The Role of Octane in Your Fuel

Not many motorists actually understand what the word “octane” means in relation to the fuel that they fill. In a nutshell, octane is a hydrocarbon molecule that gives gasoline the ability to resist detonating prematurely in the engine. Its role is to prevent engine knocking or pinging during combustion.

An octane “rating” is a measure of the amount of hydrocarbon that is present in everyday gasoline. The higher the octane number, the greater the fuel's resistance to knocking. The octane rating also refers to how much the fuel-to-air mixture can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites.

The role of octane in your fuel is to be a combustion retardant ie. to prevent the gas from exploding before the piston reaches the right place. With a low octane rating, the explosion will happen prematurely, causing damage to your engine over time.

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