Octane is Not What You May Think it Is: Motor Cover and Automotive Automobile Reviews

Octane is Not What You May Think it Is

It’s Just a Measure of Anti-spark Knock AbilityHere’s a question that isn’t rhetorical: what is octane? It’s just a simple question, what is octane?Recently there was published a piece that identified octane as the quality of gas that keeps it from self-combusting. It’s obvious from the entire piece that the author didn’t have a basic understanding of octane.
Octane is simply the point at which spark knock occurs. The higher the octane, the higher the point at which knock occurs. Spark knock is the marble rattling around sound that you hear in a badly mistuned car or a vehicle that is using a gasoline with an octane level that’s too low.The sparkplug is firing the fuel/air mix before top dead center, when it should be fired for maximum compression and an even flame front and it’s possible that the piston crowns are being damaged.There are actually three types of octane that are considered in any measurement. The one we are used to at the gas pump is known as the road octane rating. It is simply the Motor Octane Rating plus the Research Octane Rating divided by two. That’s it.Most cars today are equipped with a piezoelectric sensor that detects knock by actually listening for it. The sensor is a very sensitive microphone and if it heard knock occurring, it adjusts the timing to lean out the fuel/air mix, in most cases. In this way, your 2006 Honda Civic can run on 87 Octane regular for year after year, or until the sensor goes and has to be replaced, not exactly an inexpensive job, but one which may be covered by an extended warranty.Looking further at octane, you’ll find that the Motor Octane Rating is determined by a specially tuned engine and is a ratio of octane versus n-heptane. This rating tends to be very low - around 300 rpm.The Research Octane Number is run on the same engine, but at higher engine RPM and is usually around 1600 rpm. It is also a ratio of octane versus n-heptane, according various gasoline manufacturers.

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Octane is Not What You May Think it Is

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