The
fuel that comes into the state is from a single pipeline. The factors
that differentiate fuels between the different refineries are the
additives that are put in. Some additives are better than others.
Unfortunately, we’re running into fuels that have additional corn
based ethanol, which is not good for our car’s engine. It destroys
the fuel lines and makes engines less efficient. Instead of using
something like saw grass, which grows on its own and is inexpensive to
cultivate, we’re forced to use corn because it’s a little bit
cleaner. My personal opinion is to get away from that and go back to
using good high quality fuels with good additives.
Back
in 2004, we had a problem with some engines having an issue with poor
acceleration around 4,000-4,500 R.P.M.’s. I started playing around
with some fuels and went to no name gas stations with low grade
quality fuel. What I discovered was anytime I used anything less than
91 octane, the problem would return within a half a tank. If I used
Chevron gasoline, the problem went away and did not return unless I
was driving very aggressively.
About
a month later, B.M.W. came out with a recommendation, stating that if
you had a drivability issue with a B.M.W., the first thing they did
was equip their dealerships with ethanol sniffers. If they sniffed a
high concentration of ethanol in your fuel, they would tell you to
stop using that fuel, go to Chevron and run two tanks through. If you
continued to have a drivability problem, then come back. What B.M.W.
did was parallel to what I was doing here at our shop. They
determined that the high levels of ethanol in the fuel, along with
lower quality additives were contributing to the problem. What would
happen is the ethanol, when under the pressure of acceleration would
have a wide fluctuation of octane ratings. Under medium to hard
acceleration, an octane of 91 purchased at the pump tested as low as
84!
If
you want to get better mileage, use the highest quality fuel.
Number
1, it’s going to be more efficient.
Number 2, it will have better
detergents, so it’s going to keep your engine and fuel system
cleaner. And Number 3, it will extend the life of the engine. If
you’re experiencing ping and knock, the engine will pull the timing
back and make up for that. Over a long period of time, this will
become a problem.
No
matter what kind of car you drive, I recommend that you do these two
things:
1. Get the highest octane gas possible. You can visit a
website called top tier gas.com. Only buy gas from the stations listed
on this website.
2. Never let the fuel go below a quarter of a tank.
With new cars, the fuel pump is in the tank and the fuel helps keep
the pump running cooler. We’ve seen failures in engines of newer
cars when our customers say they commonly run it on empty.
Furthermore, if you have any particulate matter floating in the gas
tank, the concentration increases as the tank gets lower in fuel.
Your engine will last longer and run cooler.
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