Let’s compare 87, 91 (with and without ethanol), and 93 octane for fuel efficiency and horsepower. We’ll see if the higher octane fuel delivers better performance and is worth the extra cost.
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Higher octane fuel costs a lot more Money but the question is does it Deliver better performance and fuel Efficiency well let's get the testing Underway and see which is the best I Couldn't find a single gas station that Carried all the types of fuel that I Wanted to test so I had to purchase fuel From three gas stations most gas Stations use a single fuel hose and Nozzle for multiple octanes so if the Person buying gas before you used 87 Octane fuel there's 87 octane fuel still In the fuel hose fortunately the 87 Octane that I'm buying from Casey's General Store has a dedicated hose for The 87 octane this is a very high volume Gas station so the fuel should be very Fresh let's first test the fuel to see How much ethanol content is in the Gasoline I'll first fill the tester with Distilled water to the water fill Mark I'll go ahead and fill the rest of the Tester with gasoline I'll go ahead and Shake the test too this will cause the Ethanol content to separate from the Gasoline and the ethanol will then blend With the water the process is called Face separation the bottom line of the Tester indicates 10 percent and the Upper line 20 percent and the 87 octane Has very close to 9 ethanol content in Our first test let's compare fuel Efficiency using a 20 200 watt Honda
Inverter generator I'll precisely Measure out the same amount of fuel for Each octane two halogen lights are Plugged into the left side power strip And one light is plugged into the power Strip on the right and the Honda is Designed to run on 87 octane fuel but Running it on a higher octane works Perfectly fine and the generator is Producing around 1 381 watts of power For the three lights I'll keep the Eco Mode turned off for testing each of the Octanes the exhaust temperature is Ranging from 510 to 520 degrees Fahrenheit and its lights out for the 87 Octane at 28 minutes and 15 seconds I'm Also buying 91 no ethanol fuel from Casey's General Store fortunately There's a dedicated fuel hose for the 91 Octane no ethanol gasoline so the Question is does this fuel which is Advertised as no ethanol actually have Ethanol in it and the fuel is not Becoming cloudy which is a very good Indicator that there isn't any ethanol Content in the fuel just as advertised The fuel does not have any ethanol Content and Honda fired up on the first Pull with the no ethanol fuel and the Generator is producing very close to the Same amount of Watts as it did running The 87 octane the exhaust temperature is About the same as well at 550 18 to 520 Degrees Fahrenheit when testing ethanol
Versus no ethanol fuel in the past using A fuel injected generator the no ethanol Fuel did provide better fuel efficiency That wasn't the case this time the Honda Generator has a carburetor and not fuel Injection and the Honda is out of fuel At right at 28 minutes or 15 seconds Less than the 87 octane the 91 octane Fuel that I'm buying has up to 10 Ethanol with a shared fuel hose and Nozzle with other octanes so I'll go Ahead and pump a gallon of gasoline into A spare fuel container to purge the fuel Hose of another octane so all the Gasoline in the gas can should be 91 Octane and the 91 octane is supposed to Have up to 10 ethanol content and the 91 Octane has very close to 9 ethanol Content the same as the 87 and it's a First pull start for the Honda with the 91 octane and the amount of Watts being Produced by the 91 octane is very close To the same as it was for the 87 and 91 No ethanol fuel and the exhaust Temperature is about the same as the Other two fuels at around 510 to 520 Degrees Fahrenheit and the Honda with 91 Octane is out of fuel in 27 minutes and 53 seconds the least amount of time yet The fuel station carrying the 93 octane Fuel also uses a common hose and nozzle For each octane so go ahead and pump one Gallon of gasoline into the extra fuel Can so all the fuel that's added to the
93 octane fuel can should be 93 octane And yamaco gold 93 octane is supposed to Have up to 10 ethanol content and the 93 Octane has right at 10 percent the Honda Fired up on the first pool with a 93 Octane and the watt meter showing the Same amount of energy production as the Other types of fuel just like the other Types of fuel the exhaust temperature is 510 to 520 degrees and the Honda running With 93 octane outlasted the 87 octane By about three seconds so all the fuel Types are within about 20 seconds of Each other so this one is definitely too Close to call with the fuel efficiency Being very close let's kick off the next Test using a Honda GX200 engine I'll Install a new spark plug with the proper Gap we'll start off with the factory Timing and then I'll Advance the timing By 12 degrees I'll install a new clutch And drive belt before testing each of The octanes since this is definitely Going to be a torture test let's first Test the 87 octane and see how much Pulling Force the Honda makes and Honda Briefly made it to 241 pounds or about 109 kilograms let's torture test the 87 Octane next and Cousin Eddie wants to be In action so he'll be making sure the Garden tractor stays on the trailer During the test the first cone is about 40 feet from the starting line and the 87 octane mid to the first cone in 4.9
Seconds and it just finished the first Run in 8.62 seconds and the 87 octane Was a little faster on the second Hundred foot pass at 8.57 seconds and The 87 octane just finished a third pass In 8.36 seconds for an average time of 8.5 seconds for all three passes I'll go Ahead and change out the drive belt and The clutch with a new one I'll also go Ahead and drain out the 87 octane fuel From the carburetor and fuel tank I'll Go ahead and refuel using a 91 octane no Ethanol gasoline and the 91 no ethanol Fuel performed within one pound of the 87 octane at 240 pounds however the Static load torque test doesn't measure The power output for the entire RPM Range and the 91 octane made it to the 40-foot Mark in 4.9 seconds and the 91 Octane no ethanol just tied the fastest Pass made by the 87 octane and 8.36 Seconds and the no ethanol 91 octane is Even faster on the second pass at 8.1 Seconds and it's 8.1 seconds again on The third pass for a three pass average Of 8.19 seconds so the higher octane Fuel did perform a little bit better Than the 87 octane and the 91 no ethanol Fuel is drained in the 91 octane with 9 Ethanol is ready to go and the 91 octane With ethanol made it to 244 pounds the Most yet and the 91 octane with ethanol Made it to the 40-foot marked the Fastest yet in 4.7 seconds and the 91
Octane with ethanol finished the first Pass at 8.15 seconds and the 91 octane With ethanol finished the second pass And eight seconds flat the fastest time Yet in the 91 octane with ethanol lost a Little speed on the third pass at 8.2 Seconds for the fastest average yet of 8.12 seconds I've trained to 91 octane And the 93 Amaco is ready to go and the 93 octane performed about the same as The other octanes at 241 pounds of force And the 93 octane made it to the 40-foot Cone and 4.74 seconds which is about the Same as the 91 octane and the 93 octane Finished the first pass in 8.15 seconds The same as the 91 octane with ethanol And the 93 octane finished the second Pass in eight seconds flat matching the Fastest time set by the 91 octane and The third pass is a little bit slower at 8.15 seconds for a three-run average of 8.1 seconds so both 91 octanes and the 93 octane all finished in practically The same amount of time and less than One tenth of a second apart however all Three high octane fuels did outperform The 87 octane by three tenths of a Second it looks like the factory timing Is set to around 24 to 25 degrees before Top dead center so let's Advance the Timing I'll go ahead and remove the Factory flywheel key and I'll use an Offset key that'll Advance the ignition Timing by an additional 12 degrees so
The timing should be around 35 degrees Give or take a little in theory this Will really help the higher octane fuels I'll go ahead and reinstall the clutch And belt for the 87 octane fuel I'll Drain the 93 octane and Addie 87 nd87 Octane is making about six percent more Power with the timing Advance at 256 Pounds of force and the timing Advance Really helped the 87 octane and it's Almost a half a second faster at the 40-foot Mark at 4.5 seconds and the 87 Octane just made the fastest pass yet at 7 1.84 seconds a higher octane rating Means that a fuel should resist early Combustion better than a low octane fuel And at 7.79 seconds for the second pass Which is a little faster than the first With all the clutch and wind noise I Couldn't tell whether or not the engine Was experiencing detonation or not and The third pass was even faster than the Second at 7.74 seconds for a three pass Average of 7.79 seconds and the 91 Octane no ethanol fuel is ready to go And I've installed the clutch and drive Belt and the 91 no ethanol fuel Performed even better than the 87 octane At 264 pounds of force and the 91 octane No ethanol fuel is a little faster than The 87 octane at reaching 40 feet and 4.43 seconds and the 91 octane just Finished the first pass in 7.84 seconds Matching the time of the 87 octane on
The first pass and the 91 new ethanol Fuel just made the fastest time yet on The second pass at 7.53 seconds and Cousin Eddie got a bug in his eye and Bent over on the third pass so I'll have To repeat it and the third pass is the Same as the second pass at 7.53 seconds For a three pass average of 7.63 seconds And the 91 octane with ethanol is at 258 Pounds of force which is quite a bit Better than before the timing advance And the 91 octane with 9 ethanol just Reached a cone at 40 feet in 4.38 Seconds and the first pass is finished In 7.74 seconds and the second pass just Tied the fastest pass made by the new Ethanol 91 octane and 7.53 seconds and The third pass is almost as fast as the Second one at 7.58 seconds so the 91 Octane with ethanol averaged 7.63 Seconds which is nearly identical to the 91 octane without ethanol unfortunately I didn't heat up the drive belt enough Before the test and it was slipping it Was definitely more capable than 245 Pounds and I'll have to throw out the Results and the drive belt is fully Warmed up for the first pass and the 93 Octane is at 4.22 seconds at 40 feet and The 93 octane just tied the fastest time Yet at 7.53 seconds on the first pass And a 93 octane lost a little speed on The second pass at 7.74 seconds and a Third pass is almost as fast as the
First one at 7.63 seconds for a three Pass average of 7.63 seconds so high Octane fuel do not help with fuel Efficiency but it did provide an Extremely small Advantage for Acceleration so just looking at the Fastest pass for all the octanes both The 91s and the 93 octane all tied at 7.53 seconds the 87's fastest pass was 7.74 seconds so the higher octane fuel Did provide a small Advantage I also Tested all the octanes without Towing The trailer and garden tractor both with And without advancing the timing before Advancing the timing the performance Results with the 87 both 91s and 93 were Almost identical on average advancing The timing provided very minor gains for All the octanes but not nearly as much As a Honda engine running under a Significant load my suggestion is to buy The 87 octane unless your vehicle Requires a higher octane fuel for Example if your vehicle has a turbo it Probably needs something higher than an 87 octane in a previous video we did Test an engine that had fuel injection And the no ethanol fuel did perform Better as far as fuel efficiency but With the carbureted engine it didn't Make any difference all the videos in This channel including this one our Viewers suggested so if you have a video Idea I hope you'll take time to leave a
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