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We all get to know our bricks intimately especially if they are your daily driver and you have driven it for a long time-6-7 or more years. We recognize which sounds are “normal”, which sounds that may seem a bit “off” and of course the performance. We develop an intimate relationship with our bricks. Having said that, I noted as I was departing our home to pick up my wife from her work, the fuel gauge was just a bit too low for me to feel comfortable about making it to our regular feed station, so, I pull into a local Union Station. Mind you, I always use premium fuel-always! I noted that the Union premium fuel was about .30 cents per gallon (which I expected) more than the Costco where I usually fill up. I’ve never experienced any problems using Costco fuel. So I was trying to decide, do I get a couple bucks worth here and then go on to Costco? Nah-I just went ahead and filled him (yes-him) up. Wouldn’t kill me to spend bit more this time. As I left and got on the freeway to continue on to pick up my wife from work, about 6.5 miles away, I noticed the ol’ brick was running just fine, as usual. I exited the freeway and had to go about another ½ mile to her work. Then I noticed it-was I imagining it? I still don’t know but the old boy seemed to run a bit smoother-a bit “perkier”? I still don’t know if it was my imagination. I paid close attention going home, and it really did seem it was actually running just that bit smoother, just a touch more pick up. Only way to know for sure would be to use some fancy gauges that measures things like mileage-power etc. All that being said-has anyone ever noticed a positive change in performance of their bricks if they happened to change to a different brand fuel? I'll still go to Costco, but I sorta liked what I felt after I filled up with the Union fuel.
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Wow, why not just dump a bag of worms on the BB.
There is a pretty good essay in Auto Restorer about octane ratings. It is a bit rambling, but informative.
Gasoline is a complicated liquid that varies quite a bit,
Some stations deliver 87 octane, some 87.4, each can have different additives.
Sometimes a deliverer dumps high test into a regular tank, and sometimes an attendant can pump some regular into the high test tank, I know, I have witnessed it!
Your car might be more sensitive to octane than some. Since I am a scientist at heart, I would experiment with a tank of Costco, then a tank of the best from the Sunoco pump. If your suspicion is correct, that should show you something
--
'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '95 855, '95 854, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 485,000 miles put on 9 bricks
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The difference between fuels is the amount and quality of the detergents used in them. Over the years Mobil has consistently supplied the cleanest fuels, ie. fuels with the highest quality detergents.
My 850 is the third car in a row that I have used Mobil Regular gas almost exclusively with no problems. Think I'll treat it to a tank of premium and a can of Techron. I can imagine how it will run on the premium! IMO - I see no point in buying premium unless it's a turbo. You might consider saving your money and buying a quality regular. That's all a good running N/A 240 or even N/A 850 needs.
--
95 855 GLT Sportwagon, 90 244 DL 300k
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fuels are blended different in the winter in summer. This is to control the amount of vapors in the warmer summer months. It could be that some of the stations are now using winter blend.
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Well, it could've been psychological.... you paid more for the gas and expected something in return. In my region, cheap fuel stations are serviced with fuel that is given to "name brand" stations, so the quality is usually the same out of the truck..... HOWEVER, how the fuel is stored at the station may have an effect on it's quality. In any event, I can notice a seat of the pants difference in using premium over regular. Not much, just slightly sharper performance. I tend to mix them, filling once with premium, then with regular on the next tank.
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http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid
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I haven't noticed the best gas being at costco, but haven't had mega problems from it. I used to run whatever, but I really prefer chevron for my turbo brick. The n/a brick I have doesn't seem to care what I run in it. Even Shell, which you can't pay me to put in my turbo brick.
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1990 740 Turbo, on its way to stock specs, maybe beyond
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Hello,
Costco fuel is garbage. That's how I got my 850 Turbo after the valves burned out of it. Mega deposits.
Goatman
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all i know is my brick has run just fine on Costco fuel. I do add 2 additives to my tank at different times- Techron once in awhile-and 6 ounces of Marvel Myster Oil occasionally Could be that’s why with using Costco fuel the old boy keeps on humming. My plugs stay clean for a long, long time. Few weeks ago my mechanic happened to pull a plug, cant remember exactly why and asked me when i put in those plugs. I said “well maybe about 10-15,000 miles ago-why? Any problem?” He says “no look at them-they looked almost brand new. I thought maybe you might have changed your plugs not too long ago.” He was surprised. I hadn’t thought about it, all i know is the brick runs well . Anyway, could be that it was psychological-I paid more so i expected more performance- . Well something more to talk and think about for a moment.
Oh I will mention something else-talk about ‘build ups’ in an engine. Back in my school days, (wayyy back) I went at one time to a community college. I had an Auto shop class- my favorite. The worst engines I saw in shop for being ridiculously “dirty” and ‘gunky” when we broke them apart were the ones that ran oils like Penn and Quaker oils. The instructor said that’s a commonality with those particular oils especially if one goes much more than 5-6 K miles between changes. We even ran controlled tests on the oils, burning them in a controlled environment and measuring the “soot” emitted. Penn and Quaker were absolutely the worst-at the time. Remember, this was quite a few years ago. Again, the summation was that as long as you change the oil regularly, even a Penn oil can be OK. , We did see engines that also the oils were not changed very often, but they were far from looking like the Penn and Quaker oils. Of course this was umpteen years ago, and im sure Penn has upgraded their product. One reason Penn is so popular is they advertise extremely heavy and support many auto events such as racing. I would wonder how “modern day” oils would sum up with our tests?
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Anthony,
The deposits are not for the large part visible in the combustion chamber, remove the intake manifold and you will find heavy deposits.
Goatman
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Im shop we completely dissaembled many engines. the heavy oil gunk was way inside as you say. It was almost like tar, particulaly when the oils used were Penn/Quaker oils.
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One thing that nobody has mentioned is the amount of ethanol in the gas. I have read studies that indicate that even though the pump may say " fuel contains up to 10% ethanol", the amount will actually vary and there are cases that proved that the amount far exceeded 10%. Ethanol reduces the performance and fuel economy of any car. But just rry to find gas without it! The only people who benefit from ethanol are the big agri-businesses that own the farms that produce the corn. It's a total rip-off
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Hello,
If you increase the compression ratio, burning ethanol becomes more efficient then burning gasoline.
Goatman
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