Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone uses an octane booster or Redline's water wetter in their kitties? I used to use the water wetter 15 years ago when I owned a turbocharged Mitsubishi Starion, and picked some up today to use in my XJ-S, along with a bottle of 108+ octane booster. And was just wondering if anyone else used either of these products. My XJ-S is not pinging or knocking, so the octane booster may have been a waste of money, unless the computer has the ability to advance the timing to take advantage of it. As for the water wetter, I have been reading a lot of posts regarding the overheating of these cats as the major reason for the engine's demise, and thought I would play it safe and put some water wetter in it. Any thoughts?

I have not installed either yet, as it is now sitting on a car trailer, and sort of difficult for me to get to the engine bay. However, I should be getting it off the trailer tomorrow, and want to install them then.

Jim

 

It doesn't



Can't hurt, I reckon.

But the best way to place it safe it to go thru the cooling system and make sure it's 100%

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the info.

Jim

 

I notice you have a Marelli car, there is a jumper that can be installed I have attached a pic mine has a bit of wire in there ATM.

This jumper selects the ignition map for high octane fuel (+95 RON) if you are using premium fuel already, adding octane booster will make no difference unless the ignition timing is altered to take advantage of the additional octane.

 

If an engine is not suffering from detonation, octane boosters will do nothing but drain your wallet. 99% of the off the shelf 'boosters' contain no ingredients that raise the octane level of gasoline. Even the few that do raise it by only a fraction of one level, in other words it may raise the rating from 91 to 91.1 and not 92 or 93 as expected.

Standard antifreeze already contains all the wetting agents of 'water wetter' or similar. More is not better. Make sure the coolant in your car is fresh and of the correct concentration.

 

Fuels in North America are rated by AKI and not RON, so the OP should select 91 AKI fuel as an equivalent.

 

I am already putting 91 octane in it, so I will not waste the octane booster on this kitty. Thanks for the info.

Jim

 

Yes, octane boosters are only needed when there's a specific reason to raise the combustion point, such as when you've installed a turbo without decreasing the compression ratio, etc. Under normal circumstances modern engines are designed to burn fuel at optimal settings and there's little that adding a booster can do.

However, this does NOT mean that there aren't decent octane boosters out there. Yes, the stuff you get at your local parts store raises octane by a miser tenths of a point/number, rather than whole points. But if you were to get a special product octane booster like one I have used myself, you'll be raising octane by several whole numbers. In fact, using just 1oz per gallon will raise the octane by 2 1/2 numbers, meaning that pooring a 16oz can into a 16 gallon tank of 91 octane fuel will make the new fuel 93.5 octane. Not bad. But, again, a normally aspirated engine working fine would not really gain much from it. If you want specifics about the octane booster, please send me a private message.

Cheers,

 

Why the secrecy?

There are some legitimate octane boosters openly available on the market, some of which still use tetraethyl lead (TEL) and others that are based on toluene but none of them are cost effective to use. Much cheaper to fill up on 93 or 94 octane if available.

Note that a TEL based additive might damage the catalytic converters.

 

Well, since I already bought the stuff, I will go ahead and use it. However, now that I know it is a waste of money, I will not buy them in the future. Especially since that water wetter stuff is ten dollars a pint!

Jim

 

No, no secrecy at all, Mickey, I'm only trying to follow the rules, as I'm not really sure whether members can freely post brand name products/services here. Perhaps I need further clarification on the subject, when it is OK and when it is not. Otherwise, here it is:

I have no afiliation whatsoever with this product, but I have used it before, myself, and I know that many users in performance and racing circles use it routinely.

Klotz Octane Booster, Oxygenated Gasoline Stabilizer and fuel systems cleaner. One ounce per gallon will increase octane by 2 1/2 points. It is widely sold (Google it), currently between $8.00 and $11.00 per 16 oz. can. This will transform:
A $4.00/gl of 91 octane gasoline into
a $4.625/gl of 93.5 octane gasoline

 

Sorry but the '2 1/2 points' means it changes 91 AKI gas into 91.25 AKI. This is no better than any of the other similar products.

 

That may be so, but it sure curtailed detonation to my turbo, so as to produce 9 PSI without detonation (and no-intercooler). This is the only reason that I believe what the label states. With no octane booster I was forced to remove time and lose power. Maybe it was borderline and the octane boost needed wasn't necessarily as high as I thought it was.

Checking references, it's kind of split, some swear by it and some don't believe in it. FYI, I finally ditched the turbo project because of never ending issues with it compared to the simplicity and generous power of nitrous.