What octane you running

[sherob]

Just curious what octane levels you guys are running these days... I run premium... what my baby requires per Mother Honda :D

If you are running plain old unleaded, are you seeing any problems... pinging... knocking, hesitation, just curious about that too :confused:

Thanks,
Robert

[Clark]

I only run premium -- and I still get detonation.. arrrggghhhh. I think there's a comment in the manual about oxygenated gas, like we have here in CA, contributing to detonation. I've tried several different brands and try to use the one that seems to work the best.

[Kennedy]

Premium. Honda spcs this for a reason I would think.

[sherob]

We have the same stuff here in the Houston metro area... I use Conoco and haven't had any problems with it so far (besides being the closest to my house :D ). I stay away from Shell... I heard they use alot of sulphur in their gas... had a few stations here temporarily shutdown due to cars damaged from bad gas. Won't use Citgo, Venezuelan owned...

Chevron should be good... haven't tried... Diamond Shamrock, haven't tried... I guess I will stay with what I know works then. Have you ever used Murphy USA... Walmart gas stations? I use in my truck... no problems so far.

[sherob]

That is bizzare... 93 here as well. How often do you guys run injector cleaner thru... on my truck I do it every oil change, but I use Amsoil, so it's 7500 miles.

[eddiemack]

93 octane,... I get a consistant 41.8 MPG with no knocks or ping. Also run Honda synthetic blend oil..

[sherob]

Dude... don't you have a run to make :D... I have an inquiring mind, and I'd like to know from the guys that have owned their bikes longer than... 4 months... when they have cleaned those boys :D Go farkle your bike :rolleyes:

[John Anthony]

Premium and Chevron if at all possible. I'm one of those who believes in Techron.

[sherob]

I almost though it was him too :D

[Gug]

It's ironic for me that this is here. I just put my first tank of premium in on Saturday. Have been running regular unleaded until now. Had about 5600 miles on it w/nothing but unleaded. My dealership advised it, said that with the anti pinging and the retarded timing it made no difference. I didn't notice any difference in performance, but I only put a couple miles on it after the fill up.

I just came back from a 145 mile ride. When I first started here this morning she was rough idling and running about 800 rpm's at idle (maybe the fuel was too good). Once I got down the road it seemed to iron itself out. After about 30-40 miles it seemed a bit throatier and a bit more responsive. With the timing retarded running regular, I probable wasn't getting my peak mileage being it's not running as efficiently with the timing retarded. I was getting from 41.46 to about 46 mpg on regular. The 41.6 wsa likely my last tank or first this year, my tire pressure was about 22 & 25 pst accordingly. That likely had everything to do with that.

So in all with the cost difference I may end up getting a bit better mileage on premium and a bit better performance. I'll see after this tank. The bottom line is with 10k a year in mileage the difference between regular and premium will run about $50.00 U.S.

[CruisingDog]

Don't the higher Octanes burn hotter as well ? Just thinking about the heat issue. I use '91.

[nm6r]

Clark, I was having the same problem with detonation.

...or so I thought.

I finally got around to adjusting the counterbalancers. Wow! I thought my ST was smooth before, just a little buzz from about 6500 up to red line. Now, it's incredibly smooth from idle to red line. Quiet. I thought some of the sounds I heard before were just characteristic of the ST. Nope. The detonation sounds are all of a sudden gone too.

The best 20 minutes I have spent on this bike was adjusting the counterbalancers.

Ray
http://www.frontiernet.net/~st1300rider/smile04Bikerwheelie.gif

[sherob]

I know the higher octane causes a longer burn, hence I guess a hotter burn. If Honda says that is what we are supposed to use, then I'm not worried about my bike. I would be worried about pinging/knocking, premature( :D ) firing and such.

[Horst]

What does the ST13 manual recommend ? .... the ST11 says 'regular' so that's what she gets, maybe the occasional tank of mid-grade with Techron just clean things out. And, 51 MPG ! ... can't complain, eh ?

(BTW - for you guys wondering about BMW's - yup, high octane mandatory)

[Hitcher]

I'm running 91. I've tried a couple of tanks of 96 for no discernable improvement in performance or economy.

[CruisingDog]

OK, so one thing we need to clear up is what your gallon size is. Does Canada use Imperial Gallons or US Gallons ? I'm guessing at 51MPG you've got Imperial Gallons.

[NormanPCN]

I'm running 91. I've tried a couple of tanks of 96 for no discernable improvement in performance or economy.

By what method is octane computed in New Zealand. With those high numbers it sounds like the research octane value is being listed. Here in the states we typically use (R+M)/2. R = research octane. M=motoring octane. Motoring octane is always lower than research octane.

[Hitcher]

By what method is octane computed in New Zealand. With those high numbers it sounds like the research octane value is being listed. Here in the states we typically use (R+M)/2. R = research octane. M=motoring octane. Motoring octane is always lower than research octane.
Hmmm, good question. I think our standard is RON. At pumps we can readily purchase 91 and 96. Some stations have 98 available.

[Horst]

Yes that's CDN gallons so say mid forties ... ha ha, mid-forties !!! ... :crackup

[ligito]

How many years has it been since leaded gas was available?

Why do we still call it unleaded, since all of our pump gas in the US is unleaded?

Is this a sign painter thing?

Been curious about that for years.

[Gug]

About 1974-75 low-lead fuels were introduced. I believe it was around 1976-77 that unleaded became an item and over several years after that leaded fuels were fazed out if memory serves correct.

[Don Webster]

I just use 87 octane in mine it has 33000 miles on it. It does not ping & will run 140 mph any time. It gets between 40/45 mile per gal. at legal highway speed. Have tried a few tanks of 91 /93 octane could not tell any differance in milage or performance.