Recommended Fuel Myths (All Engines) - Page 3 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

its a syn · 06-10-2011, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenningJ

Yeah 89 is cheaper than 87 here, and 91/93 is only 20 cents more than the 89. 89 is $3.49, 87 is $3.63, and I believe 91/93 is $3.69.

If I am not mistaken we get a break on using Ethanol blended fuels because it requires corn and that is the main crop that we farm here in Iowa.

EDIT: Fixed 91/93 price. I said it was $3.59.

this is all i use also in all my cars and not a bit of problems tried 93 for a couple of tankfuls to see any difference and did not notice any thing different other than the cost! wasn't expecting a whole lot because of the V6.

joe h · 06-10-2011, 01:03 PM

My favorite myth is 10% ethanol equals 25% reduction in fuel mileage.

nancygrl · 06-10-2011, 01:05 PM

TOMS1SS · 06-10-2011, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KILLER74Z28

.30 between mid grade and premium……..ummm are you sure?

Yes its not a regular blend like the homeland Michigan. Basically to find it you usually have to go to a station that sells racing fuel and they ain't cheap.

BenningJ · 06-10-2011, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joe h

My favorite myth is 10% ethanol equals 25% reduction in fuel mileage.

With the 89 (10% Ethanol) I am averaging 24.5mpg for daily use and I get 28.2 mpg on long trips. I highly doubt you lose any mileage at all.

*KILLER74Z28* · 06-10-2011, 01:10 PM

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

PIPE · 06-10-2011, 01:11 PM

Mostly here in Md is 93 octane fuel. Honestly doesnt matter what grade it is ever since they started putting ethenol in the fuel its been nothing but crap anyway.

*KILLER74Z28* · 06-10-2011, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOMS1SS

Yes its not a regular blend like the homeland Michigan. Basically to find it you usually have to go to a station that sells racing fuel and they ain't cheap.

I'd believe that. Hey, we don’t have that here so charge more…

*KILLER74Z28* · 06-10-2011, 01:18 PM

And for you History buffs...

Octane History

The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.

It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.

During WWI, it was discovered that you can add a chemical called tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline and significantly improve its octane rating above the octane/heptane combination. Cheaper grades of gasoline could be made usable by adding TEL. This led to the widespread use of "ethyl" or "leaded" gasoline. Unfortunately, the side effects of adding lead to gasoline are:

Lead clogs a catalytic converter and renders it inoperable within minutes.
The Earth became covered in a thin layer of lead, and lead is toxic to many living things (including humans).
When lead was banned, gasoline got more expensive because refineries could not boost the octane ratings of cheaper grades any more. Airplanes are still allowed to use leaded gasoline (known as AvGas), and octane ratings of 100 or more are commonly used in super-high-performance piston airplane engines. In the case of AvGas, 100 is the gasoline's performance rating, not the percentage of actual octane in the gas. The addition of TEL boosts the compression level of the gasoline -- it doesn't add more octane.

Currently engineers are trying to develop airplane engines that can use unleaded gasoline. Jet engines burn kerosene, by the way.

HumanWiki · 06-10-2011, 01:20 PM

Learned that in High School Chemistry and it probably helped that I grew up in SETex.. PetroChem is a way of life there and my father was on a CatCracker unit as an operator for decades. I actually watched the world's largest (at the time) Steam Cat Cracking unit get built. I even knew one of the German Engrs responsible for it..

BATMANs · 06-10-2011, 01:27 PM

Can someone tell me why over the years the octane has been lowering and lowering?

When I was in high school I remember 108 octane for premium unleaded pump gas at $.98/gal.

Regular octane was 98 and at $.90/gal

Rogue Leader · 06-10-2011, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KILLER74Z28

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

Exactly!

And BTW here on Long Island, a significant number of stations only have 87, 89 and 93, there is no 91 in many places.

TOMS1SS · 06-10-2011, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BATMANs

Can someone tell me why over the years the octane has been lowering and lowering?

When I was in high school I remember 108 octane for premium unleaded pump gas at $.98/gal.

Regular octane was 98 and at $.90/gal

Crude oil prices increasing and environmentalists.

HumanWiki · 06-10-2011, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOMS1SS

Crude oil prices increasing and environmentalists.

I'd say more greedy traders and oil speculators, that and Oil Execs loving their billions in profit.

06-10-2011, 01:10 PM	#34
KILLER74Z28 MOD SQUAD Drives: 2G1FT1EW9A9100666 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Michigan Posts: 5,782 View My Garage	The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting. The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more. __________________ Who cares about the Blue Oval crowd and their little Ponys? We're getting our Camaro back-and it'll be Supercharged!-MDAII Team LS3

06-10-2011, 01:18 PM	#37
KILLER74Z28 MOD SQUAD Drives: 2G1FT1EW9A9100666 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Michigan Posts: 5,782 View My Garage	And for you History buffs... Octane History The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together. It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio. During WWI, it was discovered that you can add a chemical called tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline and significantly improve its octane rating above the octane/heptane combination. Cheaper grades of gasoline could be made usable by adding TEL. This led to the widespread use of "ethyl" or "leaded" gasoline. Unfortunately, the side effects of adding lead to gasoline are: Lead clogs a catalytic converter and renders it inoperable within minutes. The Earth became covered in a thin layer of lead, and lead is toxic to many living things (including humans). When lead was banned, gasoline got more expensive because refineries could not boost the octane ratings of cheaper grades any more. Airplanes are still allowed to use leaded gasoline (known as AvGas), and octane ratings of 100 or more are commonly used in super-high-performance piston airplane engines. In the case of AvGas, 100 is the gasoline's performance rating, not the percentage of actual octane in the gas. The addition of TEL boosts the compression level of the gasoline -- it doesn't add more octane. Currently engineers are trying to develop airplane engines that can use unleaded gasoline. Jet engines burn kerosene, by the way. __________________ Who cares about the Blue Oval crowd and their little Ponys? We're getting our Camaro back-and it'll be Supercharged!-MDAII Team LS3

06-10-2011, 01:27 PM	#39
BATMANs Drives: GTO & NSX Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 197	Can someone tell me why over the years the octane has been lowering and lowering? When I was in high school I remember 108 octane for premium unleaded pump gas at $.98/gal. Regular octane was 98 and at $.90/gal __________________ 2005 GTO Maggie, Forged engine, CAI, Kooks LTH, Magnaflow, Billet Pro shifter, LS7 clutch, 245/275 18" on Petrol Octane, Addco Sways, Koni Yellows, King Springs, Whiteline bushings, EBC Red, X-drilled/slotted rotors, SS brake lines, 55w HID, PLX gauges 1993 NSX Kenne Bell 2.1, Laminova IC, sway bars, NSX-R chassis bars, and non-compliance toe links, Tien EDFC, STMPO exhaust & brake ducts, RM Racing headers, K&N/Cantrall intake, Enkei RP03 17"18", APR GTC-300

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06-10-2011, 01:03 PM	#30
joe h Drives: victory red 2010 camaro 2ss/rs Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: bismarck, nd Posts: 125	My favorite myth is 10% ethanol equals 25% reduction in fuel mileage.

06-10-2011, 01:05 PM	#31
nancygrl 雪の玉 Drives: '22 Z71 RST Silverado Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: South Posts: 3,415

06-10-2011, 01:11 PM	#35
PIPE Hating prius's since 1997 Drives: 2010 Camaro 2SS/RS (JENNA) Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 1,039	Mostly here in Md is 93 octane fuel. Honestly doesnt matter what grade it is ever since they started putting ethenol in the fuel its been nothing but crap anyway.

06-10-2011, 01:20 PM	#38
HumanWiki Drives: Car Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Place Posts: 3,361	Learned that in High School Chemistry and it probably helped that I grew up in SETex.. PetroChem is a way of life there and my father was on a CatCracker unit as an operator for decades. I actually watched the world's largest (at the time) Steam Cat Cracking unit get built. I even knew one of the German Engrs responsible for it..