Transportation and Vehicle Safety: Octane advantages, octane value, sewing machine

Question
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using 87 vs. 90 octane.

Answer
Hi Lacy!

Think of the octane number as Vitamin C for example. Our bodies must have Vitamin C, but can only metabolize (use) so much. After that, any extra is just waisted as the body discards the remainder.

The same is true for octane values, which is a reference to how much compression the fuel can withstand before it stops burning fuel and starts exploding the fuel.

While this explosion is not harmful to you, it is very harmful to the pistons, heads and valves of the engine. Usually when this happens, you hear a pinging sound (like a loud metallic sewing machine).

Performance cars with powerful engines generally use a greater octane value than fuel efficient or low power vehicles.

It is a myth that a higher octane value will make the car go faster. The usual problem is the reverse. If the engine requires a higher octane value and it uses something less, then it is not burning fuel efficiently and therefore will lose some pickup and top end performance. The key will always be, what the engine was designed to run on. Most non muscle vehicles only need 87 and those that do will never benefit from  a higher octane formula.

I recommend you look through your owners manual for the octane rating, and use that as a baseline. If you should ever hear the sounds of pinging, you could try a higher octane to see if that fixes the problem. Usually, it means that your engine could use a tune-up....

This is really quite an interesting topic and I could speak for an hour on the subject, but I believe you have the info you need, and will keep this succinct and to the point. Please let me know if you have more questions.

I hope this helps Lacy, and have a wonderful day!

Terry