Getting ready for my first season on an '02 XC SP 700 I bought at the end of last season. Haven't been riding long but have found it a little tricky to find non-oxygenated gas around the metro. What damage can be done running oxygenated gas in the sled? How big a difference does running higher octante make?


Thanks for your help!

:beerchug:

i think you just need to add fuel to your mixture if you run oxygenated gas. someone chime in to correct me if im wrong.

polaris has jetted their sleds to use oxygenated fuel since around '96.
take a look at what jets are currently installed in your sled.
the stock main jet is a #500.

using too small of a jet with oxygenated fuel will cause the fuel/air mixture to be leaner when compared to using non-oxygenated fuel
with the same jetting.

there my be 1/2 of jet size differance in spot on jetting but if your a trail rider you NEVER want to be that close to a burn down..... If your plugs are tan your fine for any cind of fuel in that temp range and elevation. basicly oxigenated fuel mixed with 10% ethenole may need one size differance if your doing more then a 1000 ' at WOT , stock jets are most times 2 sizes larger then the worst case ever needed..... haveingsaid that the 2002 xc line wasnt set as rich as most production sleds have .... (maybe one size to large worst case)

the oxygented fuel actually has ethanol (alcohol) in it. it does raise the point at which detonations happens (increase octane), but kills performance. there are not as many BTU's in alcohol as in gas. so you need more alcohol to make the same power. XC-Mark is right about the jetting, running oxy-fuel vs regular gas, you will run leaner with oxy-fuel and the same jet size than with gas. oxy-fuel is the dumbest thing in the world IMHO. it's all about lowering emmissions, but nobody (greenies that pushed the legislation) thought take into account that you need to use more volume to get the same job done. sure one gallon of oxy-fuel gives off less pollutants than one gallon of gas, but you need 1.2ish gallons of oxy-fuel to get the same net power as one gallon of gas. the extra oxy-fuel to make the same BTU as gas pushes the total emmissions level higher than regular gas. also watch out for fuel stations that don't do lots of business and have oxy-fuel. if the tanks sit for a long time without getting stirred (filled), the alcohol can settle out of the fuel and you get a real shitty tank full, either real bad gas or real high alcohol depending on supply trank level. it will make your jetting very irratic. if you get the gas, the octane is low and detonation becomes a problem, if you get the alcohol, your jetting goes way lean.