Higher octane ???

[mikes 86]

Ok,so here is my question, will higher octane gas reduce engine smoke???? I have 86-125x4 that seems to smoke a lot at idle and it just drives me nuts 50/1 mix,i have tried sea foam decarbing and cleaned fuel collection chambers didnt help, at a loss now!!!!! Thanks for any direction.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Higher octane ???

2 strokes smoke, its not the fuel, its the oil in the fuel, I've heard the more expensive synthetic oils don't smoke as much:confused-new: my cousin uses beanoil smells like an old motorcross track

 

[SkiDad]

Re: Higher octane ???

have you tried Pennzoil semi-synthetic oil or Mercury Quicksilver Oil ? I don't get much smoking with either. Pennzoil is a great price at only 16 bucks a gallon normally . Well actually this past fall i picked up 4 gallons at 8 bucks a gallon at Sam's club - quite the deal

 

[gregmsr]

Re: Higher octane ???

Don't know if high octane will reduce smoke (probably not). These were designed to run on regular 87 octane.
Instead, do a compression check to determine over-all motor health, spark check for good spark, check carb settings (1 turn out from lightly seated, a million posts on here on how to adjust), run or remove all old gas from tank and start out fresh (may be gas too rich from years of adding gas/oil/gas /oil.....). Hope this helps!

 

[Jiggz]

Re: Higher octane ???

You need to make sure you are not running the carbs too rich (careful a little rich is better than a little lean which can cause catastrophic damage to the engine) and you might want to try using synthetic oil instead. NO, higher octane gas will not reduce exhaust smoke.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Higher octane ???

My '86 125 smoked heavily when acquired. After cleaning the fuel recirculation system/puddle drains and connections and hoses, all was well. It was hard to believe how much black gunk was in the elbow.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Higher octane ???

The only thing high octane gas will reduce is the thickness of your wallet.

The problem with Force engines, and you can't correct it, is design. At the rear of the engine where water comes out is the idle relief circuit. The principal function of the two holes is to relieve back-pressure when the engine is sitting low in the water, like at idle. At idle or slow speeds, the exhaust will preferentially come out these holes. Breezes will blow it back into the boat.

You can try other oils and the other steps listed above but it is the nature of the beast to smoke some. You need to live with it.

Unfortunately, the engine only needs about 100 to 1 oil ratio at idle BUT, it needs 50 to 1 at wide open throttle. The engine does not have oil injection so yeah, it is going to get too much oil at idle. If you wanted to spend an chunk of cash, you could retro-fit a Mercury oil injection unit but that is a LOT of work and not worth the effort.

 

[Big Fish Billy]

Re: Higher octane ???

I cut my smoke about 50% switching to Penzoil from whatever I had hanging around, on my Force 40......

 

[mikes 86]

Re: Higher octane ???

Again as always great info from a great bunch of guys that I see posting on this sight, I will try cleaning my complete system including the fuel tank and start with new oil then I will get back to you all THANK YOU !!!!!!