Fuel Type Requirement

[4x15mph]

Is it true that you only have to use 87 Octane for an AR192 or SX192? Is that what the manual lists?

Does anyone know if the new 195 requires 90+. I would think the SVHO would require this premium fuel

 

[texmo02]

You are correct, from all I have read. 87 for our boats. The higher boost in the SVHO requires 91 octane. I don't think either engine has knock sensors to retard timing, so 87 or 89 in the SVHO could be trouble. Our SHO do 'heat soak' - I believe the engine is just detecting air temperature after the intercooler and reduces max rpm. This in part allows 87 octane to run safely.

 

[malibu Dan]

I have a gas station very close to the boat launch that sells ethanol free premium... Any thoughts about using this in 2017 ar195 with SVHO?

 

[d_coyne1984]

I have a gas station very close to the boat launch that sells ethanol free premium... Any thoughts about using this in 2017 ar195 with SVHO?

If you need premium and can get ethanol free, I would go for it. E-10 fuels will hold more water than standard gasoline. This is not ideal for two reasons. Reason 1 is that you are running more water through your engine, which as we all know, causes metal to corrode. Not every piece of our engines are aluminum so that is not ideal, but they engines are (supposedly built to handle it). Reason 2, and this is the big one, is phase separation. This happens when the E-10 is fully saturated with water and can hold no more. The ethanol and water will separate from the gasoline leaving a destructive mixture on the bottom of your fuel tank. If this happens and the water/ethanol gets pulled into the engine, it can cause a catastrophic failure of your engine. I don't worry to much about this during the season on my 192 because the 192's are kind of piggy and I burn through a half tank usually every weekend, but for winter storage I always fill up with ethanol free premium and add fuel stabilizer. So if you already need premium, you might as well put the ethanol free in. To my knowledge there is no extra benefit of ethanol fuel mixtures unless you are a corn farmer.

 

[malibu Dan]

Thanks for the info. I guess I will be making a stop at that gas station on the way to the launch. And especially at the end of the season for winterizing ..

 

[swatski]

The SVHO requires a minimum of 91 octane. Period.

You can still easily blow your engine with low octane fuel if you run full throttle. With any supercharged ski, I would only use the highest octane available at the pump.

You can very safely cruise back home on regular if you must, just don't engage the boost. I don't think Yamahas have knock sensors. Most octane boosters are snake oil. Torco works, but mostly just retarding the ignition, not so much raising octane number. Lots of literature and good reading on that. Lots of BS, too.

 

[haknslash]

SVHO requires 91. SHO motor I run 89 in mine at whatever major name brand gas station sells it the cheapest. I don't bother with non-ethanol as it doesn't really make a lot of sense (to me) to spend that kind of money with a 30 gallon fuel tank and a boat that can drink it up in a day of heavy use. Sure, maybe if I wasn't using my boat often then ethanol would be more of a concern to me. End of the year when you put the boat away be sure you top it off with as much fuel as possible so there isn't any area for water or condensation to form inside the tank contaminating your fuel. Add in Stabil or similar product to keep fuel fresh for when its time to take it out of storage.

Edit we posted at the same time lol

 

[4x15mph]

Should the 192 series also be running high octane since I think I read that the skis with that engine recommend 90/91? With a higher octane, the engine would run cooler, right? Would that solve some of the heat soak problem that some are having or maybe even some "pinging" from running too low an octane?

 

[swatski]

Should the 192 series also be running high octane since I think I read that the skis with that engine recommend 90/91? With a higher octane, the engine would run cooler, right? Would that solve some of the heat soak problem that some are having or maybe even some "pinging" from running too low an octane?

I think you are right on. While technically not required, the higher octane rating means it has less energy and takes more heat and compression to explode or burn. Therefore, the engine can run cooler.
It is possible to lose a little power running too high of an octane but the reward of having the extra safety of high octane is worth it.

Importantly, these engines do not have knock sensors.

 

[Peter simon]

I went to look at the 195 and it says the boat needs 91 octane. I asked the dealer because even his marina doesn't have more than 89 not does any place on our lake have 91. He said i sell plenty of 195s and everyone uses 89. I was planning on keeping it in the water so i am limited to gas available on the lake (Lake Wylie, SC). Any thoughts?

 

[d_coyne1984]

Most modern engines will self adjust to prevent engine knock which happens when you use a lower octane fuel than your motor is designed for. There will just be a slight reduction in engine performance. It might not even be enough that you would notice. My guess is you will loose 2 mph off the top and a little low end punch. My truck recommends 89 but unless I am towing I usually just run 87.

 

[FLBulldogger]

Lower octane = hotter engines generally! Not to mention the loss of performance from the super-charger from the lower octane. I'm sure the guy sells lots of 195's but does he also have to service them later down the road? Get an AR190 and no need to worry and all Good luck! I'm sure @haknslash and some of the other SC'd engine owner's will have better info!

 

[FLBulldogger]

Most modern engines will self adjust to prevent engine knock which happens when you use a lower octane fuel than your motor is designed for. There will just be a slight reduction in engine performance. It might not even be enough that you would notice. My guess is you will loose 2 mph off the top and a little low end punch. My truck recommends 89 but unless I am towing I usually just run 87.

Not sure these motors have knock sensors....I'd be very cautious about running a supercharged engine with anything but a high octane gas, don't know if the engine would handle the heat very well.

 

[haknslash]

Lower octane = hotter engines generally! Not to mention the loss of performance from the super-charger from the lower octane. I'm sure the guy sells lots of 195's but does he also have to service them later down the road? Get an AR190 and no need to worry and all Good luck! I'm sure @haknslash and some of the other SC'd engine owner's will have better info!

The SHO engines are tuned to run on 87 octane while the SVHO engines are tuned for higher octane due to higher boost.

 

[FLBulldogger]

@haknslash so what about the dealer telling @Peter simon about running lower octane? Any downside that you can see?

 

[d_coyne1984]

The other alternative to fueling up on the lake, which will be A LOT cheaper, is to get fuel caddy and just fill up at your slip and then you can fuel up on whatever you want.

 

[haknslash]

@haknslash so what about the dealer telling @Peter simon about running lower octane? Any downside that you can see?

His dealer is wrong and like most, gives out crap advice for owning these boats. Yes plenty of downsides to running the wrong recommended fuel. Everyone on Greenhulk who's been running these engines for years will tell him to run the recommended fuel or else risk knocking and potentially damage the engine if under high boost or RPM.

I never take any advice as gospel from Yamaha dealers. That's like the guy that never uses a torque wrench and just goes off feel because hey ...what's the difference a fastener is a fastener right lol.

 

[haknslash]

The other alternative to fueling up on the lake, which will be A LOT cheaper, is to get fuel caddy and just fill up at your slip and then you can fuel up on whatever you want.

Yup that is would what I would do if I had a place on the water regardless if there was a marina or not on the lake. Yea a little more work dealing with the fuel caddy but so much cheaper and better in the long run.

 

[Peter simon]

Thank you guys for the info. I think we was trying to sell me the 195 with any lie because he had 1 190 left but 5 195.

 

[Seibert74]

I purchased a 2013 SX192 just before Memorial Day. Like everyone else, my boat suffered heat soak within minutes with the stock intercooler. I quickly purchased a NOS SVHO intercooler from Riva Motorsports, installed it, and ran it like I stole it. This cured my heat soak issues nicely.

Regarding fuel octane, on all of my boats I have always fed them 91 octane non-oxygenated fuel. My SX192 was no different and the boat ran just fine with it.

After reading the forums here (and the Yamaha owners manual) I ran a full tank of 87 octane gas with 10% ethanol. After 20 minutes of running at 6000 rpm (not quite WOT), the dreaded heat soak was back and I lost 500 rpm and could barely get above 40 mph. I was so frustrated! I thought I was going to save some cash on fuel by using the 87 octane but to no avail.

Just yesterday, I filled up again with 91 octane, non-oxy fuel and headed for the lake. The entire day and 3/4 of a tank of fuel burn later, I am happy to report that I had zero heat soak issues once again. That settled it for me - I will only use 91 octane, non-oxygenated fuel in my 2013 SX192!

On all three days of testing I had almost identical atmospheric conditions; 85 degree air temp, 79 degree water temp, and 5-10 mph wind. Payload consisted of full fuel load (30 gallons), 2 adults, 2 children, 25 liter cooler filled with water and ice.

Everything on the boat is bone stock except the SVHO intercooler with 2 dedicated discharge lines.