Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 08:18:54 -0800
Reply-To: Mike Miller <mwm@LANSET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Miller <mwm@LANSET.COM>
Subject: Re: Which gas??
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Dear vanfolks of wisdom,
I had understood [from ex brother in law who has worked in the oil industry
for a long time] that as of a few years back [5-7?] the gas companies, in
the US at least, put all the cleaner additives in the lower octane as they
do in the higher octane because the finer and finer injection systems needed
to meet pollution standards simply wouldn't work for very long without it.
And they were afraid of law suits [Here's something you don't hear a whole
lot - Hooray for the lawyers!].
Anyone have more/other information on this?
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2000 11:45 PM
Subject: Re: Which gas??
> I use 87 in mine, before and after the I4 swap. There are some pros and
> cons to 87 over 91 octane.
>
> 87 will run perfectly fine in any boxer or even a 10:1cr engine like the
> 2.0L that I am running unless it is really hot and you are subjecting the
> engine to a heavy load like tall hills at high altitude or towing a
> trailer. If the timing is set correctly in the boxer knock will almost
> never be a problem. The knock sensor in the 10:1cr engine that I am using
> will ensure no knock as well - crazy people like me run at 12 BTDC (+6hp)
> and still don't have a knocking problem! The only disadvantage to the 87
> octane is there is usually no expensive cleaners in it for the valves or
> injectors. This is why VW sells a fuel adative which is essentually
> Chevron's Techron.
>
> 91+ octane (up to 94 here in Quesnel at Mowhawk - 5% alcohol) has the
> adatives that keep and engine clean, but unless you want maximum
> performance from an adaptive system like Motronic (no stock Vanagon has
> this) you are wasting your money. Higher octane fuel burns slower so
there
> is more resistance to pre-detionation AKA knock. The adatives to make it
a
> higher octane lower the potential energy of the gasoline - causing you to
> need more (expensive) fuel to do the same amount of work. Also alcohol is
> very hard on the O-rings and the other rubber parts in a Volkswagen fuel
> injection system as it tends to dry them out quicker.
>
> My solution to this is to go to Costco where they have the 3 pack of STP
> injector cleaner and the bonus bottle of Octane Booster. Every other tank
> I dump in a bottle of the injector cleaner and when I am carrying a load
or
> going into the mountians I use the octane booster.
>
> At 03:47 PM 03/03/2000 EST, John M. Moore wrote:
> >Hi fellow listees:
> >
> >With gasoline prices through the roof, for the USA, what grade gas is
> >everyone using? Is it necessary to use 92 octane at $1.55, or is it ok
to
> >use 87 octance at $1.35?
> >
> >John Moore
> >Tucson, AZ
> >
> >
>
> -- David Marshall - - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
> -- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
> -- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
> -- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
> -- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
> -- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
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