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!

[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:

Hi 3>4...this Pauli Girls for you!

. .


Hey...can I have an edit button for christmas?

OMG!

[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...............

[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.