Bad Gas

[oyamyers]

No, not that kind of gas
This didn't happen to my R but it happened to my son's bike this week. He rides a 2007 yzf600r and was having problems with his bike. It would run fine and then at low speed coming up to a stop, it would just die. Then it would take a few minutes before it would start up again. The throttle would be non responsive. This didn't happen every time, only every once in a while. We took it to the dealer and they took a quick look at it and thought that he had some bad gas. We ran the tank down and filled up with premium. It happened once not long after filling the tank but since then, no problems. Has anyone here had problems with fuel?

Our manual says to use 86 octane or higher. I have been using a higher octane of 91. Am I wasting money?

[WenMark]

From what I have heard the engine ignites better with the 87 octane and people don't see the need to use premium except in a case where there maybe a problem with the fuel. Sounds like your son might of got that gas that is near the waterline when the tanks are low in that case yeah use the premium for 1-2 tanks then go back to regular it should be fine. I will use 87 as I don't see the need to throw away any other $$. I hope this helps

[Verranth]

Interesting...I used premium 93 octane for a while and moved down to 89. And now I see you guys using 87 and its fine?

Time to save more money

[jspansel]

Higher octane fuels burn more slowly than lower. So if you are supposed to use a lower octane gas for your compression ratio and use higher octane gas, you can have unburned gas and carbon fouling. Couple article info about octane. Basically use what is stated in the manual... If ours says we can use XX and higher, then we should be able to use any, but you are not benefiting from the higher octane at all really. Use the lowest recommended gas you can without pinging.

What Octane Rating of Gasoline Should I Use?

WHAT IS OCTANE RATING?

Octane, by definition, is the resistance to burn or detonation. The higher the rating, the slower the burn when ignited during the compression burn cycle of the piston. The higher octane allows for better control of burning for high compression engines. So we want to match the correct octane rating of the gasoline to the engine design to ensure complete burning of the gasoline by the engine for maximum fuel economy and clean emissions.

I THOUGHT GASOLINE WITH HIGHER OCTANE REDUCED ENGINE KNOCK?

It did in older engines using carburetors to regulate air/gas mix They cannot as accurately regulate the air/fuel mix going into the engine as a computerized fuel injector. Carburetors need adjustment, as a part of regular maintenance, to keep the air/fuel mix as accurate as possible. So many times, these adjustments were not made regularly causing too much fuel to be mixed with the air. When this happened the gasoline would not burn completely soaking into carbon deposits. This would cause a premature ignition of the gasoline due to the intense heat in the engine cylinder creating "engine knock." When this happened, people would change to the higher octane/slower burning gasoline to resist the premature burn, thus minimizing the knocking problem. And it worked. Good solution.

However, since the middle to late 80’s, engines are designed to use fuel injectors with computers to accurately control the air/fuel mix under all types of temperature and environment concerns. However the accuracy of the fuel injectors and computers is based on using the recommended gasoline for that engine.

Most cars are designed to burn regular unleaded fuels with an octane rating of 87. If the vehicle needs a higher octane rating of 89-93, there is documentation in the owner’s manual, as well as possibly under the fuel gauge and by the fuel fill hole. Usually you will see this rating for high performance engines only.

WHAT IF I PREFER TO USE GASOLINE WITH HIGHER OCTANE RATINGS?

You can, but there are no real benefits, other than the gasoline manufacturers making more money off of you. When you use a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires, you can send this unburned fuel into the emissions system. It can also collect in the catalytic converter. When you over stress any system, it can malfunction or not do what it was designed to do properly. In the early 90's, an early warning symptom was a rotten egg smell from the tailpipe. Easy fix, go back to using regular 87 octane gasoline. The rude odor usually disappears after several tanks of gasoline.

DOESN'T HIGHER OCTANE GASOLINE HAVE MORE CLEANING ADDITIVES THAT ARE GOOD FOR MY ENGINE?

No. Government regulations require that all gasoline contain basically the same amount of additives to clean the injectors and valves. The only differences are the type to help create the different octane ratings. All gasoline burns at the same rate, it is the additives that create the different octane ratings for the different types of engines.

Here is a quote from someone on the FZ6 forum regarding this...

Originally Posted by wrightme43 View Post
No.
It does not reccomend it.
It reccomends regular.
Regular gas has more energy that premium gas.

Here are several references. If you like please read them, favorite them, and when your mechanic buddies tell you different show them why it doesnt and cant work that way.

Paying extra for gasoline with a higher octane number than the engine requires is literally a waste of money. If the motor doesn't detonate on regular, then burning premium gas will not increase power or improve fuel economy. In fact, the compounds that are added to gasoline to raise its octane rating typically have less energy content than regular gasoline This is from this site. Premium Performance on Regular Gas

What octane number should you buy?
Modern fuel-injected engines have engine management systems that can adjust to burn almost anything. However, if the octane rating is too low, the engine management system will have to richen the mixture and retard the timing to prevent destructive knock, resulting in lowered gas mileage. As you increase the octane rating of the fuel, you will hit a point where the engine management system can run the engine at optimum levels. At this point you have best gas mileage and best power. If you continue to increase the octane rating of the fuel, the engine management system does nothing, so all you are doing now is burning more expensive fuel for the same result. So, buy the lowest octane number that you can and still get your best gas mileage.

In the winter, or when it's very humid, you can often lower the required octane number. In very dry heat, for example in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, S.California, you will most likely need to raise the octane level a bit to get best gas mileage.
That is a quote from here.
All About Gasoline


3. In testing various grades of pump gas I consistently found that 87 octane fuel makes 1-2 more horsepower than those exact same bikes ran on Premium 93 octane. We tested five liter class motorcycles (97 CBR900RR, 02 Honda 919, 2000 RC51, 2000 GSXR750 & an 02 R1) & only the R1 seemed unaffected by the octane of the fuel. Now I am certainly not going to tell you to run less than the recommended octane (92) in your RC51 as the specific needs of the motor dictate that a higher octane fuel is needed, but the results are blatant in that more octane does not mean more power.

I can go on, but that is all I am doing this morning. LOL
Put regular in your bike, if someone wants to use premium fine. Just dont tell everyone to use it based on bad info.

[Roaddawg]

I use the lower octane and have not problems, commuting 500+ miles a week. I've filled up with the higher, but didn't notice any difference to justify it.