Octane Boost: is it working?

You realize that Premium in the Prius of any era is just a bad idea. It is more expensive and does nothing helpful. The only reason to use it is if you let the Prius sit idle for months at a time. That's the why the Volt requires it.

 

Yeah, the better question is why run "Premium" or High Octane at all?

Occasionally...long intervals...I'll run a treatment of Techron through my tank.

Otherwise, it's regular.

I enjoy the benefit IMO of owning not only one of the most fuel efficient vehicles possible, BUT also one that doesn't require Premium fuel. That double benefit really makes fuel costs that much cheaper.

Buy the octane boost if you wish, but I don't see much benefit if any- in using it.

 

Maybe but there is no point.
"premium" is not better.
In a car that does not require it, it can actually be worse.
Stop wasting your money on octane boost (or premium fuel either) and put a can of Techron in it every 5K miles or so.

P.S. You have been on this forum for about 2 years now.
Have you NOT read any of the other threads about octane and premium fuel ???

 

Bought gaso today we had $4.00 on Premium and I paid $3.39 for Regular...yikes +60 cents difference!!

EDIT: If you look at the 104+ product on Amazon (also ~$4 at Walmart), they do not seem to be promising much octane boost (which makes sense - can't turn Reg into Premium with a small bottle). What it is is basically detergent. If you buy TopTierGas.com gasoline, you should have enough detergents. If you are not using Top Tier gasoline, something like this might provide extra detergents, but in that case I'd rather just use Techron or something like that..

Now what I would consider trying- Another approach is to add say a gallon of toluene or xylene to your gaso. The reason I would consider this is truly boost octane, and especially to increase energy content and see if I got better MPG. But costs like $20/quart for Toluene octane booster, so $80 to add just a gallon to your tank.

 

Don't know the kilowatt price in your area but plugging in a 12v trickle charger once a week will be cheaper, do less damage to the ice and give more mpg's IMHO

 

I can just tell you no, but I suggest you learn about octane and how it works (that way you won't fall into one of those fads people have every now and then on how much HP it increased on their ride.) The basics of octane is that it decreases engine knock and allows for a higher compression....which in turn gives higher HP..... but that is only......ONLY...on cars designed for it.....if the manual says use the cheap gas....just use the cheap gas..... your car will not magically raise its own compression. If you really want to play around with gas that can help you I suggest you find a station that uses ethanol free gas....that will slightly boost your mpg and hp...but don't expect a lot. As boring as it sounds the best thing is to periodically clean your fuel system with the already stated cleaners....that will help keep your hp and mpg at almost new levels. Sorry to burst your bubble, but hopefully you'll save some $$$ and be more savvy.

Trickle charging the 12 volt battery won't do anything except possibly extend the life of that battery. The traction battery (the big one underneath the back seat) is not charged by a 12v trickle charger

 

Sorry but it won't.
At least not any amount that is measurable.
Charging the 12 V battery takes only a tiny, TINY bit of energy.

It might help the battery to last longer but won't really impact your gas efficiency.
And it should be a smart battery maintainer and NOT a cheap trickle charger.

 

I just think there's way too much snake oil that people could put into their cars. Supposedly Techron will clean the fuel injector but that's all I care to use.

 

I am testing premium vs regular gas in my13 prius c. I get better mpg cconsistently with the premium. All but $20 purchased at the same gas station. I have been running full tanks and changing fuel types each time to avoid time of year variables like winter gas and outside temp. ext.. its been over six months and premium is much less expensive per mile.

 

Be careful with octane boost, some of them are known to melt the nylon sock in the gas tank and prevent fuel going to your engine. Just use the Techron or however you spell it every once in a while or maybe run a tank of premium when you put the Techron in it and that's about it. You know, premium is better grade of gas and burns better and usually you will get better gas mileage with premium where as regular doesn't burn as good but that is in regular cars. I don't know if that is the same with hybrids but I have been using regular and have no problems at all.

 

If there is any question of why there's so much confusion regarding the use of "regular or premium" gas, all that you need do is read this thread.

Whatever is in the owner's manual is to be ignored.

 

I agree with most of what you say, especially about pouring concentrated gas additives down the filler tube, what that might do before it get's homogenized with the rest of the tankful.

But regarding premium burning better: the main trait of premium is that it resists ignition better. To avoid pre-ignition in high compression engines.

 

my owners manaul says 87 octane is minimum? it doesn't say no benifit to using premium. and my observations indicate that in my case it is less expensive to use premium.

It seems that most of the people who are against the possibility of getting better mpg from higher octane fuel are those who have not tried using premium even though the manaul says nothing about it hurting the engine.

 

The issue is most people should stick with Regular. Many publications such as Consumer Reports simply say *all* people should stick with Regular and CR and many other references further imply there is no reason whatsoever that Premium could possibly be better (for a car designed for Regular/USA situation). So many people have read the advice and believe it literally.

But that is a slight over-simplication, as it is possible there could be energy content/MPG variations. especially in your area (non-RFG). My region is RFG and Consumer Reports advice is pretty much correct for my region. The energy content variations are not neccessarily tied to octane (Premium could be lower energy content than Regular at some stations). So since gaso stations are not required to post deatiled analyses of each batch of gasoline (impractical) there is no way for the consumers to know about it, other than test runs as you are doing. I am occasionally measuring weight (and % ethanol) of 1.5-gals gasoline samples taken in my lawn mower can to correlate to energy content.

EDIT: The other important reason for conflict among Prius owners about Premium/E0 etc, is that we are the new wave of drivers getting 50 MPG in our cars, and we can see that big 50 MPG hitting us in the face everyday. Some would like to control that MPG by buying the best MPG fuel (E0 etc) but others do not want to go there for various reasons, mostly because it makes no finanical sense to pay so much more for E0, Premium fuel even if MPG is a couple ticks better.

 

I am not sure about RFG, here I will say that oregon has only E10 gas for street use. so both 87 and the 92 octane I get at my local costco is rated E10. every tank I have used the 92 octane has gotten much better mpg, with the exception of my current tank. this tank I have driven mostly hwy and the mpg on the dash only indicates 57.8 that is a little lower than usual but I believe it is due to 90% 65 mph. instead of 90% 25 mph.

As someone above said use acetone or similar additives to gas, I would be very uneasy puting that stuff in my nearly new car.

 

Premium gas is why I drive a prius and not my Premium ONLY Turbo'ed car that gets 22mpg on a good day.

 

Please tell us the WHOLE story.

Does both the regular grade AND the premium have the same ethanol content ?
If not, your posting is misleading.

And exactly how much is "MUCH less expensive per mile". ??

Just stop it please.
That is just plain NOT true.
There is nothing inherently "better" about "premium" gas.

 

He has shown his numbers on another thread, I can't find it now, but he has shown that he is getting a significant difference (around 17% higher) with the Premium. In Oregon they are all E10, even the premium, so the gas is "supposed" to be the same. He mentioned his cost per mile as well, but I don't remember it.

 

I find that hard to believe........that ANY CAR not designed to benefit from higher octane (ie high performance) would see that much difference if both contained the same percentage of ethanol. Even a difference from E0 to E10 only accounts for about a 4% difference.

If he has another thread with more details, maybe HE should include a link to that when he makes mention of his "experiment" and it's results.