Fuel Type

[ramrod]

So I was cruising through the Owner's Manual while on the John and noticed that the recommended fuel type is Regular Unleaded... doesn't specify an octane. Now I've always used 91 Octane on my last two bike, but wondering if it even makes a difference between regular and premium.

With a 20 cent difference, I might just start pumping good 'ol regular... thoughts?

 

[highoctane]

I'm sure their is no need to run premium in modern day engines

 

[Yamacat1000]

Octane is determined by compression ratio. I run 88 octane (mid grade) from Chevron, no pinging, runs smooth and good mileage. At Maverick I can run 85, 87 or 91 and my bike still runs like shit. I think it depends on the quality of the fuel as well as octane. 91 oct from Maverick is equivalent to doe piss... your bike will tell you what she likes. Just listen. Yep, im a Fazer whisperer

 

[Camo]

Caltex Australia: Vortex Premium Fuels - Vortex 98, Vortex 95, Vortex Diesel

I use Vortex 98 from Caltex here in Australia...It's a bit more expensive but I feel it's worthwhile.

 

[K-Gr.]

Ramrod - your poll does not apply to europe Lowest possible to buy here is 95 Octane. All gas stations offer 98 and some (but that is rare) even (very expensive) 100 Octane.

I fill mine with 95, I don't see a difference between 95 and 98, so why pay extra? There is also very little (if none) difference between gas stations.

And before you US guys say "wow" - we pay almost $2 ... for a liter.

 

[Bighitmatt]

95 (lowest possible to buy here), I don't see a difference between 95 and 98, so why pay extra? There is also very little (if none) difference between gas stations.

And before you US guys say "wow" - we pay almost $2 ... for a liter.

How much is a liter???

 

[lyric911]

The only reason to run higher octane fuel is if you are getting pre-detonation. In the US, 87 octane is fine. There are zero benefits to spending the extra 20 cents per gallon for anything higher.

 

[K-Gr.]

How much is a liter???

1 liter = 0.264172052 US gallons

so 1 gallon costs in Europe almost $8... :/
Now, call your gasoline expensive...

 

[highoctane]

At Maverick I can run 85, 87 or 91 and my bike still runs like shit. I think it depends on the quality of the fuel as well as octane. 91 oct from Maverick is equivalent to doe piss...

I never buy gas at maverick shitty gas, I filled up my truck once and it ran like shit I think its watered down or something..... never again

 

[ramrod]

Ramrod - your poll does not apply to europe Lowest possible to buy here is 95 Octane. All gas stations offer 98 and some (but that is rare) even (very expensive) 100 Octane.

I fill mine with 95, I don't see a difference between 95 and 98, so why pay extra? There is also very little (if none) difference between gas stations.

And before you US guys say "wow" - we pay almost $2 ... for a liter.

Wow, thought the octane rating system was international... didn't know that Europe had higher octane level than the US. Well I guess you're right, the polling system is sort of misleading.

 

[lyric911]

Wow, thought the octane rating system was international... didn't know that Europe had higher octane level than the US. Well I guess you're right, the polling system is sort of misleading.

It's not actually higher octane. They just use a different rating system. The wiki page on octane does a pretty good job explaining the differences in measurements.

 

[Black Widow]

Chevron 94. I know i can use the 87 but heck, the bike gets a bit better mileage with the 94 and since my truck ( diesel Dmax LML)costs $160 to fill i figure a little extra cost for 94 in the bike is peanuts

 

[wa2txcory]

Octane

I also use premium fuel because whats the difference between $10 to fill up with premium or $9 for regular-$1 isnt ever going to matter. Even if it doesnt make the bike run better/faster/more efficient it does in my mind and thats all that matters haha.

 

[Call me knight hawk]

Cali crapy gas

Cheap gas is not cheap, the cheaper the gas the more ethanol is use instead of gasoline. Ethanol does not contain as much energy as gasoline, BTU British Thermal Units. Sine fuel that is cheaper is less efficient you will get less miles per gallon. Since you are getting les miles per gallon you are not saving money and you are putting crap gas in your bike. In the states the big three motor companies use Chevron to test their cars. In my option that is the best, followed by Shell, Mobil and 76. I run 91 in my bike, I can ride for four or five hours on $12.00-$13.00 bucks worth of gas. My rpm is always above 6,000 and I hit 11,000 all the time. I am not going to take a chance on hurting my valves at those rpms to save .20 a gallon. That is just my opinion.

 

[Hoover]

Page 4-12 of your owners manual states:
Your Yamaha engine has been designed to use regular unleaded gasoline with a pump octane number (R+M)/2 of 86 or higher...

 

[lyric911]

Cheap gas is not cheap, the cheaper the gas the more ethanol is use instead of gasoline. Ethanol does not contain as much energy as gasoline, BTU British Thermal Units. Sine fuel that is cheaper is less efficient you will get less miles per gallon. Since you are getting les miles per gallon you are not saving money and you are putting crap gas in your bike. In the states the big three motor companies use Chevron to test their cars. In my option that is the best, followed by Shell, Mobil and 76. I run 91 in my bike, I can ride for four or five hours on $12.00-$13.00 bucks worth of gas. My rpm is always above 6,000 and I hit 11,000 all the time. I am not going to take a chance on hurting my valves at those rpms to save .20 a gallon. That is just my opinion.

I don't know of a single gas station where the 87 octane has a different ethanol content of the 89 or 9x (whatever they have where you live. I can get up to 97 around here easily.)

Octane doesn't mean shit about how much energy the gas has. The only effect octane has is how much energy it takes to ignite. Full stop.

You don't get better mileage, protect your valves, nor anything else by paying for higher octane gas.

 

[Black Widow]

I don't know of a single gas station where the 87 octane has a different ethanol content of the 89 or 9x (whatever they have where you live. I can get up to 97 around here easily.)

Octane doesn't mean shit about how much energy the gas has. The only effect octane has is how much energy it takes to ignite. Full stop.

You don't get better mileage, protect your valves, nor anything else by paying for higher octane gas.

I have to disagree to a cetain extent, being in the oil business and all. You most certainly will get better fuel economy running a higher octane fuel, and you will most certainly help your fuel system(especially injector nozzles) useing a better quality fuel. Done many ,many tests on the different fuel ratings and always had better results with the higher octane fuel( these test are on EFI cars and trucks,and not motorcycles, but same applies ). We have taken 2 identical cars, ran them on the same engine oil, run 1 car on the cheapest fuel(87) and 1 on the best grade here(94), and after a 100,000 km tear down found far less carbon build up on the 94 and a much better fuel injector spray pattern with the 94. The 94 always got .9 to 1.8 mpg better than the 87. Do you need to run more than 87 in our bikes, NO, will you be better off in the long term running 94, YES, not as much as a lower reving car engine that will build up more carbon. Due to our high revving engines in the FZ8, if you are running mostly over 6000 rpm ,carbon will not be that much of an issue, so you are somewhat correct in your statements as pertaining to our FZ8. You do get a better ,more efficiant burn with the higher octane numbers, fact.

 

[wa2txcory]

Yep-ish

I don't know of a single gas station where the 87 octane has a different ethanol content of the 89 or 9x (whatever they have where you live. I can get up to 97 around here easily.)

Octane doesn't mean shit about how much energy the gas has. The only effect octane has is how much energy it takes to ignite. Full stop.

You don't get better mileage, protect your valves, nor anything else by paying for higher octane gas.

Lyric911-you are correct. Ethanol doesnt change between octane ratings. And you are right that octane is how much energy it takes to denotae the fuel. It can; however, protect your car from serious carbon build up. High performance cars (anything turbo, M3, etc), high performance bikes, high performance boats, etc require premium fuel for a reason. Having a high performance machine and using low octane gas leads to pinning, carbon build up, lower performance numbers (why drag cars dont even use gas), lower fuel economy numbers. Using high octane gas in non-high performance cars is just going to possibly blow your money (out of the tail pipe literally). I am sure you could use regular for the bike and it would be fine but for a $1 more even if it only adds 1/2 hp worth of performance its a $1 I wont ever miss. JUst my 2 cents but the great thing with our bikes is they are our bikes and we can do to them as we please-hence all the awesome mods we have done to them.

 

[lyric911]

I have to disagree to a cetain extent, being in the oil business and all. You most certainly will get better fuel economy running a higher octane fuel, and you will most certainly help your fuel system(especially injector nozzles) useing a better quality fuel. Done many ,many tests on the different fuel ratings and always had better results with the higher octane fuel( these test are on EFI cars and trucks,and not motorcycles, but same applies ). We have taken 2 identical cars, ran them on the same engine oil, run 1 car on the cheapest fuel(87) and 1 on the best grade here(94), and after a 100,000 km tear down found far less carbon build up on the 94 and a much better fuel injector spray pattern with the 94. The 94 always got .9 to 1.8 mpg better than the 87. Do you need to run more than 87 in our bikes, NO, will you be better off in the long term running 94, YES, not as much as a lower reving car engine that will build up more carbon. Due to our high revving engines in the FZ8, if you are running mostly over 6000 rpm ,carbon will not be that much of an issue, so you are somewhat correct in your statements as pertaining to our FZ8. You do get a better ,more efficiant burn with the higher octane numbers, fact.

First off - don't take anything I'm saying personally. This isn't personal to me. I dislike misinformation.

That out of the way - there is *nothing* about a higher octane fuel (all other things being equal (brand, detergents, additives, etc.) that leads to higher mpgs, lower deposits, carbon, or whatever. Octane by definition is how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously detonates.

2 car experiment that led to better mileage on the higher octane car .9 to 1.8 is a statistical anomaly at best. It's simply too small a change to be valid. Do that test 1,000 times with 1,000 identical cars with the same driver in each. And that driver can't know which cars have 87 nor which have 94. Then you'll have something valid. Anecdotes are not data.

Lyric911-you are correct. Ethanol doesnt change between octane ratings. And you are right that octane is how much energy it takes to denotae the fuel. It can; however, protect your car from serious carbon build up. High performance cars (anything turbo, M3, etc), high performance bikes, high performance boats, etc require premium fuel for a reason. Having a high performance machine and using low octane gas leads to pinning, carbon build up, lower performance numbers (why drag cars dont even use gas), lower fuel economy numbers. Using high octane gas in non-high performance cars is just going to possibly blow your money (out of the tail pipe literally). I am sure you could use regular for the bike and it would be fine but for a $1 more even if it only adds 1/2 hp worth of performance its a $1 I wont ever miss. JUst my 2 cents but the great thing with our bikes is they are our bikes and we can do to them as we please-hence all the awesome mods we have done to them.

I fully agree that engines that are built for higher octane gas actually do require it - to prevent pre-detonation. Our bike is not one of those bikes.

 

[Black Widow]

I certainly respect your ideas and opinions, and do not take it personally. That being said ,yes i agree that the 2 car test we performed does have its variables( but too time consuming and costly to add more identiacal cars to the test. However seeing real world effects of higher octane versus low octane(or cheap gas) has proven to me that carbon build up reduces performance and economy, so yes higher octane can result in better economy and performance over a stretch of time, as carbon will soak up a small percentage of your fuel injected ,thus reducing economy. Thank you for your comments ,and knowledge and keep up the good posts, but i will have to say you and I have found different results and opinions on this matter.