What you do you think the answer to this somewhat simple question?Is the fuel you pump is actually worth the amount you pay for?
Knowing our politicians and money crazed businessman it is highly likely that the "petrol sheds" in Sri Lanka are adulterating the processed black gold and making us incur a cost most of cannot and will not tolerate.
There were rumors spreading during the fuel re-pricing days that all the filling stations were pumping 90 octane petrol instead of 95 octane at the 95's price. This is absolutely unacceptable if this rumor happens to be true. But how do we know whether this practice that happened during the price drop is still happening or not? The chances are it still is because once you find out a cheap profit making strategy it's hard to get rid of it even if you wanted to!
Another popular filling station related folklore amongst us are the fuel pump meters which runs at a faster speed than the actual fill rate resulting in the car being filled lesser than what you pay. In the end it's us, the poor citizens of Sri Lanka that suffers from this. Our small salaries (without bonus OR salary increments) get used up to pay more for lower quality fuel.
Let me ask you a few questions:
1. Do you feel that you car purrs better after pumping 95 or even 90 octane at certain filling stations?
2. Do you feel your car gives out more power when pumped with 95 against 90 octane petrol?
3. Do you suspect that the fuel meter is always way too fast at the start?
Well I’d like to hear about this from you, all of you and maybe even more!! I’ll run a small poll pertaining to this and depending on your comments I’ll launch my own investigation into this. It would be kickass if you could help me out guys!! This is for all of us!
Is there a difference in mileage with different fuels I have noticed with certain fuels i get different mileages.
ReplyDeleteI know 95 is supposed to give you more power (to be honest i don't feel it) and all but if I am pumping 90 and getting more k's out of it isn't it better??
Nissan Pulsar
well as per my understanding of these things it goes like this.
ReplyDeleteCompression ratio of the engine decides the octane rate it requires. So for high compression engines a fuel with a higher octane rate is required. The actual compression rates that will decide what octane is required is not known but I'm sure if you search on google you'd find this.
So basically the higher the octane rate higher the "Ignition temperature" (as i call it). So when the pistons compress the fuel + air mixture the temperature of that mixture increases and resulting in lower octane fuel to ignite resulting in a "knocking" which is bad for your engine also reduces your effective powerout put resulting in lower mileage as you now have to burn more fuel.
So basically if you're having a normal engine (not a performance engine like a Carina GT, ViRS, or even a Civic RS) you might as well pump 90 octane. But I'm not sure whether the emissions are cleaner in the 95 octane which might help all you tree huggers but still if it IS actual 95 octane (something I want to find out) then you might lose out on fuel consumption + engine lifetime.
hey true , i think what hachi means is that the noticable difference will be for high compression engies , but hey if you really know your car you will know the difference on engine revs Vs speed etc
ReplyDeletewell yes and no. for a lower compression engine 95 will not increase fuel efficiency.. It will actually be better to have lower octanes. But for high compressions probably higher octanes mayb even higher octanes or even fuels with additives that gives out a more powerful explosion/detonation will provide better performance but in that case not sure about the fuel efficiency. :) more power doesn't always mean you have higher k's/liter..
ReplyDeleteI was directed to this post by one of my colleagues. It has the required octane rate for a given compression rate of the engine and the compression rate is easily found by checking the engine spec on the net.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part3/section-1.html
Basically my Trueno which is having a stock compression of 9.4:1 will require a fuel with octane rating greater than 96 octane.
Do u guys think getting my engine rebuilt to work at higher compression is better, power wise, i love the tree but not in love with them so they can choke on my exhaust as i drive by...
ReplyDeleteNissan Man
hmm.. well more than that you can improve your power by doing much more much easily. Such as improving your spark plugs, exhaust system, air intake and finally adding a nice fuel pressure regulator to increase the fuel in the mixture to compensate for the increased airflow. These will make sure your engine which I assume is in good condition will stay that way. these parts maybe reused for future mods anyways.. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you need any contacts to carry these mods out just let me know. I'll hook you up. Make sure your budget is set and that you don't compromise or get cheated. In SL shops are out to get you and so are the garages. So you need to be careful.
ReplyDelete