Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
If your motor calls for 87 octane, I would say run that...even if it has ethanol in it. Many will argue that any sort of ethanol in the gas will ruin fuel lines, gum up your engine, and cause various problems. I have run ethanol blended fuels in almost every gas engine I own and have yet to encounter any of the problems others claim. If your engine is an older model (somewhere around early 90's vintage or older) then it is a good idea to get fuel lines replaced as they may not be alcohol resistant and can degrade.
The big thing with ethanol blended fuels is they will tend to attract moisture, so a fuel/water separator is a good investment, but if you are using the gas and not letting the boat sit for weeks at a time, you will be fine. If the boat sits for long periods of time with unstabilized fuel in it (as with any engine that sits for long periods of time) you run the risk of the fuel gumming the engine....no matter what grade you run. This is where many will argue is the issue and blame the fuel rather than their own lack of preventative maintenance.
Now...that doesn't mean running a higher grade of gas is bad...many will say (and I would tend to agree with this) is if you can find non-oxygenated fuel (no alcohol content, usually 91 octane at BP stations where available) you may see a smoother running engine and a slight increase in performance as compared to an oxygenated fuel of the same grade. You would obtain Smoother running engine due to a more stable fuel combustion (this would be true of any higher grade gasoline, blended or not), and with the lack of alcohol in it, may give a slight increase in power as compared to an oxygenated fuel of the same, or even higher octane.
I ran 89 or higher octane in my former yamaha 90hp 2 stroke, but that was strictly because that engine had a higher performance head on it which would have increased the potential for detonation if I ran 87 octane.
If you use your boat consistently, the increase in cost to run 91 non oxygenated might not be worth it in the pocketbook if the 87 octane does the job well.
Steve
Edited by VMS 3/18/2012 3:01 PM
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