit the open end....... There was a HUGE FLASH AND BOOM, and scared the crap out of the classroom!!!
Next, he did the same thing, but with "Premium" gas. Added the high test gas, put the rubber ball in, atomized the fuel, and asked for someone in the class to light it.
No one wanted to go near that, but he convinced one unlucky guy in the front row to step up. Well, he did, and instead of a big boom, there was a slow and controlled burn with a blue flame, no flash, that traveled from the lit end down the tube to the bottom. More like a slow WHOOOOSH instead of a boom. That was the difference between regular and premium. Regular hammers the top of the piston for a short burn (and potential for pre-ignition or detonation), and premium pushes the top of the piston with a longer controlled burn. That is why you can run advanced timing with premium and not have any knock, but if you run the same advance with regular it will knock like crazy. Some folks thought their non high performance cars and trucks needed to use premium to get rid of knock, when in reality they should have just set their timing correctly!
