Why Are Fuel Octane Ratings Essential For Your Car?
91, 95, 98, E10… You are used to seeing these letters and numbers at gas stations. Consumers frequently base their fuel choices on the price or the name, but picking the right fuel octane rating is more important than pricing or false advertising. Automobile manufacturers specify the minimum octane rating required for your vehicle, and using the wrong fuel can affect fuel economy, and vehicle performance, and harm your engine. This article will help you understand fuel octane ratings and what you need for your vehicle.
In this article:
What Is Fuel Octane Rating?
The octane rating of fuel, also known as the octane number, is the fuel’s ability to prevent knocking or pinging. During the combustion process, when an unburned air-fuel mixture ignites prematurely, it causes knocking or pinging. The higher the octane number or rating of fuel, the more the fuel is resistant to combustion.
What Is Premium Fuel?
Premium fuel is designed for high-compression engines, turbochargers, and high-performance engines. You should fill your fuel tank with premium only if your vehicle’s owner’s manual suggests it. Premium fuel improves an engine's ability to produce power by increasing fuel density, which provides controlled but minimized engine knock (detonation) and results in a smoother delivery of power. Premium gasoline has an octane rating of 91 or higher and is sold at various gas stations across Canada.
What Are The Benefits Of A Fuel With A Higher Octane Rating?
Modern engines are more efficient and use less fuel when running on higher-octane-rated fuel. When there is more load on the engine, using higher octane fuel enhances your vehicle’s performance and fuel economy and even decreases CO2 emissions.
How Do I Know What Octane Fuel Is Right For My Car?
The recommended octane rating of the fuel for your vehicle can be found in the owner's manual. The octane rating of your vehicle's fuel can also be labeled within the fuel cap. So, if you put high-octane fuel in your car when the manufacturer does not recommend it, you will not get better performance, better fuel efficiency, or reduce pollutant emissions. But if the owner's manual for your vehicle advises premium fuel, use it since you will not achieve the vehicle's advertised performance until you fill the fuel tank with premium fuel.
What Happens If I Put The Wrong Fuel In My Car?
Filling your fuel tank with incorrect octane fuel does not affect your vehicle, but if you accidentally fill it with the wrong kind of fuel, there are a lot of problems that can occur in your vehicle and it is called misfuelling. There are two possibilities of misfuelling in your fuel tank, and they are:
Putting Diesel Into A Gasoline Engine
The fuel pump will struggle to transfer the diesel/gasoline mixture through the fuel line system because diesel fuel is denser and thicker than gasoline. Additionally, the diesel will clog the fuel filter. And any diesel that eventually gets into the engine will clog the fuel injectors. This will result in the gasoline engine choking up and seizing. After adding diesel to the tank, the gasoline engine may continue to run for a short period since it is still using the gasoline in the fuel line system. Refer here for more on fuel delivery system failures.
Putting Gasoline In A Diesel Engine
The problems that arise in your vehicle if you accidentally fill a diesel engine with gasoline are:
- No ignition: Diesel engines are not meant to automatically ignite gasoline. Spark plugs are required to ignite the fuel in diesel engines. As a result, there will be no spark to ignite the gasoline when it is poured into a diesel engine.
- Black smoke: Because the minimum temperature for gasoline to ignite is 40 degrees Celsius and diesel is 52 degrees Celsius, gasoline is difficult to combust in a diesel engine. This will result in a massive volume of unburned fuel. Due to this, a lot of black smoke comes out of the exhaust tailpipe. If you ignore this for too long, soot will jam various fuel system sensors.
- Fuel system damage: Fuel injectors, fuel pumps, fuel lines, and fuel filters will have significant wear since the fuel system for diesel engines is designed for diesel, which is more viscous, thick, and has lubricant properties, rather than gasoline, which is considerably thinner, lighter, and lacks lubricity.
- Inadequate lubrication: Diesel is an oil that has lubricating properties, while gasoline is a solvent. If gasoline is poured into a diesel engine, the engine will be deprived of lubrication. The engine will soon be contaminated with gasoline. The engine's various internal moving elements, such as pistons, connecting rods, crankshafts, etc., would rub, grind, and contact each other if not lubricated. This results in irreparable engine damage.
Why Are Octane Ratings Important For Your Engine?
A spark plug ignites a mixture of air and fuel at precise intervals in an engine. This air-fuel mixture is compressed before each combustion. Because compression generates enormous heat, the fuel must be able to sustain high temperatures and pressures. If it cannot sustain this, the fuel ignites prematurely. This problem, in which the air-fuel mixture combusts prematurely rather than from the spark plug, is known as "knocking”.
Which Octane Rating Should I Use For My Car?
Use the fuel octane rating recommended by the manufacturer. This will ensure you get the best performance, increased fuel economy, and reduced emissions. Some manufacturers suggest more than one fuel octane rating for different scenarios, such as lower octane fuel for daily driving and higher octane for performance driving.
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