Octane Boosters

[keeko]

Octane boosters in a can. Are they any good or are they a gimmic?
I know that running normal 95 ron fuel for a tank until its empty then sticking in £20 of Super or Optimax theres a difference in the response and the revs but would the octane booster produce the goods? I`ve saw 10k boost etc on the shelves but have had second thoughts about `hoovering` up their claims.
What do you guys think?

[Big Ian]

i tried an octaine boost from halford's,as i thought it might help cure the "bloody tickin noise" and i noticed......nothin? i'd say it's of more use to folk who can't get super plus or optimax fuel,if your looking for more power from fuel then ask "the santa pod" attendees about cool-blue.

[chris g]

Owners on here have differed about usage - H7 posted a link re octane booster and does not use it himself

IIRC Zentac uses it and AFAIK the aim is not particularly to give a power boost but to give a higher powered/harder working engine the octane level fuel that it needs to work safely!

Jap performance cars/engines are running with 100 octane in japan but here we give them 98 max

Some owners and some tuners would say if pushing power then you need to give engine a higher octane fuel - maybe OK with std output but any tuning then octane booster helps/protects engine

I am sure others will differ, adamantly!

If this thread goes as others have about uprating internals etc, then the use of octane bosster will be rubbished by some as repeating the view of others with self interest in sale of their services and such products

Simply put, use octane booster to protect engine NOT to gain power

[Wodjno]

After the last Pod meet i was running on Cool Blue for about 40miles or so and with the boost set at around 14 to 15 psi was getting No fuel cut :p .. When my cool Blue got low i topped up with Optimax and almost instantly was suffering from fuel cut and had to chop the boost down a touch :( .. So from this i am thinking that it's right that if you are using higher boost then the higher octane fuel is helping on higher boost .. Anyway this is what i was "thinking" :rolleyes5 Until Sunday morning on the way home from work about 3am .. Being low on fuel and the car being run constantly on optimax since the pod and the boost remaining the same since i turned it down .. I pulled into the nearest Fuel fiiling station which just happened to be Tesco's .. No Optimax of course .. No Super Unleaded .. Jusy 95 octane unleaded :sad3: .. So i filled up .. :sad3: Not thinking it would have any adverse effects i continued on my journey home from Royston .. The first stretch of road i got to i opened her up and "BANG" Bloody fuel cut :uhoh2: .. And this i had all the way home if i pushed my pedal to hard and raised the boost to high .. So i continued home on 3/4 throttle so as not to keep ricking my neck :wall: .So now i am definiiiiiiiiiiiitely sure that the extra octane helps you run more boost without any adverse affects .. Anyone Else ??

[Wodjno]

Oh yes iforgot to mention .. Isn't 10k boost a fuel and induction cleaner ?? Not an octane booster .. I used this on my Rover 620ti .. about 3 months after first getting it .. You spray it directly into the induction manifold for abut 30-40 seconds at fast idle then put ya car back together and take it for a run then repeat til cans are empty .. This cleans out the whole system and i must say it did improve the smoothness and responsiveness of my car .. And maybe a touch bit more power thou only marginal .. Think this works better on clooged engines that have maybe only being run on short journeys in and around town or cars that have not had a good blow on a regular basis.. So i can't see anyone that has recently been to the Pod or on ant Track days recentlyy needing it at all :laugh: :rolleyes5 :lipsrseal

[Wodjno]

....

[ileonc]

Hi All, Ages since I have posted but I thought I would on this occasion.

There was a thread on another forum which had a couple of automotive mech eng engineers posting on it.

Basically someone asked the same question about octane boosters.

I'm no expert on this stuff but this is what I gleaned from the post was that octane boosters don't increase the actual octane rating of the fuel but change the frequency of the detonation 'explosions' so the detonation sensors don't pick up the detonation and therefore doesn't try to cut fuel / dump boost.

So effectively you are still getting detonation but the engine just keeps on going because it can't detect it. This is effectively still causing the damage that the fuel cut / boost cut was supposed to prevent.

The engineers on the post had actually analysed the fuel and determined that 500ml of 'octane booster' can't increase the octane level of 45 odd litres of petrol.

There is an alternative to optimax and that was some sort of carcinogenic chemical that you had to mix up yourself.

The guy was invited to a shell refinery and was show where the mix up Optimax and chatted to the engineers. They were amazed people would want to mix up brews to see if they could increase the octane ratings of 95ron, why not just buy optimax.

I think it was quite a hardcore tuning site, these guys were asking the forecourt staff in Shell stations for the delivery documents for the optimax currently on the pumps. If they were after a certain date they tried another shell garage!

Here is the thread : Click here to go to the GTR website (http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/upload/showthread.php?t=2480&page=1&pp=15)

[venomboy]

As it happens , my wife is an expert on thermodynamics, working at Leeds University on various fuel emission and hydrocarbon burning projects at one time. She tells me that:
The lighter, shorter chain molecules in the higher grade optimax do degrade quicker than the lower heavier grade elements, but probably not worth worrying about as the rate is low in storage tanks and unless kept in the petrol tank for weeks will remain largely unaffected.

Petrol is a natural product and the RON is a highly variable figure, depending on random distribution, low and high areas, temperature etc and therefore is not accurate to within much higher margins than 3 points. ( this is just the gist of it as it's hard to explain to an idiot like me and she's gone to bed so I may have got some details wrong, I'm sure she'll explain if anyone wants details.)

NOW get this... She says that as far as she can see there is no reason why the Fuelcat won't work in breaking down the chains in the hydrocarbons in 95 RON fuel having the same effect as upping the grade.
SO isn't it about time someone, and it might be me, or the club, got an inline fuel cat and tested it properly? Working on figures of £60 for a fuelcat, 6p difference
per litre for Optimax, @25MPG, we should break even at 5000miles and be in profit therafter even more as we can shop around for cheap supermarket fuel!
Whaddya think?

[adam_shaw]

Maybe related, may even be totally :topic:

Here in Germany Shell made a big deal (and i understand a lot of money) with Optimax here, the difference being that it is TÜV rated at 100 RON.

If you look in the bigger cities, and on the autobahns you will always see the 'performance' cars pulling into Shell.

I certainly found it was better in the Sport, and as yet have had to put nothing else into the VR4.

The catch, its around 130 euro cent a litre, regular 98 is ~110 cent.

On the upside I do get 5 points a litre, so for XMAS I'm getting myself a Carrera scalectrix thingy (you're never too old for racing cars :) )

A

[KiwiTT]

I myself would put nothing but petrol. I am not sure what the petrol merchants put it in already and certainly wouldn't want to add more "crud"; especially as it would only last a few days anyway. Why add to your costs.

However, if you are on the track use the "cool-blue"

[KiwiTT]

I myself would put nothing but petrol. I am not sure what the petrol merchants put it in already and certainly wouldn't want to add more "crud"; especially as it would only last a few days anyway. Why add to your costs.

However, if you are on the track use the "cool-blue"