Well Shel B, you can’t win em all. But you still leave the The Wheel of BITOG with what you came in with. A nice set of Cooper Evolutions. Thanks for playing!!
A Reason to Buy Premium Fuel
- Thread starter Shel_B
- Start date
CA gas is all E10
I forgot CA gas is super regulated, now that I think about it can you even really get E15 outside the midwest?
Not true anymore with the advent of top tier, which requires the same detergents in all grades of gasoline
Not exactly. There's nothing that precludes a retailer from using higher levels of detergents in different grades, as long as all grades meet the Top Tier standard.
Someone posted manual additive treatment for Chevron when it wasn't possible to have it added at the fuel depot. The minimum level of treatment was higher for premium than for regular. I think it was something like one bottle for up to 550 gallons of regular, but one bottle for up to 450 gallons of premium. Of course it was possible for the concentration to be higher based on the fuel amount since bottles weren't carefully metered like the detergent additive at a fuel depot.
Found it:
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/thought-this-may-interest-bitog-members.326181/
Thread topic name
A Reason to Buy Premium Fuel
My reason.. Operative word "MY".I use only Chevron premium 93 or if available out of Ca 97. I have Dyno tested specifically on my MAZDA several times in the first year ownership and a couple other of my cars using lower octane fuels. They all result in less power produced and less MPG based on 1000+ miles and 3 fuel fill ups .
As for long term storage of higher octane fuels or Racing fuel... none will last in a closed and full tank even with fuel stabilizers added on top more then a year. At least that is what I have found in a couple of my carefully garaged stored vehicle's.
As for the article in the first post where is the technical and empirical data to support their information?
It's not legally required except in the South Coast air management region which requires a minimum of 1.8% oxygen by weight during winter months. That's around E5 as a requirement. Other than that, there's no specific requirement for oxygenated fuel in California by the state. There are federal requirements though.
How much oxygen is required in California gasoline?
There is a minimum oxygen content requirement of 1.8 percent by weight for the South Coast area and Imperial County, from November 1st through February 29th. Outside of that requirement, refiners have the option to put from 0-3.5 percent by weight oxygen (0-10 volume percent ethanol) in CaRFG3.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2022
My favorite stations are always busy so the gas isn't sitting there for more than a few days.
Stored gas for the mower gets Sta-bil. The cars and motorcycle I burn up, even in Covid times.
Stored gas for the mower gets Sta-bil. The cars and motorcycle I burn up, even in Covid times.
Use 87, change your oil every 15,000 miles, and leave your oil filter on for 2 years minimum, (or 30,000 miles whichever comes first). And forget about changing your transmission fluid in your lifetime. You'll be fine. Remember, your car deserves the BEST.
I buy premium because my engine pings on regular and midgrade. If you have a higher compression ratio engine with aggressive ignition timing then premium might give better performance. Some ECUs will take advantage of it by advancing the timing as much as possible while avoiding knock, some won't or just don't create enough pressure to cause pre-ignition with 87 octane.
Try a couple tanks of premium, then fill it from empty with regular. If it starts pinging and running weird for the first few miles after filling up then you know the ECU was taking advantage of the higher octane by advancing the timing.
Try a couple tanks of premium, then fill it from empty with regular. If it starts pinging and running weird for the first few miles after filling up then you know the ECU was taking advantage of the higher octane by advancing the timing.
Seriously, that's why I run it in my vehicles. All three of them are supposed to run on 87. But my older, (1991) Ford pickup will knock and ping like crazy on anything but 91 Premium. Especially climbing uphill in the heat of the Summer. I run it in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, (5.7 HEMI V-8), because while the manual say's it will run on 87, it won't produce maximum rated power on anything less than 89 Mid Grade.
Mid Grade fuel isn't very popular around here. And when you do see it, it's not much less price wise than 91 octane Premium, so I just use that. I can't see paying $3,200 more for a high performance V-8, only to try and save a few pennies at the pump every time I fill it up. If I were that cheap, I simply would have got the standard V-6.
I run 91 Premium in my 2.5 L Toyota Camry because it has a 13 to 1 compression ratio. (2.5 L, A25A-FKS engine). I just can't see running 87 Regular in an engine with a compression ratio that is getting close to some Diesels. I'm not saying I couldn't, but again the ECU has to reduce the timing drastically in order to do it. Plus, it gets ungodly hot here in the Summer, and with 120 F ambient air going into the engine, coupled with a 13 to 1 compression ratio, I just can't see running 87 Regular in it.
I think definition of premium is very wide. Some producer refer premium to higher octane, and some refer to better quality of fuel regardless of the same octane compared to others. Talking about octane, it really depend the car ECU whether they can do auto adjustment to take advantage or not, if not then this may just pure waste.
Premium in regards of better quality of gasoline, such as more stable in storage, can clean combustion chamber better, this will be beneficial for all cars, the issue here is merely the cost because many producers bundle this quality with higher octane gasoline only. This kind of premium fuel may prolong your carbon cleaning or fuel system cleaning maintenance interval.
Premium in regards of better quality of gasoline, such as more stable in storage, can clean combustion chamber better, this will be beneficial for all cars, the issue here is merely the cost because many producers bundle this quality with higher octane gasoline only. This kind of premium fuel may prolong your carbon cleaning or fuel system cleaning maintenance interval.
Not necessarily, most if not all cars tuned for premium will not only lose HP if you put 87 but also make your fuel economy worse
Kestas
Staff member
I have measured fuel economy in my cars running 87 and 91 octane. I find no significant difference in fuel efficiency. However, I do find a significant difference in price between 87 and 91 octane - to the tune of 28%.
But do your cars spec premium or 87?
Where are you seeing that much of a spread?
It's always been interesting where over the years I've typically seen a 10 cent difference between 87/89/91(or 92 when it was a thing around here). I was in Arizona years a couple of decades ago and it was .799/.899/.999 per gallon. That was the most common price spread (10 cents) for decades, although a lot of places vary these days, although it's still typically less than a 10% difference.
I don't see a difference in fuel economy either, just no knock at WOT and more power on the highway.
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