Octane Rating and Seafoam

[coffee]

Hi All,

I was amazed when I got my Vulcan 2000 and saw the 90+ octane requirement. When I got the bike it had 6k miles on it and was three years old. I was concerned about it sitting too much and thought I should add some Seafoam to the tank but the guy at the dealership warned me against it and stated it would lower the octane rating of the tank. He just recommended me using top tier fuel instead.

Here are my questions:

Is top tier fuel good enough to clean up the system without any other additives?

Does Seafoam actually lower the octane rating and if so is it enough to cause alarm?

Off topic question:

Why does the Vulcan 2000 require 90+ octane when some sport bikes do not?

Thanks for the help.

 

[PT1]

Most of the larger MC engines call for 90+ octane especially those with a vtwin design. I think this is because detonation is so damaging to them and the engine design is succeptable to detonation. The seafoam won't hurt anything. Go ahead and run it. Then run some Shell Vpower 93. I never rely on gasoline additives in the top tier fuels to clean my system. I always run techron or redline s-1 through the system on my bike cars & boat at least once a year. I have also never had a fuel injector issue since I started doing this about 10 years ago.

 

[coffee]

Thank you for the input and do all Shell stations carry VPower 93 or is that an additive you buy at AutoZone? I just want to run a good cleaning product periodically in the system to keep it clean.

 

[heavyhitter]

If you NEED to clean your system I hear Seafoam is a good product. If you are buying quality gas you should never have to clean you injectors etc. (this goes for both cars and bike) Fuel is regulated by law have detegents etc in it to keep your engine clean.

I dont think seafoam will lower your octane enough to cause harm.
Unless your bike is knocking I wouldnt worry about it.

Premium gas here comes in 91 and 92 octane so I dont see how it would cause issues. Maybe you can only get 90?

What is the compression ratio on your bike? This usually is agood indicator how much octane you need.

I used to have a dirtbike that ran on 110 octane, that sucked.

 

[coffee]

Well, I get 91 octane from Quick Trip Top Tier fuel but I wanted to use an additive to cleanup any buildup that may have existed prior to me owning the bike. I have been using top tier fuel for the last two thousand miles but was wondering if it was enough to cleanup everything in the system, especially since I do not know the history of the bike.

 

[heavyhitter]

Do you have any hesitation at take off? any stumpling? Run stong at WOT? If your throttle is responsive I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[coffee]

It is very responsive now but when I first got the bike and was trying to punch it getting on the freeway or passing people it was stumble and hesitate. I did run a little Seafoam in it the first week I got it but stopped using it after the dealer told me to avoid it and just use top tier fuel. It is probably not that dirty right now and a little Seafoam once a month may be good for it.

 

[PT1]

Originally Posted By: coffee
Thank you for the input and do all Shell stations carry VPower 93 or is that an additive you buy at AutoZone? I just want to run a good cleaning product periodically in the system to keep it clean.


Shell Vpower is their 93 octane premium fuel. BTW, in Ohio we are one of 4 states with no fuel regulations. So, every refiner sends their garbage gas here if it gets rejected elsewhere. If you buy tier 2 gas here you are taking a huge chance. So that is why I use fuel system cleaners annually here. In my high use vehicles I clean the system every 20k.

I use 2 oz of Techron (made by Chevron) that you can get at autozone or WalMart in my Harley every spring after I run out the gas from the Winter.

 

[wileyE]

guy I work with commutes 90miles on a vulcan nomad, uses mid grade 89 after experimenting with different grade and mpg.


Reason for more octane on the big twin vs some 4 cyl bikes has a lot to do with bore size and rpm. It takes longer to burn across the width of a big bore which gives more time for detonation to occur. Also the pressure rise event of the slow turning motor gives more time.

 

[Superflop]

seafoam is amazing stuff but in every vehicle i have used it in the gas tank I seems to notice a slight loss in performance.. i use seafoam in the crankcase and through the vacuum hoses for a top end clean. but for fuel system cleaners i typically use the chevron techron additive with a full tank of chevron gas or Redline (by far the best ive used) but its getting harder to find around here where i live.