Thank you for that research, Tim.

I hope everyone has taken note of the relatively narrow BTU range of the fuels and oils (other than the alcohols). They all fall within 20% of each other. Now factor in the narrow dilution range of 6% to 2% we use for lube oil ... any difference in fuel energy from oil is negligible, and if there is a difference, it is likely that oil adds energy to the combustion process.


A question that was asked earlier was relevant: does oil affect the octane rating of gas in a negative way?

The answer is most likely yes ... with a "but ..."

The but is ... we aren't putting that much into the mix.

If lube oil was real crap had an octane rating of 60, mixed with 89 octane gas at 25:1 the end result mixture would be 86 octane. Before you freak out about this ... you've been running your motor this way since it was new ... 86 finished octane is all it needed. At 50:1 the octane performance would be degraded to 88.5.

These degrades are already accounted for by the manufacturers in their gas recommendations.

Now for a ringer in the game ... synthetics

Most synthetics have additives to significantly suppress flammability, that's why you see often see liquid synthetic oil dripping out the stack or stinger of a motor running synthetic. This is not the majority of the oil that was mixed with the gas or alcohol ... just a small amount of it. Any oil that was sticking to the edges of the combustion chamber ... especially in a "squish band" or dammed area may not have exceeded the ignition point with the flammability suppression additive (of about 1,000 degrees) ... and when the motor is not running wide open, combustion temperature can be much lower than normal (for a race motor). So, even though most of the oil was consumed with the gas, some dripped out as unburned liquid. Mineral oil and castor oil have an ignition point some where below 200 degrees if I am not mistaken; where unsuppressed synthetic is around 300 degrees.

Enter a third player ... there is a product on the market that claims to be both lubricant and octane booster. It is a synthetic based oil. Guess what it does not have ... oh, my ... this product does not have the high temp ignition suppressant.

My theory about this product is that by accident this manufacturer discovered that the flammability suppressant decreases octane and the base synthetic increases octane. Simply leaving out the additive that suppresses ignition from the 300 degree range to the 1,000 degree range, lube oil became octane increaser. I think they sell it for about $130 a gallon, but say you can use it in addition to your regular oil at your regular ratio something like 60:1 or 50:1 to gas and get decent octane improvement.

I would really like to see some of this junk tested to see if it really provides results or if it is simply a case of it being used by guys who think their motors need a lot higher octane than they actually do (and it is doing little or nothing).