At 09:27 AM 10/3/2002, Malcolm Stebbins wrote: >I then did a google.com search related to this topic as I was trying to >find backing for what my mechanic tells me: Premium gas is 'better' in >that one can go farther on a tank of premium than on a tank of regular >and that one should be looking at costs per kilometre/mile rather than >cost/litre (gallon). From Chevron, oxygenated gasoline has about 3.5% less energy content than non-oxygenated. About 1/2% of this is due to replacement of higher-energy high-octane petroleum fractions with very high-octane ethanol. http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/fuels/bulletin/oxy-fuel/enrgycon.shtml So it seems that there might be as much as a 1% difference in favor of high-octane non-oxygenated fuel. Is the price difference 1%? > He also suggests that since premium burns more >slowly (I'll assume that this is correct) that there is more of 'push' on >the piston and less of a 'slap' therefore being easier on the engine. It resists detonation and pre-ignition -- that's the point. But if the engine isn't doing that, there's no advantage there. Note that fancier engines with a knock detector may perform better with high-octane gas but still run correctly with low-octane. That's not the case for us, either it works correctly or it doesn't. david
-- David Beierl - Providence, RI http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" '85 GL "Poor Relation" |
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