What grade of gas?

[clemsonfor]

Diamond, you really use aviation in small engines? Never heard of it, sounds strange but I'd like to know more. Is it just cleaner burning, more power, or like a detergent for the whole system? And where do you get it other than an airfield. I used to know a place that sold cam2 only pumped into a can, not car.

I've always just used reg with stabil when it gets close to being put up for the season. In my weedeaters and saws I always use the Stihl mix. Not sure if it's true but I was told it had a stabilizer in it already. Never had any major problems. But with ethanol in the gas that may be a YET.

One more thing, in my boat I run 93 and add the BG gas dryer. Has seemed to work great for the last two years. The water attracting ethanol does worry me

I use Husky mix i buy at lowes as its easier for me to get vs going to the stihl dealer. It too contains stabilizer (I have a stihl saw).

 

[clemsonfor]

on our pumps in town, most of them have the gallon counters for the tanks they draw off of.. the 3 grade pumps only have 2 counters.. one for hi test.. the other low.. when pumping midgrade both run.. so I'd say you are correct.

on the 4 banger pumps that sell diesel or kero in addition to gas, the othern' only runs by itself obviously.. etc.

soundguy

You are 100% correct. In Indiana all on road fuels must have 10% or more ethanol. That junk tears up carbs on these types of equipment. They use them in the summer and let them sit for the winter. I have told him many times to use up the fuel and run them dry but he never does.

Now for the fuel issue. There are only 3 instances where we can get non ethanol fuels. One is aviation fuels. Another is fuels sold at Marina's. The last is fuels delivered by the Co-Op for ag use.

All three of these fuels are sold in 89 octane only around here with the exception of 100LL aviation fuel.

Chris

Yea the mid grade combines the regular and premium. Around here some stations have pure premium so the 89 is only like 7% ethonol or less. I still buy my boat fuel and most of my car gas at the station that sells 100% gas in 87 grade. It today was $3.29 today contrast that to the big town up the road where the cheap stations are $3.17 for regular with 10% E. I got it at walmart for the saturn using a gift card for $3.07, with there new $0.10 off program!!!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

If one whats to by pass the rocket science just note performance on the octane rating you are using in a vehicle then run two tanks of the highest octane (normally around 93) and see if you have better performance in power, MPG, etc. For your small engines do the same for the next season.:thumbsup:

As long as we can get ethanol free gas that is what I will buy for home storage use in small engines and in the F700 (50 gallons) and MH (60 gallon tank) to help from attracting moisture out of the air and by keeping the tanks full.

The 2002 Blazer seems to do the same with 87 or 93 pure or 10% blended and it does not set in the tank even one week so I gas up where I find it when I need it.

 

[clemsonfor]

If one whats to by pass the rocket science just note performance on the octane rating you are using in a vehicle then run two tanks of the highest octane (normally around 93) and see if you have better performance in power, MPG, etc. For your small engines do the same for the next season.:thumbsup:

As long as we can get ethanol free gas that is what I will buy for home storage use in small engines and in the F700 (50 gallons) and MH (60 gallon tank) to help from attracting moisture out of the air and by keeping the tanks full.

The 2002 Blazer seems to do the same with 87 or 93 pure or 10% blended and it does not set in the tank even one week so I gas up where I find it when I need it.

I can buy race gas for upwards of $10 a gallon now im sure as it was like $7 this past winter. It i think is 104 or 110 octane i cant remember.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Now I will pay 30 cents more for premium but not $6 a gallon.

 

[ModMech]

Does anybody run super unleaded in there lawn tractor? I have a JD X324 lawn tractor with about 150 hrs on it and it just quick running. It's on its way to the dealer today to get looked at but I'm almost possitive it's a fuel issue. Is the higher grade gas better for these engines or would I just be spending more money?

Forgive me, I did not read every reply to date, I saw too much misinformation mixed in with fact and stopped reading....

Use what the manual says, if it indicates 87 than use that, period.

Octane does two things, REDUCES the tendancy of a fuel to "auto ignite" and reduces the energy content of the fuel.

Higher octane fuels take more spark voltage/heat to ignite - this would be REQUIRED only in "high performance" engines, or ones that were what is called "knock constrained".

Higher octane fuels contain fewer BTUs per gallon than lower octane fuels - your fuel consumption increases.

There is absolutely ZERO justification for deliberatey using gasoline with a higher octane than the OEM requires except for convienience sake - with multiple pieces of equiment fueled from the same can, choose the highest octane requirement, for example.

Octane does NOT affect the "speed" of the burn, but the chemicals added to achieve higher octane might. Ethanol, a VERY common octane enhancer, actually SLOWS combustion, which can, in some engine cause exhaust valve damage and/or overheating of the engine.

 

[DarkBlack]

Forgive me, I did not read every reply to date, I saw too much misinformation mixed in with fact and stopped reading....

Use what the manual says, if it indicates 87 than use that, period.

Octane does two things, REDUCES the tendancy of a fuel to "auto ignite" and reduces the energy content of the fuel.

Higher octane fuels take more spark voltage/heat to ignite - this would be REQUIRED only in "high performance" engines, or ones that were what is called "knock constrained".

Higher octane fuels contain fewer BTUs per gallon than lower octane fuels - your fuel consumption increases.

There is absolutely ZERO justification for deliberatey using gasoline with a higher octane than the OEM requires except for convienience sake - with multiple pieces of equiment fueled from the same can, choose the highest octane requirement, for example.

Octane does NOT affect the "speed" of the burn, but the chemicals added to achieve higher octane might. Ethanol, a VERY common octane enhancer, actually SLOWS combustion, which can, in some engine cause exhaust valve damage and/or overheating of the engine.

Sounds like you have it all pretty much wrapped up:drool:

 

[Bird]

There is absolutely ZERO justification for deliberatey using gasoline with a higher octane than the OEM requires except for convienience sake - with multiple pieces of equiment fueled from the same can, choose the highest octane requirement, for example.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the Kohler engine manual for my Toro says, and I quote:

For best results use only clean, fresh, unleaded gasoline with a pump sticker octane rating of 87 or higher.

Then the Toro manual says:

Use UNLEADED Regular Gasoline suitable for automotive use (87 pump octane minimum).

So 87 octane is obviously acceptable, but so is 89 octane. Are you saying I'm just wasting money running the 89 octane?

 

[clemsonfor]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the Kohler engine manual for my Toro says, and I quote:



Then the Toro manual says:



So 87 octane is obviously acceptable, but so is 89 octane. Are you saying I'm just wasting money running the 89 octane?

I read that as saying 89 is not necessary but running lower than 87 is not acceptable and will damage engine/void warrenty.

 

[Jay4200]

Does anybody run super unleaded in there lawn tractor? I have a JD X324 lawn tractor with about 150 hrs on it and it just quick running. It's on its way to the dealer today to get looked at but I'm almost possitive it's a fuel issue. Is the higher grade gas better for these engines or would I just be spending more money?

Not only are you spending money for nothing, you're actually getting less than nothing. Higher-octane fuel has less energy in it, so your motor will produce less power AND get worse gas mileage.

JayC