Thoughts on non-oxy gas?...

[Mistaspakles]

Here in MN, there's a handful of gas stations that sell non-oxy fuel. Will using stricty non-oxy fuel hamper the engine in any way?

 

[turboglenn]

Not sure what they are calling "non-oxy" but there is such a thing as oxygenated gas, it's octane is rated lower than most "race fuels" but it has it's own oxygen content and therefore can help pack more oxygen into the combustion chamber. The AMA has outlawed oxygenated gas in some race classes because of the advantage it can give. But one common mistake people make is putting oxygenated fuel in the tank on the same "lean tune" as they run for normal race gas and then blow up their motors as a result of a lean condition (these are small bore single cylinder dirtbikes just to be clear on what i've seen it do this on). So if it is shell, sunoco or some other oxygenated fuel, make sure to watch a wideband when running it as the ECU is not going to know the difference in fuels except for when monitoring knock, so there'sa chance of running lean with it. SO if the car feel "extra powerfull" on it compared to just some minor gains from timing you will want to be able to be sure that you're not running lean and on the edge of burning up pistons or valves.

Most gas is non-oxygenated so i would ask the station to be clear about what is special about their gas, as i'm thinking they meant they have oxygenated gas. Sunoco makes an oxygenated 94-98 and some other octanes but the 94 and 98 are the 2 most commonly found ones.