I have a question I have a 2005 400i. I know it is a stupid question but I thought I would ask it anyways but if I wanted a little extra power what about running turbo blue race gas with the octane at 114. Would this actually help me out or will it cause damage to my engine? I know it is suppose to be for higher compression engine but I know raceing ATV's use it. Do you guys think it would be a good or bad idea to try it out and see how it works?

 

At my age there are no stupid questions, just stupid mistakes.

If your engine doesnt ping now, odds are the only thing you would notice is a lighter wallet.

 

Lighter wallet and your engine will run hotter, due to the extra BTUs in the gas. Power increase, no.

 

no man that will give your motor a full dose of carbon and thats not good... it will prolly get your sparkplug black as heck and i would say dont do it

 

Exra octane does not have more BTU's per gallon. The reason for the higher octane is a more controlled burn, regular fuel is actually more explosive.
jim

 

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

 

You, my friend need to look at spec sheets on fuel. I was an engine inspector for race motors when I was racing and some of the classes had fuel restrictions. Part of the spec sheets have different gas rated at different octane numbers and in every case, a higher octane rating had more BTUs per gallon. Do a search on the net or look at the different gasolines. And explosiveness hasn't a thing to do with octane.

 

Bear - Of the 15 sites I found after a google search on "octane rating" each and every one is very specific on octane rating being related to engine knock and predetenation due to compression and octane rating. If you have a specific reference - please post it here.

 

WhoDat, Yes, octane prevents detenation(more octane= higher knock, preignition point), but what's the point if the higher octane gas doesn't have any more BTU's per gallon to make more power (more heat=more power). And that's what the do.

 

You're spinning on marbles Bear, where's the reference for more BTU's in higher octane fuel? Has nothing to do with BTU's at all, octane is used to control detonation/preignition as stated before. You are correct in some aspects, such as its' affect on compression ratio in performance motors.