No, sorry, that's a falsehood as well. Some "taking it easy" techniques (i.e. running tall) can cause det, so even this approach isn't a guarantee of safety.

The safe approach is to use booster at all times, until/unless a KnockLink tells you you're det free. As stated above, it's preferable to "waste" a few quid per tankful on booster you don't really need, than volunteer for the expense and disruption of a failure and rebuild.

 

Got a 96 wrx wagon import. Bin running super since i bought it. No problems - in fact car runs better with it. Reading from the start of the thread this chap may find it hard to fit a scoobyecu to a wrx wagon as the turbo and ecu are different.

 

Just remember (to a degree) the leaner the car runs on boost the more power it makes. it isn't co-incedence when somebody's engine goes, they remark that it was going better than ever last week.

Also there are/will be ScoobyECU maps available for a wagon

 

A well respected advertiser on this site advised me not to bother getting a knocklink, apparently the sensor can't be fitted in the correct location due to one that's fitted by subaru.

 

Rubbish, care to tell us who this respected advertiser is? As long as the piezo transducer is bolted firmly to the block, the exact location isn't critical, it'll still pick up the majority of any noise.

 

Greasemonkey - your the only person insisting to run octane booster. The others above have said they run optimax without probs.

Now you have your view, but wouldnt it be ok to listen to other peoples views?

I dont think its a tad irresponsible saying to run just optimax. Go to a meet and ask how many people run normal optimax. Most scoobs in the country run just optimax, its just the few people who occasionally put octane booster in and then tell everyone to put it in cause they are right.

You say dont put in octane booster and you are saving money but expect rebuild. I can name 10 people from around this area easily who dont use octane booster and havent had a rebuild? Point is i dont understand where you have worked out rebuilds come from people not using octane booster?

 

No I'm not M0NEY. Did you miss Bob Rawle's comment about running the equivalent of 100 octane to be safe?

Stop putting words in my mouth. At no point have I insisted that folk run booster. What I said was that doing so is a lower-risk option.

See reference to Bob's comment above. Or is he wrong as well?

My views are a result of my own experience. That experience won't instantly be changed by a couple of posts on Scoobynet from people who haven't had problems with their cars just yet. There are plenty enough posts from people who have had problems to confirm that there are genuine risks with these cars.

Rofl! How do you know, have you run a poll? Most of the Imprezas in the UK are UK market cars, so it goes without saying that "most" of them will be able to run safely on regular pump fuel alone!

No, I didn't say that at all. Why are you so keen to invent things? I said that, until you have a KnockLink and thus are in a position to know your car is running safely, using booster is a sensible, risk reducing option. At no point did I claim that not using booster will inevitably result in a failure, and nor did I claim that using it will somehow guarantee that your engine will never break.

Again, stop inventing things! At no point did I claim that "rebuilds come from people not using octane booster", I said that not using booster increases the chance of your (Japanese) import suffering from detonation, and that detonation increases your chance of a failure.

If you have unprotected sex with a large number of partners, you are not guaranteed to catch HIV. However, there is a risk, and one that wearing a condom will significantly decrease. Octane booster is, in this case, like a condom, it reduces the risk of you catching something nasty. Do you not understand the logic here or somethng?

 

ROTFLMAO at that last paragraph. You should speak to octane booster and get that to put them on the bottle. lmfao!!!!

Comparing octane booster with condoms - i give up. lol

Just this quote though:

"There are plenty enough posts from people who have had problems to confirm that there are genuine risks with these cars"

Please show me where people have had problems which is the result of not using booster? And that its proven it was the result of not using octane booster

 

Greasemonkey - Bob says:

"You should use equiv of 100 ron to be safe.

Optimax is 98.6

Do not use Ultimate on its own."

Please show me where he says not to use Optimax on its own?? He says not to use Ultimate, very enough. But doesnt say not to use Optimax on its own. Just says you should run quivalent of 100 run (just over 1 ron out)

Or am i missing a sentence here that you are reading??

 

If the "equivalent of 100 ron" is necessary for "safety", and yet Opti is 98.6, what do you think that implies?

 

my thoughts

i dont run a knocklink, but i do have a select monitor type display which can show knocking (although its after its actualy detted)

i havent seen any knock correction while just useing optimax, BUT i add booster to be safe

97 wrx, i think a lot of it will depend on the car and its past

 

just to be safe, we should emphasise that you shouldn't substitute octane booster for a condom. Girlfriend/wife might enjoy the bottle more though

 

Equivalent doesnt mean dead on?! So 98.6 would be pretty close

LMFAO at Ozzy!!!!

 

It's interesting to read people's views on the old 'booster, or not to booster' threads!

I have an MY 93 WRX, which has been running quite happily for the past 4 years on SUL & Optimax. No real mods, except full decat. The car often hits the red line, has been max'd out in 5th, done sustained 120mph running in Europe, and has now done well over 100,000 miles....no probs.

I occasionally use booster when the weather is hot (over 25degC) and I know the car is going to be driven hard.

I fitted a knocklink last year, and the car has never hinted at any det - even with the odd 95 RON tank when I've been caught short.

A friend has an identical car, and usually runs his on 95 RON. Again, he seems to have had no problems - although I don't think it's had quite as hard a life as mine!

So, in conclusion, not all imports need 100 RON fuel to run without det...

 

Dave, dont say that, Greasemonkey wont agree and we will be here all day with this topic! lol

 

Well, funnily enough, that's exactly what I said further up the thread Dave. I've never tried to intimate that they all det. What I have said is that there's a risk (as posts here will bear out), and that it's safer to use it than not to.

And no, M0NEY, if 100 RON is necessary to be safe, I don't think that 98.something is close enough.

 

Never said 100ron to be safe. It was said EQUIVALENT of 100ron.

And it was never said by Bob NOT to use optimax on its own. Just said not to use Ultimate on its own

 

I have now had five RA's of various ages.

All have been run hard on track for the majority of their lives.

All have had knock-links fitted. anyone who says that there ain't no point having one is talking through their ****, or maybe you just mis-interpreted what they were saying

All have been run with octane booster. Never have I had one let go.

All five RAs have detted to varying degrees if I have had to run without OB.

All five RAs have shown significantly less knock-link activity with octane booster added.

I'm not in to wasting money, I'm a northerner after all.

I would not buy octane booster if it gave negligible results.

you make your own judgements though, after all, we know f*ck all

 

im with the boys RRH and Greasemonkey on this one.


i have a type r v5 which had a knocklink fitted as first mod, then decat and straightthrough exhaust. with 95 RON it lights up immediately to full (DANGER), with 97/ultimate it flashes high over 5000 revs. with Optimax it flashes when really really ragging it (which for a type r is extremely hard to do on the roads of london).

of all the suppliers i have spoken to most have advised me as per above, for saftey sake get OB and not one of them sold it!! there have been a few guys on here that i trust advising that det doesnt always equal instant meltdown but it certainly puts the car in an element of danger.

i am sure there are people who will insist that they got away with it. and i believe them however i am not prepared to risk it on the basis that it does seem to make sense. low octane makes the car det! det CAN equal piston trouble.

i am now using NF Octane Boost.

therefore my very humble advice is fit a knocklink by the end of the week.
keep optimax in the tank wherever possible. never touch anything like normal unleaded unless you are feeling really lucky........punk!

and if you track or cane the **** out of your car get octane boost or remap it, at least you can tell your mates you have to add "Octane Boost" into your petrol to drive it. they will think your the daddy!!

 

Money, you and your mate have not had problems without using OB, that's great. I take your point that it's hard to say for sure that poor fuel can be the major cause to damaged JDM engines but Greasemonkey is just saying that we should remember that the ECU on these cars is set up for 100 ron or equivalent (equivalent means equal not approximate BTW) and that we should acknowledge that and take extra care (and perhaps use 100ron or remap ECU).

For me, I am going to use OB for now. I don't see why, after spending loads of cash (relatively) to get a quick car, and then a fair bit more to mod it into a quicker car, I should now be a tight bugger and not spend £2.50 with every tank. It gives me a few more horses afterall (good psychological effect) and also peace of mind.

 

mmm some people have posted on this thread about running imports on 95RON without a problem.

I thought I'd better add a note of caution and relate my own experience.

Driving in the Scottish Highlands, almost out of gas, filling station didn't have SUL and numpty driver was out of OB (that had always been used in the car since being imported). Put 95 RON in - just enough to get to next station which had SUL which was 15 miles away - driving with light foot on gas - the engine lasted 6 miles before number 3 piston let go big style!!!!! Bill Greer at Greersport then had to get an engine imported for me.

So now 95RON doesn't go near my import unless its an emergency and I have added several bottles of Millers.

I'm delighted to hear that some people haven't had a problem but bear in mind that some do! I laughed at the condom analogy earlier but as its been raised I will use it again - not everyone who doesn't use a condom gets AIDS - however!!!! Some DO!

I guess the best solution must be an ECU mapped to whatever you want to use - with me its Optimax! I would much rather err on the side of caution!
I accept that my engine will eventually go pop as the car is running higher boost and much more power than standard and I don't always drive at 40mph!!! . That's why I'm ordering a US STi 2.5 block ready to go in when this one lets go!

However in the meantime I'd like this one to keep going for a while therefore I have a knocklink and run as close as possible to the jap spec fuel the engine is currently mapped for - for me that's Optimax and OB - I see no knocklink activity running Optimax on its own but if I have to put ordinary SUL in I see activity. So rather than relive the past I use OB all the time.

Once my new ECU is fitted by Bob I can revert to Optimax alone and only add OB when a lower Octane fuel has to be used.

So its not just old wives tales about 95RON!!!! It might not happen to you BUT.......... Be careful folks - wear your condoms!!!

 

Lmfao at condoms!

Ok what about Optimax and resetting the ecu which then takes the next 80 mile drive or whatever it is to adjust itself?

Roojai - i never said me and my mate. I said the majority of subarus down here. Every subaru thats come into the garage - i dont think one runs Octane booster. As the garage services imports, i thought it should be posted up as we havent done a rebuild on any of them and there are a fair few of scoobs that have come through.

The ra - driven hard on track loads of times. I would use octane booster. Its obviously being driven hard 24/7 so it would be stupid not to

Type R with decat and only lights up when thrashing the sh*t out of it.

So maye if your going to drive normally, no booster but if you fancy racing everything on the street then booster would be advisable

 

Condoms can split

Even if you run Opti+OB the car can still det if A Intake charge is to high B Slight oil ingress into the combustion chambet C etc etc

Cheers Grant

 

Of course. That's why an instant AIDS test (in the form of a KnockLink) is also a wise precaution. If the red light comes on, pull your **** out quick...

Of course it can, don't recall anyone saying otherwise though. Point remains though that if your car is suffering either of these problems, the det will be worse if you don't use booster than it will be if you do, no?

 

I'm also with GM on this one. My MY98 WRX dets and the knocklink lights up big time when running Optimax on its own. I now always use an octane booster.

Stupid not to, in my opinion. I pay £2.44 for millers for each tank full.

 

In my experience using a Booster = very smooth running car with good pickup/no hesitation.
I use booster for this reason regardless of possible det/piston melt and for the relative small extra cost I'm happy to do so.
Whatever ppl's opinion we are told JDM cars are setup to run on 100 ron fuel and I try to achieve that, If you run the car on 95 ron and it runs great then fine but I prefer the "condom approach"
You have to form your own opinion from what you experience, try booster in the tank for a few weeks, if the car feels better keep using it, if not then stop, but in all honesty you won't get a difinitive answer one way or the other on here.

Mark.

 

ERR shell sell 100 ron at the pump in germany, it used to be optimax now its v power maybe ull get it soon. I hope

 

Do you still get tokens from work for that too?

 

as i guess most of us are agreed that OB is generally a good idea (but not mandatory ), then the next question would be what are the main differences between some of the £2-3 per bottle stuff versus the £11-£15 stuff found on here.

i am not asking this as a start to a slanging match between product "champions", just purely out of interest so that people reading can make their own decision as to buy from the group buys or pick up in Halfords.

any comments?

 

a lot of the expensive ones you have to measure out to get the right amount per tank ful. for example, I used 1/6 of a bootle of NF race for road use, 1/3 for track use. think its available in single shot bottle too.

the majority of the cheaper OBs are one bottle per tank- I tend to buy a couple of cases of Millers and keep them in the boot.