I notice the owner's manual calls for 95. The highest grade stuff we have around here is 91. Thoughts? Thanks.
Is that RON? If so a somewhat lower AKI or pump octane would be equal...about that 91 you see. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating R + M /2
Yes, the recommendation in the manual is for 95 RON. In North and South America, you'll find that we use AKI. 95 RON is equal to 90-91 AKI.
I picked up a bottle of octane boost at the 99¢ store. Tiny bottle claims to treat 21 gallons. Seems to be methanol based. I may carry it just in case I need it. I may try it to see if it makes a difference to the stumble and stall issue. And of course add it to low grade to see what happens. I used a mid grade, and it seems to have lost a slight amount of power and stalls a tad more. I'm talking so minimal, it could be imagined. If the additive works, and saves me 40¢ per gallon, well, the numbers work for me, but a bit of a hassle at the pump. More importantly, if it works, just nice insurance for the trips into low tech areas.
Just a word for Australians on fuel. 95 is not universally available but will work better. STAY AWAY FROM BP98. The formulation was changed a couple of years ago and needs a very high activation energy. It was redesigned for turbo and supercharged motors and you will LOSE power in most normally aspirated motors ( super high compression motors will work ok). I wil also be hard to start and idle rough and often stall from closed throttle. A lot of us racing on the stuff got caught and I took quite a while to figure it out.
I stopped racing Dec last year when I moved but some moved to BP100 where they were allowed and I just went back to BP95 (or shell98 or caltex 98, Sorry can't remember which and one is ok and the other is a turbo fuel as well), and got my bikes redynoed. My VTR250 that I was racing would start at all, would run on one cyl or would start and break down at revs and under load ( a lot under racing conditions). I use 95 in my road bikes now when I can find it, or settle for 91.
Ditto. When I had a company fuel card I ran my cars and bikes almost exclusively on BP98 for years and never noticed any difference to any other fuel I used.
98 won't give you more power unless the engine requires a high activation energy fuel. Just more expensive for no gain. True it tends to be a bit fresher and cleaner usually, but so is 95. Engines with hi compression chambers designed for LOW octane fuel really hate 98. Most Hondas are like this, though plenty of others are now days. Basically if you have a motor that says it is designed for low octane fuel and you run BP 98 you will get less power and rougher low speed running eg specs says 11:1 comp and tells you to run 91 RON,I reckon avoid it as you are REALLY wasting your money. I know the 696 Ducati hates BP98. Gets very hard to start and chugs really badly at town speeds in high gears. The TR650 has 12.3:1 and recommends 95 ROZ ( I do not know how ROZ differs from RON) so is probably fine on BP98. It may not actually NEED it and you could be wasting your money. I have run mine on 91 often, because 95 is not available everywhere and it doesn't hate it, but seems a little flat on acc.
