Same or Different
 

I understand that all fuels are not exactly the same. The question I have is simply what is the difference between Aircraft fuel and Car/Truck Fuel, other than the color.

RE: Same or Different
 

Oil content. Car/Truck fuel generally has much less oil in it than does airplane fuel.

Use fuel intended for the correct application (car fuel=cars, plane fuel=planes) and you'll be OK.

RE: Same or Different
 

Thanks for the info. I thought the biggest difference would be the oil content, but thought the Car/Truck would have more oil due to their engines being more enclosed without the benifit of airflow from prop.

RE: Same or Different
 

Well..I suppose there's several reasons that the car/truck motors use considerably less oil in the fuel, but one thing is for certain and that is they live very short lives too.

Your airplane engine is going to be in deep trouble if you opt to run a low-oil car fuel in it. Stick with the airplane fuels.

RE: Same or Different
 

I always used to wonder how the car engines got away with so little oil but after my son got a car and I saw how they were used I think it's probably because the engine only gets to peak revs for maybe at most 5 seconds on a straight, after that it's all on again off again....blat...blat....blat :). Then they throw the engine away after a couple of hours use. However I talked my son into using 20% all castor because I don't consider an engine to be a throw-away item :). So far it's only had about 2 gallons through it but there's not a trace of wear in it.

RE: Same or Different
 

Strange thing is -- that this "on again off again" running is probably real bad from a lubrication perspective.

2-stroke engines don't like running on a trailing throttle because it means that the RPMs and a degree of load are still present but there's very little fuel (ie: very little oil) passing through the crankcase (throttle is closed) to provide the lubrication.

And just for the record -- I'm on about my sixth gallon of fuel blended with 12% Coopers oil and my engines are still "as new" too!

If you use a good oil, you don't need anywhere near as much as you might think you do.