What are the benefits to running a car's Air Fuel Ratio lean vs running rich?

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Anonymous

Too lean and kabooooooooom. Tooooo rich and you get an inefficient gas guzzler and some other things you don’t want. I like turtles.

01/28/2016 - 18:30 |
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Regal

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

What about power?

01/28/2016 - 18:31 |
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Anonymous

Depends, boosted cars run rich, since you are forcing more air into the engine. Running lean, can, to a degree, give you a bit more power, but it’s not even close to worth the risk. The engine will run hotter, which will result in all kind of problems and most of the time ends with molten engine parts and see-through pistons.
Let’s just say, the optimal ratio is not a suggestion.

01/28/2016 - 18:50 |
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Jim Crawford

Are we talking petrol or diesel?
A Diesel engine runs lean naturally, as the power is controlled by the fuel input rather than a combo of air-fuel mix; so on that side of the field, the benefit of an ultra-lean burn is fuel economy and emissions so low there’s oxygen in the tail-pipe.
Petrol wise, the same could in theory be reproduced with FSI engines, if you could stop the shockwave from pre-detonation from bouncing around the chamber.

Diesel-wise; a richer mixture has more power, but smokes a lot more.
Petrol wise; a richer mixture stops you from over-heating or pre-detonation blowing it apart.

And if we’re talking about NitroMeth? NitroMeth has its own oxygen in it, molecularly, so you need less air in the mix as it brings its own. So the more you pump in, the faster it goes ;D

01/28/2016 - 23:16 |
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