Survey says??? - Gasoline Discussion

Thought those new Mexican gas stations had pure gas, Tosoro or something like that? Could be a myth

 

Pretty much the best gas station in town. I've gone here for idk how long. I don't always get the best gas but I usually get 93 octane at 100% gas. It might not actually do anything but the placebo effect is worth the extra $10-$15 bucks a tank. Regular 87 10% ethanol is like $1.92 right now I think

 

Wow thats cheap. But next to my house Fastfuel gas station is like $1.79 on 87 and $1.89 for 89.

 

East Tennessee.

 

all my friends are always talking about how much better their diesel trucks are at towing so I figured I would give it a try in mine....

didn't go so well....

kidding of course.....

 

having 87, 89 and 93 is standard at almost any gas station in Tennessee. Here in west Tennessee, I fill up on 87 anywhere from $1.70 a gallon to $1.95.

 

While some people are convinced of performance improvements running higher grade gas - I am not. Unless you're running a high compression engine that NEEDS high octane to prevent detonation, it's money down the drain. Wifey's G37 coupe that kicked out around 350hp from a 3.5 V6 needed it - our 5.7s, if naturally aspirated, will do fine/best on 87 since that is what they were designed to run on. I mean - if you want to change the heads to increase your CR to give you the benefit when using high octane... I'm curious to see the results...

 

You can probably get away with using 85 if it contains the Chevron or Shell quantity of detergents, which it probably doesn't which is why it's so cheap, in which case you need to add TechRon injector cleaner everytime you fill up up with 85 & with many 87 nonbrand gasolines such as what you get at WalMart.

There are two tiers of gasolines: Tier 1 & Tier 2. Run you engine on Tier 2 for a long enough period of time & the carbon deposits that build up on your fuel injectors & valves will destroy your engine, you will not get 100k out of it because Tier 2 gasolines do not contain as much TechRon fuel injector cleaner as the Tier 1 gasolines, and it doesn't matter if it's Premium you're buying because that grade of gasoline has nothing to do with the content of detergents used to keep your fuel injection system from building up carbon deposits.

Before you fill up your tank with WalMart's 87 or Premium, go inside the store & buy a bottle of TechRon for $5, pour the contents of the bottle into your tank before you fill it so that the gasoline will mix well with the TechRon.

 

It was Shell 85. Maybe 10 gallons to top off tank. I buy most of my gas at the Shell down the street from my house. 99.999% of the time I run Shell 87 octane locally. It's not unusual to see a 20 to 25 cent price differential between 85 and 87 here in Denver area at some stations. Price gouging. I've never bought gas at a Walmart.

 

Yeah, I see what you're doing now. You're at a higher elevation which makes the lower octane work as well if i'm not correct. I live at 2/3 mile elevation but most of my drive time is at about 1500 feet on the highway taking me down out of these hills onto the roads to the nearest towns around here.

There are a lot of people around here who do run 85 but they usually get it at one of the Indian Reservations where we know those owners buy the cheapest after market gasolines they can get, and for this reason, truck owners especially add a bottle of TechRon every couple of tankfuls. I buy almost all my gasoline at a BJ's Wholesale Club where I know the source of the gasoline & that it is Tier 1 gasoline, but I still use TechRon about every tenth tankfull anyway.

 

The main point I was making is that topping off my truck with about 10 gallons of 85 mixed in with 16 gallons Shell 87 on my way to my property isn't going to do shit. I can save up to 30 cents a gallon at my local Shell with my King Soopers fuel points. I rarely force myself into a King Soopers, but my kids know that my Tundra loves gas, so they use my registered K Soop# when they shop there and Shell is tied with King Soop fuel points. Hoo Wee!! (Sometimes you may find yourself in a truly remote area where you buy what's available. Last thing I'm going to do in that instance is fret about octane. LOL)

 

You're right about not fretting about the octane, but the point I'm making has nothing to do with Regular vs. Premium because OCTANE RATING has nothing to do with DETERGENT CONTENT of various brands of gasoline.

Buy all the Premium you want for the life of your vehicle & all that accomplishes is to give you a couple more miles per gallon, but if the gasoline doesn't have DETERGENT in it (Tier 2 gasoline) you're just throwing away your money if it has little or no DETERGENT to control carbon buildup on your injectors & valves.

 

You are preaching to the choir. This topic, especially the use of Techron in cheap, non DETERGENT gas (by me) has been covered quite extensively here in previous threads along with dino vs flex fuel by several of us. I use Techron whenever I'm forced to run with Tier 1 for any period of time which isn't often.

 

Chevron & Shell are Tier 1 gasolines with TechRon already mixed into it before leaving the refinery, it is the Tier 2 gasolines which contain little or no detergent additive such as TechRon. Are you adding even more TechRon to Tier 1 gasoline?

 

I meant tier 2. Typo. A lot of major brand gas additives are added at port depots since a lot of gas is pumped from several locations/refineries into the same pipes to a particular depot. I did a lot work at the Anchorage fuel depot (calibrating fuel pressure relief valves) and saw first hand additives getting added on the spot for a particular brand of gas as in Tier 1. Some gas obviously didn't get the additives and went directly to the cheap gas stations. Nothing new here.

 

Depending on the brand of gasoline I have always been under the impression that the higher octane rated fuels contained more detergents/cleaning agents.

Which to me would indicate regardless of how your vehicle is programmed an occasional tank of premium from an Exxon, Chevron, Shell and other higher-end top tier brands would still be beneficial for the sake of "cleaning".

But most of the time I end up using a good fuel system cleaner - such as Techron w/87 gas.

Sorry i repeated anything. I love gasoline threads!!! haha

 

I only use premium as well, unfortunately in Utah it's capped at 91 octane. I'm jealous of you guys who can get 93.

Recently some of the stations near me have started offering an ethanol free 87 octane. Obviously this is great for small motors.. Anyone have any thoughts on using it in my 5.7l flex?

 

I'm not sure exactly what you think 91 or 93 is going to do for your engine, given that it is tuned for 87. But yes, 87 should work just fine for you.

 

My manual says use 91 minimum. (ETA - at least I thought it did. I may be thinking about my car)

My question was specifically about the lack of ethanol in the 87. The manual says don't switch from an ethanol fuel to a non or any other major difference with < 1/4 of a tank. I'm really just wondering if anyone has run 100% gas and what, if any, differences they notice.

 

that's like here in South Carolina, the only difference is we have Mountains.

 

So, for the 5,000 miles of ownership I ran 87. Then the 2nd 5,000 I ran 91/92. Then the 3rd 5,000 I ran 89. I track my mileage religiously. Here is what I learned after removing the tanks of 100% towing from the equations:

87 got me 13.4mpg
91/92 got me 14.2mpg and IMO a happier smoother engine
89 got me 14.0mpg and very similar engine performance.

I then ran a few tanks of each to verify the above findings. I see about 7% better with mid grade/premium fuel. Premium fuel does not gain anything over mid grade.

My Honda Oddy gets about 12% better on premium where as my Honda Fit didn't care so it got 87.

It will not hurt then engine to run 87 but that does not mean that a higher octane will not run better. The engine will back off timing to eliminate spark knock. However, just because it protects itself does not mean that you won't have gains from higher octane fuel.

 

I use mid grade from a local place when I'm buying locally (not out of town) primarily because it's the only non-ethanol available. And I get better economy with E-0.

 

You should try running the 87 again for another 5000 miles. The break in could have affected the first 5000 miles.

 

Between 15,000 and 20,000 I did run a couple of tanks of each to see if the trend continued. It did.

I also noticed that I continually flirt with spark knock when I run 87. I would not say "peppier" but the engine is happier on the higher octane fuel. I also believe that partial throttle response. Definitely not a night a day thing.

Running a better spark map will give you better throttle response. If the engine really is pulling timing to avoid spark knock then you will feel more power......

 

Nothing I've read convinced me why higher octane gas is better for non-supercharged Tundras. I tried 93 octane and did not see any difference. So I've been on 87 diet.

This is a different story with synthetic oil. I use full synthetic Mobil 1 Extended Performance, and change out about every 3000 miles, which is about once a year. I don't mind spending $$ if I see the benefit.