I was just wondering (Fuel Question)

[Germania]

Me being an East Coast person would somebody please explain the gas ratings in the Mid West. I'm refering to the regular (87 Octane) vs the Plus (89 Octane)It blows my mind pulling up to the pumps and seeing the Plus grade 10 or 15 cents cheaper than regular. I know its because the Plus has more Ethanol(% anyone?) The second thing that peaks my curiosity is who uses Plus? My owners manual on my V-10 engine and on my 4 cyl chevy engine state 87 octane is to be used.
Is anybody using this in a V-10 and if so do you see any consequences

[Daveinet]

coolcity wrote:

Daveinet wrote:

coolcity wrote:

spritz_55423 wrote:
My 1999 Deville Concours, Says right under the fuel gauge to use only Premium. 185,000 miles
My 82 Pace Arrow 454 4 bbl runs better on premium more pep no pinging.48,000 miles
My 1964 deville convert uses Premium/non oxygenated 71,000 miles
I run Premium every tank.
Sorry but I think it makes all the difference.:B

My 2003 325HP Northstar STS said premium fuel but I always used 87 and it ran perfectly fine for the last 60K miles.all smoke and mirrors on newer port injected computer controlled engines

Both arguments are erroneous and have absolutely NOTHING to do with octane rating.

On contrare its all about octane. manual suggest,s(recomends) useing premium fuel(higher octane)I use regular fuel(lower octane)(cheaper to buy)+ still ran perfectly fine so I stick with it(lower octane fuel)The guys 84 454 pace arrow pinged on low octane fuel so he used premium and no pinging(higher octane fuel)
its all about Octane ratings
Now that being said none of this answers the OP question at all

The fact that your Northstar runs fine is because it has a computer - so it is an irrelevant argument. The computer will make it run fine, no matter what fuel you run, however higher octane will make more power in the Northstar Engine. Your Northstar is designed to run premium, but the computer detunes it to run on the lower octane. The DEtuning means that it has less power, so your definition of "fine" is not really an accurate method of judging octane.

There was also a listing of the mileage on each engine, as if to say the fact the engine is still working is criteria for it being OK or not. The '84 454 does not need premium if one is running per OEM conditions and tuning. If it is knocking, it is probably a result of carbon build up in the engine or someone has advanced the timing beyond the design point. While higher octane may make it run better, it is not the root cause solution.

[wa8yxm]

Germania wrote:
Me being an East Coast person would somebody please explain the gas ratings in the Mid West. I'm refering to the regular (87 Octane) vs the Plus (89 Octane)It blows my mind pulling up to the pumps and seeing the Plus grade 10 or 15 cents cheaper than regular. I know its because the Plus has more Ethanol(% anyone?) The second thing that peaks my curiosity is who uses Plus? My owners manual on my V-10 engine and on my 4 cyl chevy engine state 87 octane is to be used.
Is anybody using this in a V-10 and if so do you see any consequences

Uh, you are mistaken about Ethanol (Alcohol) if anything plus has less. In the old days Premium used to be called ETHEL, due to Tetrahedral lead. however. that too is no more.

What it means.. Under conditions of high heat and pressure gasoline/air mix may tend to "Self Ignite" this causes a "knocking" sound or rattle in your engine.

The higher the octane number, the hotter it has to be to make it do this, (The harder it is to get it to ignite in this way) The higher test fuels wait patiently for teh spark to ignite them.

Diesel fuel has a CETAIN rating if I have spelled it right.. This is mroe or less the opposite of Octane, the higher the number the EASIER it is to ignite using only heat and pressure.

[Dog_Trainer]

I live in the mid west and have never seen mid grade cheaper than regular. Once in a while as a promo I have seen mid grade and regular priced the same. Most of our gas is 10% ethanol.

[wny_pat1]

Usually the premium (91 or 93 octane depending where your at) does not have ethanol in it. The regular 87 has 10% ethanol in it and the midgrade (89 octane) is a blend of the premium and regular and has less ethanol because it is only in the regular part of the blend. At least that is what they did at the refinery I hauled out of.

[Dachristianman]

I believe that the 87 octane is "pure" and the 89 octane has ethanol mixed. The 87 will get better milage than the 89, but the 89 supports farmers. It's a decision that you have to make when pulling up to the pump, and supply and demand has pushed the price of 87 above the 89. Obviously people don't like the ethanol blend (put me in that camp).

[jvander]

Nick-B wrote:
The OP's first question is why is Plus grade cheaper than Regular in the Mid-West. Are there any Midwesters out there that know why? Curious minds want to know. Here in the Pacific NW, Plus costs more.

My memory is fuzzy on this, but as I recall Mid-grade is cheaper in Illinois (maybe Iowa? Kansas? one of the big agricultural states anyway, maybe more than one state but I only encountered it in one state) because the state subsidizes motor fuels with ethanol (I think it was minimum 15% ethanol). Ostensibly the state did this to support the ag industry to help them break into the fuel market, also of course for the environmetal benefits. I am sure it had nothing to do with the corn lobby's generous support of campaign funds though.

[coolcity]

Daveinet wrote:

coolcity wrote:

spritz_55423 wrote:
My 1999 Deville Concours, Says right under the fuel gauge to use only Premium. 185,000 miles
My 82 Pace Arrow 454 4 bbl runs better on premium more pep no pinging.48,000 miles
My 1964 deville convert uses Premium/non oxygenated 71,000 miles
I run Premium every tank.
Sorry but I think it makes all the difference.:B

My 2003 325HP Northstar STS said premium fuel but I always used 87 and it ran perfectly fine for the last 60K miles.all smoke and mirrors on newer port injected computer controlled engines

Both arguments are erroneous and have absolutely NOTHING to do with octane rating.

On contrare its all about octane.manual suggest,s(recomends) useing premium fuel(higher octane)I use regular fuel(lower octane)(cheaper to buy)+ still ran perfectly fine so I stick with it(lower octane fuel)The guys 84 454 pace arrow pinged on low octane fuel so he used premium and no pinging(higher octane fuel)
its all about Octane ratings
Now that being said none of this answers the OP question at all

[JaBob]

I have never been in a station where mid range is cheaper than regular. I guess anything is possible but my experience is that a mid range costs $.10 more.

Bob

[rk911]

Germania wrote:
Me being an East Coast person would somebody please explain the gas ratings in the Mid West. I'm refering to the regular (87 Octane) vs the Plus (89 Octane)It blows my mind pulling up to the pumps and seeing the Plus grade 10 or 15 cents cheaper than regular. I know its because the Plus has more Ethanol(% anyone?) The second thing that peaks my curiosity is who uses Plus? My owners manual on my V-10 engine and on my 4 cyl chevy engine state 87 octane is to be used.
Is anybody using this in a V-10 and if so do you see any consequences

chances are you're seeing 87-octane straight gas and 89-octane gasohol selling for less than the 87. I've encountered that several times. using the 89 in your engine won't damage it but i'll bet you'll get better mileage on straight gas. your choice.

[82corvette]

JimFromJersey wrote:
All I know is that in Lexington Nebraska last summer (June 2012) we picked up 63 gallons of E85 by mistake that caused really rough running and vapor lock in our old 87' vintage 454. Now, I'm not sure if that "E85" means it's 85% ethanol, but since here in the East, "E10" means 10% Ethanol, I have my suspicions. So E85 must be not much more volatile than Crisco. Modern computer controlled engines may run OK on it but that old cast iron monster in our Bounder didn't like it at all. It stalled every time we came to a stop. The genny hated it. We finally burned out enough to put some Shell V-Power in to counteract it. Once we started putting mid grade fuel in during the rest of our time in between the Ohio River and the Rockies, we were fine.

Here in the midwest 87 octane regular has no alcohol, 89 octane has 10% alcohol we call it e10 or ethanol here, & e85 is 85% alcohol only to be used in flex fuel vehicles.

[JimFromJersey]

All I know is that in Lexington Nebraska last summer (June 2012) we picked up 63 gallons of E85 by mistake that caused really rough running and vapor lock in our old 87' vintage 454. Now, I'm not sure if that "E85" means it's 85% ethanol, but since here in the East, "E10" means 10% Ethanol, I have my suspicions. So E85 must be not much more volatile than Crisco. Modern computer controlled engines may run OK on it but that old cast iron monster in our Bounder didn't like it at all. It stalled every time we came to a stop. The genny hated it. We finally burned out enough to put some Shell V-Power in to counteract it. Once we started putting mid grade fuel in during the rest of our time in between the Ohio River and the Rockies, we were fine.

[time2roll]

I would try to buy the lowest ethanol content and still meet the minimum octane.

[Daveinet]

coolcity wrote:

spritz_55423 wrote:
My 1999 Deville Concours, Says right under the fuel gauge to use only Premium. 185,000 miles
My 82 Pace Arrow 454 4 bbl runs better on premium more pep no pinging.48,000 miles
My 1964 deville convert uses Premium/non oxygenated 71,000 miles
I run Premium every tank.
Sorry but I think it makes all the difference.:B

My 2003 325HP Northstar STS said premium fuel but I always used 87 and it ran perfectly fine for the last 60K miles.all smoke and mirrors on newer port injected computer controlled engines

Both arguments are erroneous and have absolutely NOTHING to do with octane rating.

[ddndoug]

87 octane fuel is used at a rate much faster than the mid and premium grades. Sometimes if the price of fuel is rising quickly the prices on the 87 tanks change but the mids and premium may wait until their next fuel delivery.


Doug