S10 picky about its fuel

[GrahamD]

Neither of these statements rings true to me. There are lots of current Japanese engines which require premium fuel and Yamaha specs premium (91 AKI/95 RON) in the S10. Lots of folks use regular under the idea that this lightly-stressed motor probably can tolerate it fine, but this is not what Yamaha recommends and the bike has no knock sensors to protect itself. I use premium as a rule, but will run regular when it is unavailable for whatever reason.

- Mark

I have run extended distances on regular in hot weather with no probs. I would say that under some conditions it may be problematic and YAMAHA has to be sure that regardless of the conditions Mr Joe Mechanically Clueless is covered. That doesn't describe you or me but I think it's fair enough.

I also had to run E10 regular on the Strom on many occasions with a slightly higher compression. It also coped fine despite the manufacturer stating that the bike should run 95RON and No Ethanol. Turns out that the no Ethanol recommendation was just an Australian thing. There are no differences in the fuel system so that was also a bogus piece of advise from the legal department in Australia I would say.

Regardless, 95RON is safe, 91RON works but there would be situations where it is approaching the limit. In the end I do exactly what you do, but when I have to use 91RON it is generally for many tanks worth in hot dry conditions and neither the Strom (11.3:1) or the S10 (11.0:1) have had issues ridden normally or plodding through sand.

 

[Reveille]

I use diesel. It just smells better. ::018::

 

[sotipnomon]

I use diesel. It just smells better. ::018::

That's funny.

What kind of engine oil do you guys think is best?

Kidding...kidding...I could hear the keyboards winding up through the interwebs.

 

[Tremor38]

It's a twin vs. four thing. Everything else being equal, low-RPM twins require more octane to avoid pinging than higher-RPM fours.

I don't ding Yamaha for producing a bike that requires premium. Most big-bore high-performance twins do, including the S10's main competition, the R1200GS. If Yamaha were to derate this engine for regular, we'd probably lose another 5-hp and this bike is a bit horsepower challenged for its category as it is. But I do ding Yamaha for not putting a knock sensor on the engine which is a good safety net and something that the R1200GS has had since 2005. Yamaha is just being cheap.

- Mark

Yet the hew 4-valve heads are burning up when using low-grade fuel despite the knock sensor. If Yamaha decides to use one, it will be more than window dressing.

Sent from my SC-03E using Tapatalk

 

[spasm]

here in the uk, if i fill my bike up at asda super market it feels unresponsive on the throttle and sluggish. if i fill up at tesco with the premium fuel she absolutely flies and i can feel the power difference in a big way. so it definately makes a huge difference to mine.

 

[Palouse Cannon]

I have not modified my 2012 . I have used 91 octane ethanol-free gasoline and it seemed to reduce the off-idle stumble. I haven't noticed a problem when I've tested lower octanes, though I use 91. Knock sensors? Can't one hear/sense pinging and knocking? I don't think this engine is finicky. OPAL fuel?---per Wikipedia, it is an Australian fuel, with low aromatics, to combat fuel-sniffing. Dang, I recall being a youngster and putting my nose to the open fuel pipe of our '59 Chevy Nomad wagon, as it smelled wonderful, only to be picked up and shaken by my father, who bellowed at me to never do that again (though he seemed a mite happy spraying brake cleaner on most anything).

RON to Octane conversion? Internet search finds the conversion is to take RON and multiply by 0.95 to get Octane. When in doubt, I pay extra attention to the Aussies. If they have a hard time breaking something, under their conditions and their determined attempts to "test limits," I figure it oughta work for me!

 

[markjenn]

Knock sensors? Can't one hear/sense pinging and knocking?

Heavy knocking, yes. But our S10 engines have a lot of mechanical noise and if the knocking isn't pronounced, it can easily go unnoticed by many (perhaps most) riders. Manual detection of knock by sound/feel is not a complete substitute for knock sensors.

- Mark

 

[Palouse Cannon]

Thanks, Mark. I'm sure I'm behind the times on this technology. Curious, I did some googling and found this interesting stuff from ngk. http://www.ngk.de/en/products- technologies/knock-sensors/ " The knock sensor is based on a Piezo element which is compressed by an installed weight depending on the structure-borne sound of the fastening point on the engine. In the process, the Piezo element generates a charge depending on this compression and/or acceleration, which is converted to an output voltage." Interesting. Perhaps one of our techno-geeks will retrofit one to the Tenere!

 

[saltcreep]

I am glad this topic came to the surface again. I had no idea the bike needed premium. I bought it used and there was no sticker. I've been putting regular 86 in it for about a month now.

 

[snakebitten]

Yea, Yamaha really blew it. Cheap bast@%$.
All these burned pistons coulda been avoided. When will they learn?

 

[jettcity1]

Wa. state here and Mid grade i believe is 89 and premium is 91. Anyways, I run the mid almost all the time and when I did run premium it still was a little loud when snapping the throttle at low end.
I get the knocking noise with everything i run and an occasional hiccup when i snap it at the low end.
Oh well.
We have alcohol in everything here.

 

[imrubicon]

I thought about the fuel and bought extended warranty instead LOL
In the sticks higher blends can be harder tofind and the reg doesnt seem to bother it at all .
Yes Yes I know it will blow five more miles down the road and the sun shall never appear in my life again if I dont run the most $$$$ fuelI can find and heaven forbid I shall burn for ever if I use Enthanol gas products in something designed for it .
may hte motorcycles police never check me close enough to worry about
Im sure all the runined motors from not running the high oct stuff has just filled the forums here and elsewhere.

I run Midgrade if I can but dont worry or strech my fill-ups just because of it .

Kind of like some swear you have to change your oil every 3K or the motor will explode the next time you start it ::002::

Stay as close to the manual as possible and you should get many years out of this motoras seems to be few compaints about hte motor itself

 

[Philistine]

So can anyone tell me, if I had to put regular fuel in my bike would it be better for the engine to run it in the Touring mode rather than sports mode, or wont it make any difference, is it just a compression ratio thing?

 

[markjenn]

So can anyone tell me, if I had to put regular fuel in my bike would it be better for the engine to run it in the Touring mode rather than sports mode, or wont it make any difference, is it just a compression ratio thing?

There are a lot of factors in involved in an engine's appetite for octane.... CR is a big one, but certainly not the only one. (As an example, I have a bike with a 13:1 CR, compared to the S10's 11:1, and it specs lower-octane fuel.) In the S10's case, probably the biggest factors in its need for octane are how low-revving it is and how big the combustion chambers are.

There has been a lot of discussion about what T mode does, but most think it just softens throttle response so I wouldn't think it would have much affect on whether the engine pings. By the same token, it wouldn't hurt. The biggest thing you can do to reduce the risk is to go easy on the throttle, especially at low revs. Use revs to make power rather than throttle. And if you hear it pinging, back out of it if you can.

- Mark