Introduction To Roth Automotive Science Forums Engine Can you run with insufficient Octane fuel?

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    Keymaster

    If you want to run an engine with fuel of lower Octane than is recommended by the manufacturer, you can get away with it by avoiding high loads. Keep the gas pedal to less than a bout 1/3 down and you will probably avoid knocking. If you want to run continuous high loads with insufficient Octane, you should modify the engine for lower compression ratio. Knock tendency is proportional to: air temp, humidity,engine compression ratio, fuel Octane and engine load. The biggest effect is from engine load.

    This will also require a re-calibration of the engine computer. Most modern engines have a knock detection system built-in and will retard the ignition timing when knock is detected (protecting the engine) but if the system has to retard the timing a lot, drive-ability will be affected and fuel economy will suffer.

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