Race fuel...

[nismo1219]

Ok, I have a quick question...I have been told (and I'm not 100% sure how true it is) that if you run say, 85 or 88 octane then once in awhile you should run premium to burn out any impurites/etc. Well, since I run only premium all the time, would it make since to run a tank of race fuel (i think 106 octane) for the same principle? I have been thinking about this for awhile but I wanted to check with people who had more knowledge on the subject than myself before doing so cause I dont want to mess anything up with my car. What do you guys think? Good idea, or stupid idea??

[jerdog1]

Quick lead to burned up injectors! I ran a post about octane boost and got the same answer;no it is not a good idea!

[MinisterofDOOM]

I doubt you'll see any good or bad from it. If you want to clean things up, run a can of Techron or BG44K or similar fuel system treatment through the car.

I'm not sure where the logic behind that comes from, as premium is NOT better quality or purity-wise, it simply has better knock-resistance. Higher octane has no relation to burning deposits at all.

Race gas is expensive and fuel treatments aren't.

[kzoosho]

Quick lead to burned up injectors! I ran a post about octane boost and got the same answer;no it is not a good idea!

I have been running 110 plus for a year still no bad injectors. Your O2 sensors will not like the fuel at all. SO if you are running stock O2's you will need to replace those soon.

[mtcookson]

If the gas you're using is toasting O2 sensors you're probably using leaded gas, which is a bad idea, more so if you still have a catalytic converter on your car. I definitely would not run leaded racing fuel with a standard setup like that as it will cause issues. Plus, if I remember correctly, if you're caught running leaded fuel in a street car you can be fined up to $25,000. (which I think is absolute b.s. really)

[nismo1219]

I doubt you'll see any good or bad from it. If you want to clean things up, run a can of Techron or BG44K or similar fuel system treatment through the car.

I'm not sure where the logic behind that comes from, as premium is NOT better quality or purity-wise, it simply has better knock-resistance. Higher octane has no relation to burning deposits at all.

Race gas is expensive and fuel treatments aren't.

Thanks for the info guys! I wasnt really sure how accurate that info was...appears it wasnt at all. Would you recommend like an "Octane Boost" type of fuel treatment or the "Injector Cleaner" type? Or does it matter? Sorry for the dumb questions...but I apprecaite ya'lls help!

[2K2WhiteMaxSE]

It doesnt have to be leaded fuel to fry a cat or an O2 sensor...if its a high enough octaine and your car is not tuned for it then it will be running very rich and could have a lot of unburnt fuel passing through the O2s and into the cat and will screw them both up...

Just use a regular fuel system cleaner like the guy above mentioned BG 44K seems to work pretty well.

The reason premium works best in cars is because it has a higher burn temperature because it is of higher quality based on additives to it that are not in lower grades...the computer will relearn and advance the timing slightly to burn the higher octane fuel and you will notice a little better throttle response as a result...

That holds true if your car is in good running shape with nothing else wrong with it...if you switch to premium gas on a 150K car that hasnt really been maintained dont expect anything...

[kzoosho]

If the gas you're using is toasting O2 sensors you're probably using leaded gas, which is a bad idea, more so if you still have a catalytic converter on your car. I definitely would not run leaded racing fuel with a standard setup like that as it will cause issues. Plus, if I remember correctly, if you're caught running leaded fuel in a street car you can be fined up to $25,000. (which I think is absolute b.s. really)

Well seeing i dont have a cat,res or muff i think im safe lol. Plus if they really stopped us up here running leaded fuel. Most of us would be fined. I run race fuel in everything i own.

[mtcookson]

Yeah, you should be fine then.

My Maxima was the same way but it wasn't making near enough power to need race fuel... I was hoping to get it there but it turned out to be a rusted out mess.

It doesnt have to be leaded fuel to fry a cat or an O2 sensor...if its a high enough octaine and your car is not tuned for it then it will be running very rich and could have a lot of unburnt fuel passing through the O2s and into the cat and will screw them both up...

??? The octane has nothing to do with the tuning... it doesn't change the tuning. If your car runs rich on 87 it will run just as rich on 110.

[maxhopper]

Ben, I would also recommend using BG44k. It is a cleaner that you just add to your fuel tank. I would also use a throttle body cleaner a couple time a year to help with any carbon build up that may occur.

You can find BG44k at a lot of dealerships.

[allensteiner]

Well seeing i dont have a cat,res or muff i think im safe lol. Plus if they really stopped us up here running leaded fuel. Most of us would be fined. I run race fuel in everything i own.

you're a rich man, i'm going to fill up today because premium is down to $3.09

btw i've done some research and from little choices i have up here - exxon, conoco, sinclair - conoco is supposed to be the highest rated fuel when it comes to quality and amount of additives - based on car manufacturer reviews.

[flyboy367]

i run 89 all the time. i do have some mods to support using this fuel. running higher octane in a stock car is useless. just dumping out money. i dont touch race gas until i have a high compression engine over 500hp. or boosted applications. its not needed otherwise. look up my tb cleaning post and run some injector cleaning. also find a road you can go wide open throttle for a good distance that should help burn out some junk.

[BOBCAT]

Use SeaFoam.