There's a cool thread going on at another automotive forum I frequent.
Its about Gasoline, as I'm sure you guessed from the title...
Any experts here on the subject? Someone made a LONG but pretty informative post about gasoline and it's additives and I thought it might interest some.
Ethanol isn't so much of a concern with our newer cars, but still a good read... so here goes:
Just F.Y.I. everyone,
Be careful of how much of this "no-name stuff you use! I hauled Fuel, incl. Jet-A and B and the most rotten of chemicals for nearly 2 decades now and was privvey to alot of info.
Most folke think that all fuel is the same. NOT. It all basically starts as clear basic no additives right from the refinery with the exception of Shell. When Shell leaves the plant, it has the additives blended right in during the manufacturing process. That's why I stick to the Shell products and they don't use Ethanol to boost octane like Sunoco and Petro-Canada ( Pierre Elliot Trudeau Rips Off Canada) or Esso and some others. Alot of the main producers buy from various competitors and add in the ingredients later!
When I would go to the distribution terminals to load the trains or single tankers I pulled, I would load different name brands and the loading rack would work with computers "blending" additives in to the specific kind of fuel I wanted. The Shell would load quicker cause less valves would open and close as it didn't need to "blend". Basic "clear" isn't good for your engine during prolonged use but every 2 or 3 tanks combined with a name brand like,Shell, Esso (exxon) Texaco, Sun-oil (Sunoco) Chevron, Husky, and the shit I won't buy, Petro-Can (has an ingredient that dissolves alluminum, I might get shot for that)
If you go to Marathon I believe it has an additive but I'm not sure if it's theirs or not, Mohawk with Ethanol, I used to "top-load" my tanker and add the "ethanol" after say, 1000- 1200 gallons or 5000 or so litres to the base clear gas in the bottom, to raise the octane! Not a great way to blend and if you read up on "grain" additives, it causes the gas to burn hotter and quicker!!! Fuel mileage and engine life is effected.
From an Engineers documentary on the C.B.C. News Channel, a couple of years ago, He states that using Ethanol and grain alchohol is Counter-productive! It takes Hundreds of Thousands of gallons of diesel fuel in all of the farm tractors and thousands of Combines to grow this so called Fuel "allternative", lots of Pollution! Regular gasoline is "measured" in energy called "Gigajules"(spelling may not be accurate) ...stay with me here, It takes 20 % more product of grain alchohol to produce the same amount of energy in a gallon of regular gas!! so the ethanol enhanced fuel burns cleaner perhaps but you use more! So the end result is you use more gas in the long run thus creating more pollution. And don't forget how much Diesel Fuel got burned up in the process to make it in the first place! Sorry, all I'm saying is like everything else, if it's "cheap" it doesn't mean it's good! I will spend a couple of cents more to protect my investment! Shell Calgary has also told me that they now produce Pennzoil and Quaker State to name a few, and if you want ZINC, ZDDP, in your oil, Use 15W40 grade Quaker State oil and any other 15W40 oils intended for "Diesel Engines".
Mac's Milk stores, 7-Eleven and any other gas pumps in the U.S. and Canada that don't have a "name-brand" sign anywhere on the pumps or outside, is selling base clear fuels likely without additives! There are Gas up variety stores eg: Starvin Marvins that sell Esso or whatever but they will be consigned to this and you will see signs telling you this. If a "tanker-truck is delivering w/o a name on it, to a name brand place, it's a contractor usually but if a name brand truck,with say, Marathon or Sunoco on the side is there at a Joe Blows, it's dropping "branded" product and just look at the pumps or ask what kind of fuel they get. If they say it's a name brand like Exxon for example but there isn;t signs there for Exxon, then they're dropping clear Exxon, still not the greatest but it is spec'd to Exxon at least. I could go on and on like Sunoco owns Pioneer and that this fuel is full spec'd Sunoco. Husky owns a few different ones too. The main thing to remember is that you should install a name brand product quite a bit so you keep the ingredients in there as much as possible.
I always use 15W40 grade oils in everything I own and have for years. Even drag racer's use it and the synth oils. Purchasing high octane fuels such as Avgas 90 and 100 isn't practical unless it's for a specific reason.
I hope this helps and keeps our vehicles running better and longer and I hope people realize that pollution from "internal combustion" engines is still a main contributer to our world and our future.
The real mind blower is FLYING-J!! Ogden Utah trucks pick up their fuel in Canada and sell it as their own in the U.S. to the places that are closer to the border. These big companies buy fuel on the "Futures" comodity market for pricing mainly but also because of different additives. Flying-J is in Canada and the one in London Ontario picks up it's fuel at the Sunoco Dist. center and sells good fuel but it's not clear base product with up to 10% ethanol. All Sunoco stations in Ontario sold "Ethanol" fuels without telling the public 5 or 6 years ago at the start and caused a lot of Havoc in the area! older cars including my own Pontiac Grand-ville with the 455 blue block, stopped running! I was late for work, hauling fuel because the very place I worked didn't tell people like me about this fuel. I would get Sunoco when I hauled their product cause I got a deal. It completely screwed up my entire fuel system! You can't put ethanol in older vehicles like my '74 car and not expect all the rust particles that built up over many years, to not be loosened up by the alchohol. Major grief! Took a long time to clear the system and a lot of filters and rebuilt carbs later! When I became vocal about it, Sunoco was ordered to post and advertise the use of ethanol at it's locations. Bastards got away with it. Shell had a mis-spec'd fuel get delivered across Canada and it caused fuel-pump failures in Chrysler mini-vans. Shell immediately went public and repaired hundreds of vehicles at their expense! Decent of them, though Sunoco screwed up again, later, they sent a buddy of mine to do a "pump-out" at a pioneer location in Brantford Ont. A driver had accidently mixed a lot of diesel fuel with the gasoline at the facility so another truck was ordered to pump it out so that new fuel could be delivered. Instead of bringing the contaminated fuel back to be dumped into the slop tank for re man. they told my buddy, "just drop it at one of the other Pioneer locations at the other end of town". Nice. You wouldn't want to fill'er up there, especially your 100,000 dollar investment! You can't always trust the fuel companies but if they post signs for a "name-brand" item, It likely is that gas, you hope......
Wal-Mart will likely buy their fuel from the cheapest supplier and if their pumps don't say Exxon or a "name-brand"of any other kind, then beware, it's a base clear fuel with who knows what additives if any!
Regards, Ron....
