The Grand Marquis is my daily driver, and runs on Euro II rated gasoline with a sulfur content of 500 ppm. The quality may have been fine back in 1995, but is quite dated right now. To be fair you get what you pay for, and at 91¢/US gallon it's a fair price I suppose.
Having said that, Euro IV rated gasoline with an octane rating of 95 RON (91 AKI) and a sulfur content of 25 ppm is available for the handsome sum of $3.93/US Gallon. This is also dated, however, as they are now using Euro V in Europe.
Now if the Euro IV stuff will keep my combustion chambers cleaner, provide better gas mileage (I average 17 MPG with the dated stuff) and help extend the life of my engine, I don't mind paying 4 times more. But will there really be an advantage of switching to low sulfur gas with higher detergency? I suppose it would help extend oil changes, but that's the only advantage I can think of. Thanks!
Advantages of lower sulfur levels in gas
- Thread starter Falcon_LS
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lower sulphur in gas(gasoline) means longer exhaust component life, and most likely longer cat convertor life also.
When moisture (presented in the form of combustion byproducts), gets into the cat with minute sulphur in gas, it will form sulphuric acid. It will eat away your exhaust pipes over time.
In my case: dad's 7th gen still on it's original muffler (street/city driving only, bought 2000), ditto with all of our cars. On the flip side: my old Mazda B6 block had it's original muffler replaced 2 times already (it was back in the 90s where investigation indicates that local gas stations typically hovering between 80ppm to as much as over 150ppm of sulphur.
Q.
Thanks for the input. 
If the only advantage is longer exhaust component life, I suppose there's no point to it as my vehicle came with a catalytic converter delete option from the factory.
I assume using low sulphur fuel would mean that strong exhaust smell would go away as well? Is there any benefit to the engine, or the EGR system in particular? Thanks!
If the only advantage is longer exhaust component life, I suppose there's no point to it as my vehicle came with a catalytic converter delete option from the factory.
I assume using low sulphur fuel would mean that strong exhaust smell would go away as well? Is there any benefit to the engine, or the EGR system in particular? Thanks!yes, no more rotten egg smell under certain conditions.
It goes a long way to go with low sulphur fuel and benefits seem to outweigh most of the cons (short exhaust component life, etc.)...
I'm a big supporter of modern fuel formulation, just a bit disappointed with ethanol blend (been using it in our area for over 15 yrs, not that it would have a pronounced/detrimental effects as those other BITOGers posted here before).
Q.
Kestas
Staff member
The sulfur in gas turns to sulfur trioxide once it passes through the catalytic converter. Once it hits humidity, it then immediately turns into sulfuric acid. In fact, the use of a catalytic converter is exactly how sulfuric acid is produced commercially.
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