If you have a Honda 600 engine and it is in good shape, it doesn't matter
whether you put premium gas or regular gas into it. Using premium gas is of
little benefit to the engine.....it doesn't give it more horsepower, it
doesn't give it better gas mileage(see note 1 below). The higher octane of
premium gas has little benefit for a Honda 600. The additive package in
premium gas (carb cleaners, fuel stabilizers, volatility controls) may have some
benefits except you don't really know what you are getting. The marketing hype
from the gas companies are not specific about what is being included. Years
ago, Arco was claiming they had an additive to clean the fuel injectors in
all their gas (regular and premium). If you really feel a need to use a
premium blend, go with aviation gas. In an earlier msg I mentioned 100 LL Av
gas. This is probably illegal to put in a car in some states (e.g. California)
because it contains lead (which the Honda 600 was designed to work with) but
Av gas is available in unleaded form. Av gas is the highest quality
gasoline available... better than race gas. Av gas is held to a higher standard
than all other fuels. BTW, I rarely use AV gas except for testing or
troubleshooting. It does have a long storage life when used in a car.
Where I live, all the major gas suppliers (Texaco, Shell, Arco, Standard,
etc) tap into the same fuel farm. Every gas station gets it fuel from the
same storage tanks. The only difference are the additives which each brand
wants to add (and then they advertise why their gas is better). So, the octane
rating for premium is the same at all the stations in town. Ditto for
regular.
note 1: In the early 1990s, Texaco ran a marketing program to encourage
drivers to use their premium gas. The ads were touting "more miles from every
gallon". I called Texaco to ask why my car would get better fuel economy
with their premium gas if my car was not exhibiting engine knock. The marketing
person who spoke with me was a snake oil salesperson who told me it must be
better because it was higher octane and had special ingredients. He passed
me to someone in fuel engineering who told me it was mostly marketing hype
but it did have a slight bit of truth. It seems that all internal combustion,
spark ignition engines exhibit knock. When the air/fuel mixture is ignited
it is desirable for it to change into heat energy in a controlled manner. As
the air/fuel mixture is changing into heat energy, the pressures in the
combustion chamber are building rapidly. The higher the octane, the less likely
the air/fuel mixture is to detonate. At some point, the pressure is so
high that whatever air/fuel mixture remaining will detonate (or knock).
Regular gas (lower octane) will have a larger number of gas molecules which will
detonate (knock) than will be the case with premium gas (higher octane). Once
knock begins, heat energy which could be used to do useful work becomes
wasted and can damage the engine. Hence the fuel economy is worse with regular
vs premium. So, even though I don't hear my engine exhibiting knock, it is
there and at a microscopic level. If I get 40 mpg with regular, I might
get 40.01 mpg with premium. I can see where the fuel economy with premium
might be better if I were hauling heavy loads or climbing steep grades. But my
driving is mostly level and in the course of a day I usually don't climb more
than 500 feet in elevation. Regular gas works okay.
Will it make a difference?
I always wondered what the difference was.
I do understand that it is good to use the expensive stuff one in
every four fills
to clean the engine.
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