gas

[mossoak]

what kind of unleaded gas do you guys or gals put in your atv? regular unleaded or premium?

[Macgyver55]

Regular unleaded gas is all that is required for most ATVs except high performance ones. Unless it is stated in the owners manual or near the filler cap that you need premium, it will not make it run any better or start any easier and you spend more.

[anyfishwilldo]

Quote:

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it will not make it run any better or start any easier and you spend more.

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I beg to differ with you there. I have an 07 500 Sportsman, and it really seems to run better on the non-oxy premium then on the cheap stuff. For the $ difference on 5 gal of gas, its worth it to me.

[firemedic5586]

All you need is the recomended octain for gas. The higher the octain the cooler the gas burns, which prevents "pinging" or predetination this melts pistons. You want the gas to burn as hot as possible without melting your engine. So if your run 92 or even 102 octain in a stock motor, the gass is burning to cool for your set up and your not getting all the BTU's out of it you should. Thus tossing your $$$ out the tail pipe. That being said I run super in my SP700. Not for the performance that I don't get from it but because it doesn't have corn in it. Corn gas has a nasty tendency to grow sludge in it and plug stuff up. Not to mention that the ETOH is also very hard on ruber hoses. If you do decide to run corn gas, you may want to run a mid range octain. I know in my owners manual it says to use a mid range octain gas if it has corn mixed in.

YMMV

[Macgyver55]

Contrary to widespread belief, the octane rating of gasoline doesn't indicate how much power the fuel delivers; all grades of gasoline contain roughly the same amount of heat energy. A higher octane rating means the fuel is less likely to cause your engine to knock or ping. To avoid this, high-octane gas is formulated to burn slower than regular, making it less likely to ignite without benefit of spark.

The majority ATVs and such are designed to run on regular gas. High-performance ATVs and snowmobiles often require midgrade or premium gas because their engines are designed for higher compression (higher compression = more power), and regular gas may cause them to knock. If your ATV needs high-octane gas, the manual will probably say so.

Using high-octane gas in an ATV designed for regular accomplishes very little except more rapid combustion of your money.

It may "seem to run better on the non-oxy premium then on the cheap stuff", but actual dyno tests will usually show little or no difference in performance.

[rundrave]

As mentioned most quads unless specified are designed to run on 87 octane. Any higher and you are just wasting your money. It may help to run higher octane when the quad has been sitting for a while, but if you have a full tank of fresh fuel 87 will do you just fine

Another fact is elevation......A motor set up to run 87 blend at or within' a couple thousand feet of sea level, could use 85 octane at elevations above 6000 ft. Less air pressure at higher altitudes, slows the burn rate down, So lowering the octane keeps you in the power curve.

Each motor if different, but if it's not pinging or detonating..... don't waste your money.

[loosegoose]

87 octane as the manual states.

[Stradic]

89, just because I can.

[Greg T]

Sometimes I run 110 because I like the way it smells.

[huntnfish]

Gobaby, are those two sleds in your avatar Rupp's? I had one when I was younger and that thing would fly. I saw one just like I had at haydays in mint condition a couple of years ago.

[Greg T]

Yep the one is a 76 Nitro 340 my brother gave me for my birthday, and the other is a 73 Magnum....The second one has the "racing use only" sticker on the tunnel, but has some other Rupp 440 in it..either way, both were free and run decent

[LMITOUT]

Premium NON-OXY in mine. No corn for me.

[spearchucker]

The regular gas with ethanol in it is just fine if you are going to burn it up within a month or so, but I use the non-ethanol premium if I know that the fuel will not be used up right away. Ethanol will absorb water and turn to dump after a period of time. I agree that the premium does nothing for performance in a stock engine, but it sucks cleaning a carburator that is full of green goo.