Gas station lying about Octane rating?

[Rockey33]

We drive past a fuel depot everyday to go to work. We see every brands fuel tankers pull out from there. I beginning to believe everyone uses the same gas and just market it differently. I also think that the age of the tanks at each station makes a difference in the quality of gas.

[Rendo]

I manage a gas station for two years in while in college. Our station didn't have the high octane fuel for whatever reason, but did have 87 and 91 (I don't remember the exact numbers). Both tanks were filled with the higher octane fuel at all times because for some reason it worked out cheaper that way. The company I worked for owned 37 gas stations in the area and it was the same at every one.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by Rockey33

We drive past a fuel depot everyday to go to work. We see every brands fuel tankers pull out from there. I beginning to believe everyone uses the same gas and just market it differently. I also think that the age of the tanks at each station makes a difference in the quality of gas.

the different companies use different additives. but yes, most of the gas is the same. the age of the tanks doesn't matter. first, they have to dig those things up ever so often and replace them. EPA requires it to prevent failures in the tanks that would allow fuel to seep into the ground. and second, those tanks probably have a half dozen filters on them, and the tanks at the stations have filters, and the pumps have filters and your car has filters. there's very little chance of anything getting through.

[66olds442]

Originally Posted by Coyotekiller

93 octane is everywhere.

SO not true. I have never seen 93 Octane in California. In Texas you could find it if you looked hard enough. In New Mexico, I have trouble finding 91 at times and have never seen anything above 91.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by 66olds442

SO not true. I have never seen 93 Octane in California. In Texas you could find it if you looked hard enough. In New Mexico, I have trouble finding 91 at times and have never seen anything above 91.

It's just cuz he lives on the east coast. 93 truly is everywhere out there. You can even find 94 in some places with minimal problems. Maybe not that far south, but I know quite a few east coast/midwest states have it.

[davista04]

No, 93 is NOT everywhere. Because of the ethanol additive, the only premium non ethanol we could get is 91, so here in wisconsin, our v power was 91

[kalimus]

I don't think anybody specified ethanol or no ethanol. You should count yourself lucky you can even find non-ethanol gas. That stuff is like bigfoot in California. People say it exists, but I don't see it, so I don't believe it does! I just saw "93", and yeah, that stuff is easy to find over there. It just has ethanol. But really, I would assume that almost everyone here puts gas in their car with an ethanol additive since the "real stuff" is such a pain to find. But out here, we can't even get 93 WITH ethanol. We're stuck with 91 (with) for the most part.

Have you looked at this site ever?

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

There is a 92 over in Wausau. Don't know how accurate it is, but it might be worth a shot

[Coyotekiller]

Originally Posted by davista04

No, 93 is NOT everywhere. Because of the ethanol additive, the only premium non ethanol we could get is 91, so here in wisconsin, our v power was 91

Not sure 93 has ethanol in it...

But anyway, 93 is all over the place out here. First time I ever saw 91 octane was at a station in south Carolina a few months ago. They sell our 93 octane fuel as just that, 93 octane. Hell, if you look hard enough near some of the local dragstrips you can find 110 race gas in the pump.

[cmb74656]

Originally Posted by STuRTzz

sorry for being a noob. Why would someone need to pull their fuse out? I like 76 gas.

The SS requires 93 octane fuel for maximum performance. The computer has two different fuel tables so the car will run, albeit at reduced performance, when it detects lower octane fuel. The fuel table is supposed to reset itself once the computer detects the higher octane fuel, but it doesn't. Necessitating the fuse pull.

Originally Posted by Coyotekiller

Not sure 93 has ethanol in it...

But anyway, 93 is all over the place out here. First time I ever saw 91 octane was at a station in south Carolina a few months ago. They sell our 93 octane fuel as just that, 93 octane. Hell, if you look hard enough near some of the local dragstrips you can find 110 race gas in the pump.

I found a Chevron station in my county that sells 'Ethanol-free Recreational Fuel.'
90 octane was $4.39/gallon, 110 octane was $9.99/gallon (probably higher, since the readout went no higher)
while 93 octane was $3.89/gallon that day. This station is about 10 miles from the local drag strip.

[RichGreene]

Originally Posted by pierre777

No your wrong thes tankers have more than one chambe insidevthey can carry at least 3 types of fuel in separate chambers.

Yopure right about being able to haul more than 1 type of fuel.
Ours have 4 compartments but the other guy is right, most stations blend to make midgrade.
Coming from a retired Marathon Oil tanker-yanker.

[shooters]

Question: For those of us that live in states (California here) that can only get 91 octane fuel, would using and octane booster to bump it up a couple points be beneficial, or is that not advised?

[Blakk11SS]

I have always used 93 Octane available from BP and recently Holiday stations here in the Minneapolis Metro area. My question is, will the 91 Octane Non-ethanol which is sold around here, use the low Octane fuel table or will it use the high one? If so, is it safe to use the 91 Octane Ethanol-free fuel in a SS?

[CruiseControl]

Originally Posted by Blakk11SS

I have always used 93 Octane available from BP and recently Holiday stations here in the Minneapolis Metro area. My question is, will the 91 Octane Non-ethanol which is sold around here, use the low Octane fuel table or will it use the high one? If so, is it safe to use the 91 Octane Ethanol-free fuel in a SS?

Yes. I run Shell 91 only in my SS. I have not been able to find anything higher which is ethanol-free,

It will run on the premium fuel table, and since there's more energy in pure gasoline than an ethanol-blend, there is no reason to think you're performance won't be just as good or better. I personally feel that my SS runs better with the 91 EtOH free than any EtOH containing 93 or 94 I've put in.

[Blakk11SS]

Thanks! I will give it a try