What gas should I use?

[3>4]

Ok I have a 86 200x. In Iowa we have 87 octane with ethanol and 91 octane without. I would like to use the 87 octane because it is 40 cents cheaper. Should I be worried about the ethanol in it?

[Flyingw]

The advise from the experts is DON'T run Ethanol in any engine smaller than your car if its 2005 or older. They aren't made for Ethanol. One place that services lawn equipment has signs all over their store telling people not to put Ethanol in any small engine.

[Ghostv2]

Whether your suppose to or not I run 87 octane In all my 4-stroke trikes and have never had problems. Same goes for all my lawn mowers and everything else. I couldn't tell you if/how much ethanol it has in it but it runs fine.

I'm on a budget, it works.

[barnett468]

Hello;

I would use gas with with high lebvels of ZDDP and Prefabulated Amulite.

Or...maybe just do what Flyingw said.


Holy cr_p!
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing025.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

[barnett468]

Actually, aside from not using the ethanol gas, the minimum reguired octane rating you should use also depends a lot upon the amount of compression you have.

If your engine is stock, you can possibly get away with 87. Your engine has 9.6 static compression which is fairly high. Just listen for ANY "pinging" sound under acceleration or steady throttle. If you hear ANY at all, you need a higher octane.

The potential for pinging increases with air temp and load like going uphill etc.

If you go up a steep hill wot in 90 degree heat you might consider higher octane or a brain transplant.

If your engine has had the compression increased you should run higher octane.

A reasonable rule of thumb is if you have around 160 compression taken with the throttle fully open and a good gauge, you can run 87. If its 12870 or more, you are pressing your luck.


These are just estimates, "your mileage may vary.".

[barnett468]

Sorry...I forgot to add the following:

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[stillhunter]

My father in law was going on to me about ethenal in fuel and not to run it.However the stickers on the gas pumps have said that they contain 10% ethenal for years, so I dont get the hype now all of a sudden. As far as octane , was there even a choice at the pumps in the 80's? , I dont remember one

[Dave_D]

I run marked farm/marine gas 89 octane. And if the station I'm at doesn't have it 87 octane

[barnett468]

You do not want to run the E85 if possible.

[DohcBikes]

I recommend gasoline for any small engine. Its a wonderful fuel that is readily available at service stations across the country.

+1 for gasoline. Highly recommended.

I like to run mine on the remnants of whatever is left in the tanks from the bikes I part out. I find that the more orange the color is, the less "gassy" it tastes.









Fun Police Lookout...............
:Bounce:shiftyeyes::Bounce

[DohcBikes]

On a serious note, my biggest issue with ethanol gas is that it varnishes faster, tends to go bad faster. Doesnt seem to cause me any issues if the bike gets rode a lot.

[joesouth]

If you use 2.5 gallons a week that's only $1.00 ,a small price to pay for piece of mind. Just my .02c

[Flyingw]

Ethanol has a recommended shelf life of 60 days. Regular gas shelf life is 90 days. The problem with Ethanol is it destroys the rubber parts in carbs.

[3>4]

As far as I know ethanol has been mixed with gas for quite a while now.

[Flyingw]

Actually, Ethanol has been around for many decades. It was used to supplement gas in far smaller percentages until the early 2000s in some blends of gas but not all. If manufactures would update the materials used to make the rubber parts, it wouldn't be a problem. Its pretty messed up. It costs more money to produce one gallon of Ethanol than it does to produce one gallon of straight gas. Where the hell is the logic in that? Now, the petroleum industry is taking sub-grade gas like 82 octane and mixing it with 91 octane to get the 87 octane gas we're putting in our tanks. Its cheaper for the petroleum industry to derive 87 octane gas that way than it is to produce straight 87 octane gas. Things are not as they seem and they surely don't tell us this stuff.

[El Camexican]

Any of you guys seeing corrosion on the plated screws inside your carbs? I am and my gas supposedly doesn’t even have Ethanol content, but I do buy a few tanks at desert ejidos, so God only knows what quality it is. Run the 91 and run the carb dry if you plan to let it sit for more than a month would be my $0.02.

[3>4]

This explains why they put ethanol in gas. http://green.autoblog.com/2009/08/13/greenlings-why-is-there-ethanol-in-gasoline/

[slashfan7964]

Dad has run 91 in a stock 85 200X for years but only recently changed to 87 and you can hear it ping if you get heavy on it.

Stick with 91 IMO.

[86125m]

Well all I can say is that we run just plain chevrron gasoline and don't havde any problems. However we ride our bikes every day. So we use alot of gas.

[Liquid-Darkness]

Got my X and it was running 91. Stock engine but had a K&N and Cobra. My spark plug was sooty and black as heck. Not good for the rings for an engine to run such high octaine and not need it?? Just sayin.

[barnett468]

Got my X and it was running 91. Stock engine but had a K&N and Cobra. My spark plug was sooty and black as heck. Not good for the rings for an engine to run such high octaine and not need it?? Just sayin.incresasing the octane will have no affect on your plug getting "sooty".

[barnett468]

Well all I can say is that we run just plain chevrron gasoline and don't havde any problems. However we ride our bikes every day. So we use alot of gas.

well does it have any ethanol?

what octane is it?

what compression is your bike, his is 9.6 if it is stock?

[barnett468]

Dad has run 91 in a stock 85 200X for years but only recently changed to 87 and you can hear it ping if you get heavy on it.

Stick with 91 IMO.

Hi Slash;

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxr9P5OYMQvRhaWZ5QfBVTS7isj4zCS JQ6Ku1TmxO1HY-ScDvHod7NuYM

I suggest you run at least 89 then. here's the deal, in your case you are on the fringe/threshold of "audible" deto all the time and occasionally over it. Not all detonation is "audible". i guarantee you that there is detonation occurring in your bike that you can not hear.

Just because it is not "audible" [loud enough to hear], it does not mean that it will not harm your engine.

All detonation is bad, but there is a level that is "acceptable/accepted" in race engines because they need to run near the threshold anyway.



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[slashfan7964]

Hi Slash;

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxr9P5OYMQvRhaWZ5QfBVTS7isj4zCS JQ6Ku1TmxO1HY-ScDvHod7NuYM

I suggest you run at least 89 then. here's the deal, in your case you are on the fringe/threshold of "audible" deto all the time and occasionally over it. Not all detonation is "audible". i guarantee you that there is detonation occurring in your bike that you can not hear.

Just because it is not "audible" [loud enough to hear], it does not mean that it will not harm your engine.

All detonation is bad, but there is a level that is "acceptable/accepted" in race engines because they need to run near the threshold anyway.



Hi Slash...I'm sorry but Heidi couldn't be here. She had a headache. Perhaps you would like one of my Pauli Girls?

http://www.allstarshowgrams.com/characters/Helga.png

Ulga...the St Pauli Girl AARP party hostess.


OMG...I'd hurl but I'm layin on my back.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing025.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

I would but to get 89 is kind of out of our way. I'm not worried about it. His motor. He blows it up he rebuilds it. Not my problem.





Got my X and it was running 91. Stock engine but had a K&N and Cobra. My spark plug was sooty and black as heck. Not good for the rings for an engine to run such high octaine and not need it?? Just sayin.

Stock X has 8.5:1 compression. It's not meant to run on anything higher than 87 unless you increase the compression.

[Liquid-Darkness]

incresasing the octane will have no affect on your plug getting "sooty".

Well maybe sooty is not a good word to use, the plug did turn black, and as I replaced the fuel completely with 87 octaine from 91 and jetted a bit the plug started to clean its self and lean out, tan/grey a bit.

[Liquid-Darkness]

I would but to get 89 is kind of out of our way. I'm not worried about it. His motor. He blows it up he rebuilds it. Not my problem.






Stock X has 8.5:1 compression. It's not meant to run on anything higher than 87 unless you increase the compression.

Yeah thats what I thought, so running 87 octaine cleaned up my plug a bit and it started to tan. Running 91 made my plug all black.

[Liquid-Darkness]

Runniung higher octaine then is needed is no good for the rings right? WOnt the rings and cylinder glaze eventually from too much fuel??

[bigdaddyvw185]

Just throwing this out there.... from what i have been told this stuff is a big help. I recently started working at a motorcycle shop and my boss friggin swears by the stuff he runs it in everything from his diesel pickups to his lawn mowers. from what i understand it is supposed to significantly help with ethanol fuel related problems.
http://www.starbrite.com/item/star-tron-gasoline-additive?category_id=586

I have yet to actually run it myself but have full intentions on giving it a shot one of these days.

[Jwmajic]

The problem we get around here is with the high humidity you have to keep your tank full or it sweats and cause the ethanol gas to phase separate. I get tired of cleaning my carbs all the time and started buying the ethanol free gas its only 20 cents more a gallon.

[barnett468]

Well maybe sooty is not a good word to use, the plug did turn black, and as I replaced the fuel completely with 87 octaine from 91 and jetted a bit the plug started to clean its self and lean out, tan/grey a bit.hi liquid darkness;

of course it cleaned the plug because you jetted the bike, lol. your jetting was obviously the prob, not the gas.

:beer

[barnett468]

Runniung higher octaine then is needed is no good for the rings right?Actually this is not the case.



WOnt the rings and cylinder glaze eventually from too much fuel??It is possible to damage/wash out the rings from running excessively rich however, when am engine is running rich enough to do this there are typically performance related signs that indicate an engine is excessively rich like burbling or gesticulating under acceleration or surging at steady throttle etc.

running excessively rich will also frequently produce dark exhaust smoke.

running slightly rich will not hurt anything and i often do this.

if one does NOT notice the glaringly obvious signs that their engine is not running properly for ANY reason and continues to rode it, well...

if one DOES notice the glaringly obvious signs that their engine is not running properly for ANY reason and continues to rode it, well...

:beer

[Liquid-Darkness]

hi liquid darkness;

of course it cleaned the plug because you jetted the bike, lol. your jetting was obviously the prob, not the gas.

:beer


But after the octane in the fuel was lowered, I jetted richer. How would that lean out my plug tip?? Lol..:confused:

[barnett468]

But after the octane in the fuel was lowered, I jetted richer. How would that lean out my plug tip?? Lol..:confused:

well think of what you just said.

1. you ran 89 and your plug was blsack. you attributed the black plkug to the bike running ticher. a lean plug does not get black.

2. you went to 87 octane and you made your bike richer and your plug got leaner.

3. what you are saying makes no sense and there are obviously some other variables you might not have mentioned.

if you had a really dirty filter it could make the plug black. if you cleaned a really dirty filter then the plug would get lighter.

if you were jetted for near sea level and took it to 5000 ft without rejetting it would run rich.

lots of things can contribute.

there are no mysteries, there is only lack of info.

:beer

[barnett468]

Hi slash;

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxr9P5OYMQvRhaWZ5QfBVTS7isj4zCS JQ6Ku1TmxO1HY-ScDvHod7NuYM


Stock X has 8.5:1 compression.
Post 5

Your engine has 9.6 static compression which is fairly high.
Post 22

what compression is your bike, his is 9.6 if it is stock?
Actually Honda says it's 9.6:1. See both links below.

http://www.offroadvintage.com/Honda-ATC200X(1520871).htm

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/1985HondaSpecpage.shtml




It's not meant to run on anything higher than 87 unless you increase the compression.

Page 11 of the Honda owners manual says “(R+M/2) of 86 octane or higher,”

http://www.atcmanuals.info/


You can run it on 100 octane pump gas if you want. All it will do is waste your money and reduce the power by an imperceptible amount.

:beer

[DohcBikes]

I had started to post the same thing.^^^^^^^^............

Until I realized they were referring to L.D.'s 350x.............

Slash, Liquid, octane requirements........put gas in it. If it pings, raise the octane till it doesn't.

This requirement may change with the seasons, elevation, and can even change due to internal engine wear/inneficient operation over the life of the bike.

Generally, if you use the minimum octane requirements stated in your ownrrs manual, it will run good.

[slashfan7964]

Hi slash;

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxr9P5OYMQvRhaWZ5QfBVTS7isj4zCS JQ6Ku1TmxO1HY-ScDvHod7NuYM


Post 5

Post 22

Actually Honda says it's 9.6:1. See both links below.

http://www.offroadvintage.com/Honda-ATC200X(1520871).htm

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/1985HondaSpecpage.shtml





Page 11 of the Honda owners manual says “(R+M/2) of 86 octane or higher,”

http://www.atcmanuals.info/


You can run it on 100 octane pump gas if you want. All it will do is waste your money and reduce the power by an imperceptible amount.

:beer


I was referring to the 350X. The 200X has 9.6:1, I am aware of that. Thanks though. :D



@Liquid

You want the plug to be a nice, crisp tan color.

[Liquid-Darkness]

I was referring to the 350X. The 200X has 9.6:1, I am aware of that. Thanks though. :D



@Liquid

You want the plug to be a nice, crisp tan color.

Yep a tan plug is what im shootin for this summer.