Premium or regular unleaded

[ray66v]

Not so true anymore.... our 2013 Impala is 11.5:1 and recommended fuel is 87 octane.

Yes, that's why I said, In 99% of engines made, the compression ratio determines the octane of fuel required.

I have seen Chevrolet say, premium fuel is recommended, but not required, in SS impala's.

There are some things engineers are doing to get around the detonation issue.

I read about a new engine being developed, which will now have variable compression. I'm not going to be volunteering my money, to do testing on that for them. But, I suspect they will get there.

 

[Clay45]

I've been able to purchase 87 Octane Ethanol Free gas just about anywhere around here but I know of only one station with 89 Octane and 91 Octane ethanol free and its a good drive to it. I try and go once a year and get 5 gallons of 91 Ethanol Free for my small engines (weedeater, chainsaws, leaf blower, tiller)
and I can tell a difference occassionally but not always. Last time I really gave my little Mantis tiller (aka: Echo, Shindaiwa) a good workout I hadn't picked up any hi-octane ethanol-free gas and used regular ethanol free because I had it on hand. It was a hot day and I could hear the engine knocking every time I pulled back against the tines. As I realized what was happening I stopped and parked the tiller; emptied one of my 5 gallon cans into my Scag and Linhai and made the drive to the only station for miles for some 91 Octane Ethanol-Free gasoline and made a new batch of 50:1 using it. Dumped the remaining tank and filled up with the hi-octane mix. No more knocking (pre-ignition) when pulling back under load.

If it were nearby I'd use hi-octane ethanol free in my Scag while the prices are down. Back when it was over $4/gal it was touch to tank up. As long as they are lower I use regular 87 Octane in my pickup and average 19.8 mpg. With 10% ethanol gas I get 16 mpg average. Cost per mile is about the same so why not get the ethanol-free gas since its available?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Non-alcohol gas is not convenient for me. Long drive and +$.40. I go through 100 GL/year for small engines that I get in my 50 GL transfer tank. Since I started adding Staybil 360 Marine my problems disappeared. As a test last winter I did not drain anything but filled to the top. When starting up this spring everything clicked right off as if it had been running all that time. Due to tree blow downs and power outages I need my chain saws, pull motor, (old lawn mower used to tow a trailer) and gen sets ready to go. Cars and trucks are made/tuned to run on low octane E10. Never seen E15 around here.

Ron

 

[MF283]

That's a 40+ year old tractor.

It was designed to run on regular, low octane gas. So that's what you should use. If you're worried about ethanol related problems, try and find ethanol free low octane gas. Personally, I've never, ever, had any ethanol related issues in anything I've ever owned, with the only exception being one fuel line in one chainsaw that turned to mush one time. And I can't prove it was the ethanol that did it.

Exact same results here.I tried E free one time, the saws would not run right with it, i didn't have the time to adjust the settings, dumped it, put the E back in & they were happy:confused3:

Ronnie

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Just bought a new Husky XP saw and they are designed to use 10% ethanol. They do not say anything anout mnadditives.

Ron

 

[jbwilson]

Regular is the way to go.

I was using E10 for years as it was 1 cent cheaper at the pump and 'environmentally friendly'... what a CROCK! I switched to regular and immediately got better 'mileage'. Then I received a new RSL (Australian Veterans Organisation, like your 'Legion') members card that knocked 6 cents off regular petrol @ a specific provider. Woo HOO!

Wow! And then you can get another 4 cents off using a Coles or Woolies fuel discount docket (Shell and Caltex respectively) providing it covers your specific retailer. This should save you $10s every year. A few years ago both supermarket chains were offering discounts of up to 45 cents a litre if you spent x dollars in their shop in one transaction (can't remember the amount but it wasn't that high and within most people's weekly grocery shopping amount - just buy extra discounted soft drinks, lollies and other basic food groups to make up the total if you didn't have the average 2.2 children that week). Then in 2013 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commisioner stepped in and forced the chains to drop the incentive while they conducted an investigation into whether fuel saving offers were causing a substantial lessening of competition in markets for the retail sale of fuel. Guess they're still investigating?

 

[Wagtail]

Wow! And then you can get another 4 cents off using a Coles or Woolies fuel discount docket (Shell and Caltex respectively)...

The discount is for "United" servos only... which is great for me as we've only got a United & a BP in our wee town. United also offers the 6 cents off to RACT members. Nothing but IGAs outside of the Big Smokes anyway so I can't gather their dockets even if I wanted to.

 

[Texasmark]

Gotta toss in on this. Sat by the sidelines for years on the E10 or not question. After hardened rubber parts in non-new small engines and marine engines, the alcohol apparently does dry out rubber not suited for it. Truck is flex fuel rated and tractors are diesels. Latest instance was dried out diaphragm in fuel pump of Weed eater string trimmer.....besides the melted fuel lines.

 

[buickanddeere]

Yes, that's why I said, In 99% of engines made, the compression ratio determines the octane of fuel required.

I have seen Chevrolet say, premium fuel is recommended, but not required, in SS impala's.

There are some things engineers are doing to get around the detonation issue.

I read about a new engine being developed, which will now have variable compression. I'm not going to be volunteering my money, to do testing on that for them. But, I suspect they will get there.[/QUOTE


It's because the engine is direct injection instead of port injection.a gasser with Diesel thermal efficiency without glow plugs, particulate filter, urea, turbo and waxed up fuel filters.

 

[mapper]

I run E10 87 octane in all of my small gas engines, I do add stabilizer to my 50:1 mix and add stabilizer to the fuel tanks on the mower and generator over the winter. I also keep the tanks topped up to minimize condensation. I've not had any problems with any of my gas equipment due to ethanol in the gas with these minor precautionary actions.

 

[WilliamBos]

I only buy premium for our small engines, and my atv. Both get a healthy dose of Marins Stabil.

 

[Huskerfan]

Premium only. I add Stabil and Sea Foam to the can before filling at the pump.

 

[bikerzing]

Do I need to add a lead substitute to my fuel? It's a 1970 gas JD 1020.

 

[MossRoad]

Do I need to add a lead substitute to my fuel? It's a 1970 gas JD 1020.

How long have you been running it without leaded gas?

 

[George2615]

Do I need to add a lead substitute to my fuel? It's a 1970 gas JD 1020.

Older engines were designed to use leaded gasoline. Lead in gas acted as a lubricant. The lead was removed from gas back in the early 70's so engines prior to that should use a lead additive. I've owned several classic cars prior to the 70's and used the lead substitute additive. My current classic has a 1988 big block in it. The engine is designed to run on gas with ethanol. I have to use 89 or higher octane.
If the JD1020 has been running for the past 40 plus years on today's fuel I'd guess the motor was rebuilt at some point and rebuilt to use unleaded gas.

 

[MossRoad]

I thought Tetraethyl lead (TEL) was added to gasoline as a method to raise octane to reduce knock. That's what its primary use was for. It was secondary that it helped prevent valve and seat wearing.

Tetraethyllead - Wikipedia

http://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Octane_History_2016.pdf

History of Lead Use - Toxipedia

It was also known back in the 20s that ethanol could do the same thing in regards to boosting octane. However, DuPont and GM teamed up to promote lead as the octane booster of choice (for profit for them, of course), and ethanol was run out of town. Several people died in the lead factory and many more were severely sickened, and lead was suspended for a short while. Then it was approved again. And the poisoning of America soon followed. Read up on it. Its quite interesting that for about 60 years, it was allowed to be spewed into the air from every car. Once it was removed from gasoline, there was something like a 75% drop in lead levels in American's blood level.

 

[sld]

Yep, Hardened valve seats was one of the changes from pre-lead to post-lead.

 

[George2615]

I thought Tetraethyl lead (TEL) was added to gasoline as a method to raise octane to reduce knock. That's what its primary use was for. It was secondary that it helped prevent valve and seat wearing.

Tetraethyllead - Wikipedia

http://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Octane_History_2016.pdf

History of Lead Use - Toxipedia

It was also known back in the 20s that ethanol could do the same thing in regards to boosting octane. However, DuPont and GM teamed up to promote lead as the octane booster of choice (for profit for them, of course), and ethanol was run out of town. Several people died in the lead factory and many more were severely sickened, and lead was suspended for a short while. Then it was approved again. And the poisoning of America soon followed. Read up on it. Its quite interesting that for about 60 years, it was allowed to be spewed into the air from every car. Once it was removed from gasoline, there was something like a 75% drop in lead levels in American's blood level.

I stand corrected. Lead as lubricant was a poor choice of words on my part. It did raise octane and prevented valves and seats from sticking. I always assumed lead acted as a friction reducer for valve stems and guides.

 

[cat fever]

Use the octane the owners manual recommends; as others have said octane is related to compression and altitude. The higher you go the lower octane you can use.
The one advantage premium has over the other grades is the "major" oil companies add more of their additive package to premium. (at least they use to) I worked for both Amoco and BP, both added 10 times the amount of additive to premium. That's not a typo, 10 times the amount.

 

[buickanddeere]

Engines last longer and stay cleaner using unleaded fuel. That said we still use 100LL in a few engines that sit more than run.
For non highway applications we only use premium non ethanol . End of problems and even if the fuel is old the octane is still higher than fresh 87 octane.