Octane booster

[Sinman]

I am planning a a trip around Australia and am trying to contingency plan for areas that don't have Premium ULP.

 

I have found a product called Dyno Tab that will improve octane from 1.5 to 4 octane numbers. www.dynotab.com

 

This sounds great, however I am concerned that some of the other "advantages" of Dyno Tab may not be so advantageous to an 1150RT.

 

These tablets are purported to:

• increase the rate of fuel burn, which increases pressure on the piston, thus increasing power.
• cause a more complete burn of fuel, which improves economy and reduces emissions
• lower the temperature at which carbon deposits will burn
• increase the octane of gasoline
  

 

Has anyone tried these tabs before, or do you have a better suggestion for boosting octane? Keep in mind that tablets are a more desirable form for travelling.

[smiller]

A lot of people use regular octane fuel in their oilheads all of the time with no ill effects so I wouldn't imagine an occasional tank or two where you can't get premium would be a problem.

[Deadboy]

My RT hates regular and pings when I have used it. Why not give it a try close to home before setting out....

[ESokoloff]

A lot of people use regular octane fuel in their oilheads all of the time with no ill effects so I wouldn't imagine an occasional tank or two where you can't get premium would be a problem.

 

For the past year+ I've used reg. on my 03 rt except during the warmist of summer.

[David R]

Try the regular first. Mine will burn it unless I beat on it.

 

If you hear it ping with 87 grade, then you have to set the timing back a little or try the octane booster.

 

Higher octane slows the burning of the gas.

 

Occasional ping = OK. Lots of pinging = bad.

 

Let us know what you find.

David

[Linz]

Steve, I've toured in blinding heat on an R1100RT and an R1150RT in areas without high octane fuel and never felt any difference whatever. Rev the bike and don't lug it and it will be fine. I wouldn't put any crap in your tank in tablet form.

 

Cheers,

 

Linz

[T__]

Steve, I can’t speak of the specific octane booster you are looking at but most of cheaper ones don’t do much..

 

Your 04 R1150RT will “get by” on regular gasoline when needed if you don’t push it,, aren’t carrying a passenger or heavy load or the ambient temp isn’t too outrageous..

 

A couple of things you can do:

 

One is to keep your tank as full as possible with premium whenever possible then fuel again before running tank dry.. If they have premium fuel then fine,, but if only regular available you will have a mix in your tank (much better for the engine than ALL low grade regular or sub-grade regular).. If the Australia outback is anything like our rural Mexico then I doubt the regular will even be up to spec & probably be poor quality very low grade fuel..

 

Another thing is to look into a Grey (bluish) (30 86 87) - - Pn/ 61368366623 CCP.. Then just pop that into your CCP socket in your fuse box when you encounter low grade fuel.. The 61368366623 is a low octane CCP for use in areas that only have poor grade or low grade fuel available.. This works just fine in the early (pre 2 plug per head 1150’s).. I’m not sure how/if it works in the later 2 plug head 1150’s.. Probably a call to your dealer will tell you that.. The later 2 plug per head 1150’s have different timing maps in the fueling computer as the second plug allows more spark advance so I’m not sure if the low octane mapping is still in the later Ma2.4 fueling computers or not..

 

Twisty

 

[JonathanE]

. . . snip . . .

I have found a product called Dyno Tab that will improve octane from 1.5 to 4 octane numbers. www.dynotab.com

 

This sounds great, however I am concerned that some of the other "advantages" of Dyno Tab may not be so advantageous to an 1150RT.

 

These tablets are purported to:

• increase the rate of fuel burn, which increases pressure on the piston, thus increasing power.
   
  . . . . snip . . . .
  
• increase the octane of gasoline
  

 

Something doesn't add up here.

 

Higher octane fuel burns slower than low octane fuel. It requires more heat to vaporize as well. It specifically prevents preignition knocking in engines by doing exactly the opposite of:

"increase the rate of fuel burn, which increases pressure on the piston, thus increasing power."

 

If the additive does as quoted above, it is NOT increasing octane.

 

I've always heard that you want to use the lowest octane fuel that you can get away with. If you keep your RPMs up, and your throttle position reasonable (rarely WFO, and if so then only at high RPM), then you won't push your motor into preignition regardless of the fuel octane.

[T__]

Where is all this “premium fuel burns slower” coming from lately?

 

From one of my old SAE papers..

 

“Let's talk about burn rate or speed for a bit. Higher octane fuels do not resist pre-ignition due to a slower burn rate. While that is a seemingly plausible reason, there is no basis in fact for that explanation. The truth of the matter is that fuels with higher octane levels are blended to handle higher temperatures and pressures without pre-ignition. It is just that simple. For example, a Nextel Cup engine has a compression ratio on the tall side of 12:1, and the engines can turn in excess of 9,000 rpm when the track conditions merit high rpm. I do not think these engines use "slow-burning" fuel. They need to burn the whole of the fuel they are using to get the kind of power they are getting.”

 

 

From a paper written by Bruce Hamilton..

 

“The antiknock ability is related to the "autoignition temperature" of the hydrocarbons. Antiknock ability is _not_ substantially related to:-

 

1. The energy content of fuel, this should be obvious, as oxygenates have lower energy contents, but high octanes.

 

2. The flame speed of the conventionally ignited mixture, this should be evident from the similarities of the two reference hydrocarbons. Although flame speed does play a minor part, there are many other factors that are far more important. ( such as compression ratio, stoichiometry, combustion chamber shape, chemical structure of the fuel, presence of antiknock additives, number and position of spark plugs, turbulence etc.) Flame speed does not correlate with octane. “

 

 

Twisty

 

[SHOman]

I also carry octane boost on long trips just in case I run into reg only stations.

 

There are so many brands to choose from.

 

I found this to be interesting reading. I used to use 104+ but will try AMSOIL from now on.

 

http://www.fueltechexperts.com/2008/08/08/octane-boosters-which-is-best/

 

Enjoy your trip.