Octane Boost Fouling Plugs

[Johnnyr135]

Ok guys have you seen this, all of my spark plugs had this orange coating on them and they were causing the engine to misfire. They all had to be replaced, now I did put 104 octane racing fuel in my car once unleaded. And I have used octane boost, BMW said that it is from one or both of the 2 and that they would not replace the plugs again for free next time. They said that only BMW products can be put in the engine otherwise the plugs will foul. What do you think caused my plugs to foul, I only run 93 octane and I put in Octane boost every once in a while. Are there better plugs or is racing fuel bad. I am going to the strip tomorrow morning and was wondering if I should not use racing fuel

[frimmelnojerz]

why would you ever use race fuel? your car isn't tuned for it. you will see negligible if any gains. stick with 93 octane until theres a race file made for our cars.

[Johnnyr135]

Oh I thought the higher boost the higher octane you should use on race day, but I do not want to foul plugs

[qship]

If your plugs are not fouling in normal conditions they should be okay for the track unless you wind up the boost etc.

Octane boosters should be avoided for the exact reason you have discovered. Unless your car is knocking and there is no alternative (middle of the desert!) then avoid them.

I have a lovely collection of fouled plugs to prove my point. Iridiums tend to foul easiest from my experience.

[mkiiieustyle]

Originally Posted by Johnnyr

Oh I thought the higher boost the higher octane you should use on race day, but I do not want to foul plugs

like said before you should be running a "race gas map" for the engine to run properly on race gas, the computer is only going to run the way it supposed to so if you have a stock or even a mild tune on your vehilce the ecm is not going to know what gas you put in there, basically just stick with 93 until you get a race gas map.

and if you are fouling out plugs on a regular you might want to think about getting a colder spark plug.

[gargoyal]

Originally Posted by Johnnyr

Oh I thought the higher boost the higher octane you should use on race day, but I do not want to foul plugs

this thread has a lot of good info on Octane.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...t=Octane+turbo

octane boosters do nothing for you unless you are trying to retard detonation. They don’t give you extra go.

Racing gas will make you go fasted, but not because of the octane levels. As mentioned you will not get the most out of it if your car is not tuned for racing gas.

edit
yes octane boosters with regular (91, 93) gas are known to gum up the plugs. racing gas has a higher energy potental so is burns clean even with the higher octane level.

[JohnL135I]

Its simple, unleaded race fuel is fine.

Octane booster with mmt WILL foul your plugs, its very bad....

[Johnnyr135]

Thank you

[GemBm]

Johnnyr,

I hope you're not leasing because I would hate to be the person who gets that car after you. Do you bother to read your owners manual at all?

[jbenington86]

higher octane only helps increase power to a certain point after that you will see negative effects...from the sound of it you went a little bit far for the engine

[TT1351]

I had a lead fouling problem on a couple of my bikes due to my over zealous use of 110 octane leaded race fuel. Symptoms were that the engine would miss under heave acceleration from like about 7 grand up. A spark plug change and unleaded fuel cured it.

Unleaded race fuel should not cause that issue. But the symptoms leave me wondering if it was indeed unleaded, and further raises the question if it was leaded did it affect the cats?

Fran

[R32]

Originally Posted by JohnL135I

Its simple, unleaded race fuel is fine.

Octane booster with mmt WILL foul your plugs, its very bad....

end thread.

unleaded race fuel cannot possibly do anything bad to your car. it is probably a waste of money unless you are tuned for it, and it probably doesn't have the additive packages that good pump gas do (chevron and shell).

you can increase the octane of regular gas by adding toluene or xylene in varying amounts. http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html

or, you can add organometallic boosters as mentioned by the op, such as this one: http://torcoracefuels.com/component/...art/Itemid,32/

these do work to increase octane, just like lead in gasoline, but will leave deposits. surely the pinkish deposits on the plugs means that the additive he used is mmt.

bottom line: unleaded race fuel-- fine. octane boosters-- avoid. :drinking:

[chriscecc914]

if your not tuned for it, its not a waste of money its just another safety precaution against detonation. I personally wouldnt go over 100 octane. I used to use this stuff called torco in my mustang which always turned the plugs orange.

[larryn]

Moral of the story is that Octane booking products in cans at your local Autozone are not the same as unleaded race fuel. Don't use them. I recall somebody at e90post having issues because of using that 104+ as well...

[rhosig98]

+1

[mistermojorizin]

Originally Posted by JohnL135I

Its simple, unleaded race fuel is fine.

Octane booster with mmt WILL foul your plugs, its very bad....

i have read about the dangers of mmt. but i have also read that mmt is the only octane booster that works.

[Noize]

Unleaded race gas will NOT foul your plugs. Its the octane booster. Stop using it.

[fourmicah]

Octane Boost will foul your plugs. A friend of mine went though 5 sets of spark plugs the first year that he owned his car from it.

[PA135i]

I have 2 cans of LybroMoly Octane Boost left over from when I used to put it in my 325 Coupe. I rarely used it tho. Expensive stuff, but no problems. I'm afraid to put it in the 135i from what I have read here.

[hellrotm]

Now this.

Your original post of bashing Dinan is a complete joke now.

What else did you leave out?

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by slickone

Now this.

Your original post of bashing Dinan is a complete joke now.

What else did you leave out?

I'm not sure I agree but I wonder if the Sprintbooster combined with Dinan tuning is what caused it to run rich and foul the plugs? I don't know how the Sprintbooster works.

I used mmt octane booster in every tank of gas in the past (in my 87 900t) and it did turn the plugs orange but I don't recall them getting fouled in such a short period of time.

[spongeWorthy]

might as well just inject cash directly into your tank.
is premium fuel alone not expensive enough for ya?