philthyphil Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 I know there is already a couple of threads here on this subject, but I haven't really been able to gather an answer from what I've read. I've read in several places to simply use 87 octane unleaded gas in the USA. I've only used 87 octane, which is the least expensive stuff, in my bike since I've had it. I've had it since it was new. I have 600 miles on it now. (Getting ready to do first oil change after writing this post). Today when I was riding, at lower speed, I could hear a slight ticking sound coming from what seems like the engine. I've read in several places that this is normal for the FZ 07. I've also read that this could be being caused by running the cheap gas that I'm running. I always use either Cheveron, or 76, but always 87 octane. My bike is 100% stock. Should I be running a higher octane? And is this ticking sound normal, or is it the result of 87 octane? Next time I fill up I'll try premium and see if the ticking still persists, but I also want to hear from you all about your experience with this bike pertaining to fuel octane and ticking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member norcal616 Posted January 6, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted January 6, 2017 87 is what you need...the ticking sounds is more than likely the noisey stock chain or since your bike is 100% its soo darn quite you hear much more noises like the fuel injectors working, the stock chain, etc... As for premium gas, i use it since i have a 2wdw flash tune and i recall it was recommend... 2015 fz-07- Hordpower Edition...2015 fj-09- 120whp- Graves Exhaust w/Woolich Race Kit- tuned by 2WDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineappleunderthesea Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Put in higher octane and see what happens. I'd bet you'll still hear the ticking, likely valves. It was horrible on my last Honda, but all normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versysrider Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Premium fuel is never necessary in an FZ-07 unless it's highly modded and tuned for it, even then you could probably still use regular. Detonation/pre-ignition usually only occurs under load, high temps, or both. I have for many years run regular - 87 octane in all kinds of vehicles that the manufacture says need premium. Not saying anyone else should do that, but you will likely hear if your engine needs a higher octane. On a side note: I've always run the cheapest fuel I could find usually Safeway and Arco with never any problems for hundreds of thousands of miles in cars, trucks, boats, bikes (street and dirt), atv's etc. Occasionally I'll ride with someone that will refuse to fill up when I get gas because they think horrible things will happen to their bike or something, I just laugh in my helmet. Do what you want, but you may actually lose power in an engine not designed to run premium, as it is harder for our engine to combust. Oh, the ticking may be your cam chain tensioner, or even your injectors firing, probably not the valves. Valves usually tighten up. '16 Yamaha FZ-07, '15 Yamaha FZ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamster Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Yeap, that sound should not be related to fuel octane - generally any engine will appreciate higher octane fuel, delivering a bit more or power, but not really noticeable. I use 89 - in Europe, they have only 95 or 98, even better than in the US. Safe riding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member forcefed86 Posted January 6, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted January 6, 2017 Ticking may be from the timing chain tensioner? Ive always ran 91 from day 1 and my friend runs only 87. Both our bikes are stock, his a 15 and mine a 16 and i pulled him when we messed on the open road. Not to mentioned i got wayyy more extra millage than him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member dony Posted January 7, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted January 7, 2017 I use Shell 91 in Canada. My bike really seems to like it but the main reason I have used it from day one is that it contains no ethanol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthyphil Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 I use Shell 91 in Canada. My bike really seems to like it but the main reason I have used it from day one is that it contains no ethanol.Yea, I wish I could find gas that didn't contain ethanol. I've heard nothing good about running that stuff. Almost every gas station in California has the ethanol blend as far as I understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member dony Posted January 7, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted January 7, 2017 I use Shell 91 in Canada. My bike really seems to like it but the main reason I have used it from day one is that it contains no ethanol.Yea, I wish I could find gas that didn't contain ethanol. I've heard nothing good about running that stuff. Almost every gas station in California has the ethanol blend as far as I understand. It is much more of a concern in bikes with carbs or bikes the sit long between rides but it can still cause problems. Where I live there are a few stations that have ethanol free gas but it is usually the most expensive option but I think the FZ is worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2wheeler Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 I use Shell 91 in Canada. My bike really seems to like it but the main reason I have used it from day one is that it contains no ethanol.Yea, I wish I could find gas that didn't contain ethanol. I've heard nothing good about running that stuff. Almost every gas station in California has the ethanol blend as far as I understand. I was recommended this Yamaha additive by a mechanic buddy, and have been adding it to my tank anytime I know it's going to be sitting for a couple weeks or more. I've been using it for several years on a variety of bikes, including ones with carbs. I haven't had any problems. https://www.shopyamaha.com/product/details/fuel-med-rx?b=Search&d=34|34&dealernumber= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beemer Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 The only thing higher octane gas is going to eliminate is pinging or knocking. The ticking is normal and you will be wasting your money if you buy higher grades of gasoline unless it's ethanol free, which burns better (cleaner) from a lack of detergents that don't like to burn. Also, you aren't going to tell any difference in power because of it but over the life of the bike cleaner gasoline will likely make a difference to the engine and give you a few more miles of life. Beemer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassecou Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 The only thing higher octane gas is going to eliminate is pinging or knocking. The ticking is normal and you will be wasting your money if you buy higher grades of gasoline unless it's ethanol free, which burns better (cleaner) from a lack of detergents that don't like to burn. Also, you aren't going to tell any difference in power because of it but over the life of the bike cleaner gasoline will likely make a difference to the engine and give you a few more miles of life. Why does all my posts start with "What Beemer said" . Yeap, 87, 87, 87, 87. Anything more is a waste of money. Yes, the clicking noise you are hearing is certainly the chain, the noise your bike would make if it needed higher octane would be a "knocking" sound, very different sound, from early engine detonation due to high piston compression, before spark plugs ignition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthyphil Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 The only thing higher octane gas is going to eliminate is pinging or knocking. The ticking is normal and you will be wasting your money if you buy higher grades of gasoline unless it's ethanol free, which burns better (cleaner) from a lack of detergents that don't like to burn. Also, you aren't going to tell any difference in power because of it but over the life of the bike cleaner gasoline will likely make a difference to the engine and give you a few more miles of life. Why does all my posts start with "What Beemer said" . Yeap, 87, 87, 87, 87. Anything more is a waste of money. Yes, the clicking noise you are hearing is certainly the chain, the noise your bike would make if it needed higher octane would be a "knocking" sound, very different sound, from early engine detonation due to high piston compression, before spark plugs ignition. After researching this extensively I agree, higher octane gas isn't necessary for the ticking sound that is coming from my bike's engine. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that the ticking sound that I'm referring to is not the chain. I know this because I can faintly hear the ticking sound with the bike at idle and not moving, and hence the chain is not moving or making any sound. The chain does make plenty of noise when the bike is in motion, but it is a very distinct sound that is separate and all together different than the ticking sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthyphil Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 Yea, I wish I could find gas that didn't contain ethanol. I've heard nothing good about running that stuff. Almost every gas station in California has the ethanol blend as far as I understand. I was recommended this Yamaha additive by a mechanic buddy, and have been adding it to my tank anytime I know it's going to be sitting for a couple weeks or more. I've been using it for several years on a variety of bikes, including ones with carbs. I haven't had any problems. https://www.shopyamaha.com/product/details/fuel-med-rx?b=Search&d=34|34&dealernumber= Thanks for the tip! That looks like some good stuff. I'll definitely pick some of that up if I ever have my bike sitting out of operation for any extended period of time, which probably won't be any time in the near future since my FZ 07 is my only source of motorized transportation. But I'm sure that at some point my bike will end up parked in the garage for a week or more with out being started, and I will definitely give this stuff a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versysrider Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Yea, I wish I could find gas that didn't contain ethanol. I've heard nothing good about running that stuff. Almost every gas station in California has the ethanol blend as far as I understand. I was recommended this Yamaha additive by a mechanic buddy, and have been adding it to my tank anytime I know it's going to be sitting for a couple weeks or more. I've been using it for several years on a variety of bikes, including ones with carbs. I haven't had any problems. https://www.shopyamaha.com/product/details/fuel-med-rx?b=Search&d=34|34&dealernumber= I never tried "fuel med rx", but I do use "Sea Foam" occasionally, it's great for many things. It works for winter storage, clogged carbs, carbon build-up, freeing up stuck lifters, etc. Use in the crankcase or fuel tank, gas or diesel, great for lawn mowers too. '16 Yamaha FZ-07, '15 Yamaha FZ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthyphil Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 I was recommended this Yamaha additive by a mechanic buddy, and have been adding it to my tank anytime I know it's going to be sitting for a couple weeks or more. I've been using it for several years on a variety of bikes, including ones with carbs. I haven't had any problems. https://www.shopyamaha.com/product/details/fuel-med-rx?b=Search&d=34|34&dealernumber= I never tried "fuel med rx", but I do use "Sea Foam" occasionally, it's great for many things. It works for winter storage, clogged carbs, carbon build-up, freeing up stuck lifters, etc. Use in the crankcase or fuel tank, gas or diesel, great for lawn mowers too. I have used Sea Foam in allot of my cars and trucks and have had good results there. Sea foam makes an automatic transmission additive, and the stuff really saved my butt one time. Kind of off topic for a motorcycle forum, but I used to have a 96' Dodge 2500 3/4 ton pickup truck that I used for work. The transmission started slipping and doing weird stuff on me at about 170,000 miles on the truck. It seemed like it was on its way to the scrap heap. I poured in a bottle of the Sea Foam transmission additive and once that stuff worked itself into the system all of the weirdness stopped. I used that truck for another two years after that and the tranny never gave me any problems. I don't want to say this would work in every instance of a bad trans but it sure worked for me. Since then I've been a strong proponent of Sea Foam products. I use it in my lawn mower, weed eaters, chain saws, cars, and just about everything. I haven't put any in my bike yet. I've always used it on older, more used and worn engines and transmissions to kinda breath new life into them. I imagine it would be great for the bike too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineappleunderthesea Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Oh, the ticking may be your cam chain tensioner, or even your injectors firing, probably not the valves. Valves usually tighten up. My previous bike (Honda Shadow) ticked quite a bit, and that thing was carburated and shaft-driven. The Shadow community seemed to point at "valve-clatter" (since it wasn't injected, it couldn't be "injection-clatter"), but to your point I have no clue if that was indeed the issue, and if this valve-chatter occurs on Yamahas in general (and frankly I'm at bit vague as to what valve-clatter is in the first place). All I know is that I never got rid of it, even after trying different oil brands / viscosities, but the bike ran well and the ticking never got louder (or softer!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versysrider Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 I never tried "fuel med rx", but I do use "Sea Foam" occasionally, it's great for many things. It works for winter storage, clogged carbs, carbon build-up, freeing up stuck lifters, etc. Use in the crankcase or fuel tank, gas or diesel, great for lawn mowers too. I have used Sea Foam in allot of my cars and trucks and have had good results there. Sea foam makes an automatic transmission additive, and the stuff really saved my butt one time. Kind of off topic for a motorcycle forum, but I used to have a 96' Dodge 2500 3/4 ton pickup truck that I used for work. The transmission started slipping and doing weird stuff on me at about 170,000 miles on the truck. It seemed like it was on its way to the scrap heap. I poured in a bottle of the Sea Foam transmission additive and once that stuff worked itself into the system all of the weirdness stopped. I used that truck for another two years after that and the tranny never gave me any problems. I don't want to say this would work in every instance of a bad trans but it sure worked for me. Since then I've been a strong proponent of Sea Foam products. I use it in my lawn mower, weed eaters, chain saws, cars, and just about everything. I haven't put any in my bike yet. I've always used it on older, more used and worn engines and transmissions to kinda breath new life into them. I imagine it would be great for the bike too!Didn't know about the auto tranny specific additive, good to know. '16 Yamaha FZ-07, '15 Yamaha FZ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteinpa Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 In the USA it calls for 86. At 87 we are already up 1 point. I even question with ECU flashes if more is called for. Unless they also advance the ignition timing for more power. Got new red 2015 FZ-07 on 7/22/16! Black 2006 Honda ST1300 53K miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarGuy7a Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 I've always ran high test in mine. 91 or higher. No more than it costs to fill this thing up I figure why not it's only 5 bucks from the last bar on the dash. I run 91 or higher in all my bikes and ATVs without any problems, except for my CRF450R supermoto I run some Renegade 112 race fuel in it every once in a while just for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteinpa Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Let me take this further...using 93 octane in an engine set up to use 86 wastes power and gas. High octane gas resists heat, pressure, and burning. Running it in an engine set up for 86 sends un-burnt gas out the tail pipe. Start running 87 and if you can find it 87 no ethanol, and tell me how much power you feel. Got new red 2015 FZ-07 on 7/22/16! Black 2006 Honda ST1300 53K miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugeyes Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Ticking at low revs has nothing to do with octane, knocking at high revs does. You gain nothing from more expensive gas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamfisted Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Engine knock is almost always induced under heavy load. If you can hear it at idle then it definitely is NOT knock and you don't need to bother with trying higher octane. Knock is usually described as "marbles in the engine" and IMO that's a good descriptor. The "pinging" sound will come at random intervals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crsnhppr Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 This engines valves are kinda noisy imo, always has been in mine , at 18k miles right now running strong tick and all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reboot Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Why does all my posts start with "What Beemer said" . Yeap, 87, 87, 87, 87. Anything more is a waste of money. Yes, the clicking noise you are hearing is certainly the chain, the noise your bike would make if it needed higher octane would be a "knocking" sound, very different sound, from early engine detonation due to high piston compression, before spark plugs ignition. After researching this extensively I agree, higher octane gas isn't necessary for the ticking sound that is coming from my bike's engine. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that the ticking sound that I'm referring to is not the chain. I know this because I can faintly hear the ticking sound with the bike at idle and not moving, and hence the chain is not moving or making any sound. The chain does make plenty of noise when the bike is in motion, but it is a very distinct sound that is separate and all together different than the ticking sound. With out hearing the sound I bet its the cam chain or the valves. As long as it does not sound like a war going on in the motor you should be fine. Any bike I have ever had (Buel,Kawi,Yam) have all had their own sounds when it comes to motor. If it really bothers you I would take it to a (good) shop for a second check. I will say this bike is a bit more vocal than any of my others...more reason to run a new pipe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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