Old Cars and New Gasoline

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=ON



http://pure-gas.org Find one near you!

 

We're lucky to have 90 octane ethanol free gas available at a station near us. We run it in all the lawn equipment and the old '88 Trooper. The Trooper has early Isuzu ITEC fuel injection, but it seems to run much better since we switched it over from the ethanol gas.

 

Many of the hardware stores sell fuel for your small yard equipment such as leaf blowers and weed trimmers. It's premixed fuel with oil that does not contain ethanol.

 

Stabil makes a treatment that is supposed to counteract any adverse Ethanol effects. I think it is OK as long as the vehicle is driven regularly. Ethanol seems to gum up carburetor bowls when allowed to sit for extended periods.

 

I used to own an 1984 Olds 98 Regency with the carbureted Olds 307, and I stored it every winter. When I did, I topped the tank off with premium (for the added detergent; I always used regular during the summer when I drove it). I then added Stabil and drove the car around a few miles to circulate it. However, after I parked the car and put it up on jackstands, I would disconnect the fuel line from the carburetor and start the engine and run it until the fuel bowl was dry. Then I would pump the pedal and manually set the choke and run the accelerator pump well empty and let the engine suck down the remaining fumes. Then I would pour in some 2 cycle engine oil into the fuel inlet and pump the pedal until the accelerator pump picked up the oil and started squirting it. This kept things from drying out.

It worked very well except for the very (VERY) smoky first start of the new driving season. God do I miss that car! I love my Wagon, but I do regret selling that Olds. I did it so I could but the Suburban for the family car, but my heart still aches for my Regency!

 

Steve-E-D: That list makes no sense what so ever! There is no way that some Toronto Shell stations are going to have Ethanol free gas, but not others. They are all supplied by the same depot, and the same truck will go from one station to the next until empty! That is but one example of it. Of course, the nearest one on that list just happens to be a good 30 minutes up the road from where I live, but it is the opposite direction of almost anywhere I need to go!

 

It does not make sense, I'll admit.

But whats a 30 minute drive, Mike? With the gas millage you get it would only cost you 25 cents to get there and back, for better fuel.
.....


Well there must be more to this..??? Years back I worked at our Island fuel depot ( doing sheet metal work) and every company under the sun came in and filled up from the same mega tanks, Chevron, Esso, Shell, Pay-Less etc, etc. This was in the 90's and we wondered how does Chevron boast about it's better than everyone elses gas (highest octain at the time)when we are seeing different? We also wondered how and why Pay-Less, witch you did pay a few pennies less...when it all came from the same mega tank, hungry for profits I guess and good on BS? BTW, the bigger gas pigs squeezed Pay-Less out. And the LMAO part, The Depot I am talking about was owned by ESSO! ESSO plastered on everything! We tried taking a picture of a Chevron rig with a pup trailer fueling up under the ESSO tank but the site fire watch, watching us all the time became unglued at the seams when he saw the camera, sh** you would have thought we were point a gun at some one!..... Top secret, NO CAMERAS ALOUD ONSITE~!

But now it's almost 30 years since then so I'm sure the depot has changed big time as now there are bio-fuels etc, etc.

Where I buy gas, according to Steve's link I am still safe, yet not all of these local gas stations are on the list such as the CO-OP a block away from me, then I found this....

http://pure-gas.org/station?station_id=12711

Peninsula Co-Op - CO-OP
Greater Victoria, Victoria BC
Ethanol-free octane ratings:
GPS coordinates: N 48.42681 W 123.36222 (located from address)
Posted by Ian, August 07, 2013 20:05 CDT
All Peninsula CO-OP gas contains NO ethanol. Today, I stopped at the CO-OP gas station on the Pat Bay Highway. I needed fuel for my truck. I took a look at all the pumps and could find no reference to Ethanol. After filling I went in to ask. The staff member suggested that there were two of Federated CO-OP's energy engineers on the premises and that I should talk to them about that. I engaged them on the subject. They told me that at the present time none of their motor fuels have any ethanol component ... None. They said that, if that changes, the pumps affected will be clearly marked.




Soooooo............ Is this list/link that Steve posted just not truly up to date or what when it comes to other gas stations?

 

Of course it makes sense. It is up to the station owner to decide what gas to purchase. The same depot may stock a variety of grades and blends.

 

Having been a Shell dealer for 30 years, I am totally amused at how ignorant most of you are.

 

Please spend some time educating us.

 

Originally Posted by OldFox
Having been a Shell dealer for 30 years, I am totally amused at how ignorant most of you are.
Please spend some time educating us.


I'm a slow larner but a littyl edukation don't hardly hurt none.

All I know about gasoline is I need lots of it to make my engines run and I pay more for less quality than ever. Teach us oh great educator of petrol.

 

I'm guessing this is because people like you have either failed to educate the public or deliberately deceive the public into buying something more expensive that they don't need.

Gasoline is the one item that consumers purchase in greater quantities than almost any other, they deserve to know what they're buying, and they deserve more from the vendors of gasoline than to be told that they're ignorant. Any ignorance about gasoline on the part of the consuming public is as much an indictment of the suppliers and dealers of gasoline as it is the consumers themselves.

 

I always found Shell's claim of "nitrogen-enriched" fuel to be hilarious! Nitrogen is an INERT gas!!! What possible plus is there about "enriching" a fuel with an inert substance???

 

It's not completely inert the way, say, argon is. After all, the NOx emissions in car exhausts comes from nitrogen in the air reacting with oxygen in the combustion process. So nitrogen does chemically react.

Regarding Shell's nitrogen-in-gasoline thing, here's some interesting reading

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=earth-talk-nitrogen-enriched-gas


The purpose of the nitrogen is to improve the detergent quality of the gasoline, so it's effect on mileage is indirect. It doesn't aid in the combustion process, but rather it helps to clean and prevent carbon build-up. However, the requirement that gasolines have these kinds of additives in them is not new, so Shell is more or less touting as an advantage something that all gasoline manufacturers are required to have in their gasolines.

Second, yes, you would think that adding nitrogen to gasoline would only make the production of NOx pollutants worse, since there's more nitrogen in the combustion chamber than there otherwise would be if air were the only source. So it's a trade-off, according to the article above and others I've read. Adding nitrogen both increases the detergent capability of the gasoline and the potential for more pollution. But the current thinking is that the added benefits of the former outweigh the added negatives of the latter.