Premium Vs. Regular gas - Interesting Investigative report

[slowrollwv]

When I got my Venture from my oldest brother I ask him what gas he used and he said hightest. I ran a few tanks of it then saw that I should be running regular in it. So I started to use 87. I found that my mileage per tank had dropped to around 125 miles to reserve. So I tried a tank of 89 and the mileage went back up to around 170 to 200 depending on how hard I twisted the grip. I will use 89 in mine as long as I can get it.

[MikeWa]

Premium gasoline burns slower than regular. The higher the octane the slower the burn. The oil companies put additives in the gas to make that happen. If your engine is designed to run on slower burning fuel by all means use it. If your engine is not calibrated for slower burning fuel it will not help you. And may in fact be wasteful.

 

I have to admit I sometimes cheated when I was in the Air Force in northern Montana. During the winter I used to put faster burning, easier igniting regular gas in my car in the winter time. I felt like it might help the old Oldsmobile start on those 40 below mornings.

 

Mike

[djh3]

Back in the days of leaded fuel, yes the mixture of 50-50 or so would bump the actual octane. I would mix Av gas and regular leaded and get higher octane than just the 110 low lead av gas.

Now days av gas would be nice, but it is expensive and "legally" to run it on the highway is verboten. No road tax is paid on it.

So one thing that I usually think of about the time I am fueling up with something other than regular. So the bloke before me used regular, I am paying for a higher grade from the time the pump starts pumping. So how much regular am I getting before I get the good stuff? I mean shoot there must be half gallon in the hose and pump of regular.

Puc- I had cars with the dash pot and later the anti-diesel solenoid, which worked better imop. But the easiest way was to just leave it in gear, kill the switch and let clutch out. That definalty killed the motor.

[Flyinfool]

When the E85 fuel came out what was left in the hose was a big issue. That is why E85 must be in a pump with a dedicated hose. At the time they sere saying that between the switching valve, the pump, the meter the filters and the hoses to connect it all up was almost 3 gallons. So if you went in with a gas can for your mowers, snow blowers or what ever you could get all E85 and destroy your engine that was not designed for it. Same for some of the real small econobox cars with 8-10 gallon tanks, you could end up with a half tank of E85 and destroy the engine.

 

When I get my premium ethanol free gas I only buy from pumps that have a dedicated hose, otherwise you are just buying some of the good stuff for the next guy in line and you are getting whatever the last guy got.

[sydem]

I thought I read on this site somewhere that the rubber components of the carbs didn't like the ethanol? I read on a couple of different sites that if you purchase more than 10 litres (2.5 US gallons) from multigrade pumps you are getting the octane that you are paying for. I personally run ethanol free premium in the Ventrue and a chipped Audi A4.

[10spd]

When the E85 fuel came out what was left in the hose was a big issue. That is why E85 must be in a pump with a dedicated hose. At the time they sere saying that between the switching valve, the pump, the meter the filters and the hoses to connect it all up was almost 3 gallons. So if you went in with a gas can for your mowers, snow blowers or what ever you could get all E85 and destroy your engine that was not designed for it. Same for some of the real small econobox cars with 8-10 gallon tanks, you could end up with a half tank of E85 and destroy the engine.

 

When I get my premium ethanol free gas I only buy from pumps that have a dedicated hose, otherwise you are just buying some of the good stuff for the next guy in line and you are getting whatever the last guy got.

This also true

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[Dano]

A local producer (Countrymark) (who also owns the Indy Motor Spdway)) has premium without the ethanol that eats up little carbs whilst just sitting there, so I put it in all mowers and my RSV since it sits around a lot just now.

Yesterday I did a 350 mile round trip up north for bizness on the bike and it ran just fine after sitting mostly unstarted since last summer....

[Flyinfool]

It is not just the rubber parts that are destroyed.

Ethanol needs a air to fuel ratio of about 7:1 and gas needs about 14:1. So if you put ethanol into an engine that has a fueling system (carbs or EFI) that is expecting gas and will mix it 14:1 with air. you will be running the engine WAY lean and burn holes in the pistons. This is also why gas containing ethanol gets worse miles per gallon than straight gas. Modern Flex Fuel cars the computer is able to determine the ethanol content of the fuel to keep the air : Fuel ratio correct for whatever it is being fed. Carburetors can not do this magic.

[djh3]

We use to have some guys run straight alcohol in their stock cars. Their clam was the alcohol made more HP and ran cooler than gas. I dunno, maybe they did but they burned almost twice as much fuel per race too. You really have to jet them things up to run and live as Jeff noted.

[leroy]

The funny thing was, with that being the time of transitioning away from leaded gas and reg was unleaded and mid and premium was still leaded, I found that if I used about 2/3 reg unleaded and 1/3 premium, it was even better than premium. Evidently,adding some lead to the reg unleaded bumped it up a lot.

Randy

 

Funny you mentioned your results of mixing regular unleaded with leaded premium. I remember when I was trying to keep a high compression Impala running after the higher octanes became harder to find. I happened to be reading a magazine, I believe it was Hot Rod, and they actually conducted a test of exactly what you were doing. Yes, they got the same results. I forget the number of points the mix raised the octane above premium but it sure did in their tests. So I started mixing the like you did. It worked.

 

I knew one guy after the lead was gone at the pumps and he was running around 12 to 1, he would buy "for the track only" leaded racing gasoline that was above 100 octane. He filled a tank in the bed of his truck then back home put it in his car. It wasn't his daily driver of course.

[Gray Ghost]

The website for finding ethanol free gas is pure-gas.org, they also have an app for smart phones. I tend to run regular 87 in the RSV, but will go to E0 (whatever octane I can find) if it will be sitting awhile. For the Spyder, since it is a 2013 RT (the one that had the heat problems) I go with the 91 to 93 because it runs a bit cooler.

[retro_rollie]

I run regular in my '09 RSV and 2 or 3 times a year, especially on long trips, dump a little Seafoam in a full tank. Been doing that for years, in the car, the '02 Valkyrie and '96 RSTC I had. No problems at all, they run and did run great.

[Drreb]

No premium for me. I do not use ethanol in my motorcycle or my lawnmowers or lawn equipment or generator and pressure washer. I ethanol free gas for those. I run regular in my truck.

[Guest Jamsie]

here`s a copy/paste of what ethanol fuels will do to your engine and fuel system

"While this is good for the domestic farmer and our environment, Ethanol can cause serious problems to your engine and fuel system. Generally vehicles built after 1996 have been designed with Biofuels in mind, but earlier cars and engines with carburettors are going to need help. What types of problems have been encountered?

1) Water accumulation in the fuel tank - ethanol absorbs water from the air. The water condenses in the fuel tank and will pull the ethanol out of suspension with the petrol. This is bad news because it strips the octane out of the petrol, leaving you with a layer of octane-poor fuel on top and a water-ethanol layer mixture on the bottom. If this gets sucked into the combustion chamber, you will have poor starting and very rough running with potentially engine damage.

2) Deposit is like to build up - Ethanol when mixed with water readily forms Gums in the fuel system much quicker than fuel without Ethanol. These Gums coat fuel system components including filters, carburettors, injectors, throttle plates and will then form varnish and carbon deposits in the intake, on valves, and in the combustion chamber.

3) Lower fuel mileage, Decreased performance and acceleration. Ethanol contains less chemical energy than petrol does, and this means less mileage for the driver. 3-5% drops in mileage are expected.

4) Corrosion of internal engine components - Water contamination may cause fuel system corrosion and severe deterioration.

5) Contaminants in fuel system – water, degraded rubber, plastic, fibreglass and rust may get drawn in.

6) It could encourage microbial growth in fuel. Ethanol being organic and hygroscopic may allow the growth of fungus.

7) Short shelf life - as short as 90 days

8) Corrodes plastic and rubber - Ethanol is a strong, aggressive solvent and will cause problems with rubber hoses, o-rings, seals, and gaskets. These problems are worse during extended storage when significant deterioration could take place. Hoses may delaminate, o-rings soften and break down, and fuel system components made from certain types of plastics could either soften or become hard and brittle, eventually failing. Fuel system components made from brass, copper, and aluminium may oxidize. The dissolved plastics and resins now in the fuel could end up in blocked fuel filters or gummy deposits.

9) Melts Fibreglass - bikes and boats with fibreglass fuel tanks can have structural failure as the Ethanol will break down and pick-up some of the materials the tanks are made from. Again this material, dissolved from the tank, can be carried through the fuel system and can cause damage to carburettors, fuel injectors and can actually get into the combustion chambers."

 

you can buy etanol mix corrosion inhibitors to add to the fuel, and maybe save some money in the long term with less problems from the fuel

[Rick Haywood]

Problem is people seem to think higher grades of gas means better gas. Not true. Higher grade is to stop and ping in the motor.

[vzuden]

Or... If it costs more it has to be better... Right? The cost is higher since production is lower due to lower demand.