Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 15:11:13 -0400
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Gas - Cheap vs Expensive
In-Reply-To: <CAOBs5F5Z+931NCY4S=K4E-U-ep9-4C5tv7CMm0T3sQFU1sNaNg@mail.g
mail.com>
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At 02:23 PM 5/15/2015, PB wrote:
>About a year and a half ago there was a thread about which gasoline to
>use. If I remember right, there was a general consensus that Vanagons were
>made to use cheap gas,
Stop right there, please. If we think in cheap
vs expensive it all gets very confusing. After
you figure out what sort of gas you want to use
then you can try to find it cheaply.
The Vanagon requires fuel with a certain octane
rating to operate correctly. Octane rating is a
number that rates the gasoline's ability to
resist exploding inside your engine. You don't
want it to explode. You want it to burn rapidly
but smoothly, and for the Vanagon at sea level
you need to use fuel with octane rating of at
least 87, American style. Butbutbut, you
say. There are two common methods for rating
octane, called the Research method and the Motor
method. In Europe they like the Research method,
and the Vanagon needs gas with a Research Octane
Number of 91, just like it says on your sticker
(you can see the RON if you look). In the US for
some reason we like both methods. We like them
so well that we use the average of the two for
the octne number we stick on th epump. And that
number is 87, regular grade fuel. If you're
really flogging the beast the owner's manual says
you can use higher octane (mid-grade) if you want, just in case.
If you go up in the mountains you'll get another
scare because the pumps will say 85 on them --
that's ok, because of the altitude 85 octane is
sufficient. Note that "high-octane" gas isn't
filled with more energy than regular -- it's
actually filled with a bit less. Its virtue is
burning smoothly in high-compression engines that
tend to make the fuel explode. Its other virtue
is that in order to encourage you to buy the
fancy gasoline, the blender/refiner/brand may put
lots of lovely detergent and ssuch in their
high-test, but skimp on it in their regular
grade. If that were true, either using Techron
from time to time or switching to the expensive
gas would keep your engine from getting all crudded up internally.
And that brings us to Top Tier gasoline. Some
brands have agreed to sell only gasoline with a
superior detergent package and other good
qualities, and in turn VW and other mfrs suggest
that you buy this high-quality gas carried by the
Top Tier brands. It comes in high, mid, and low
octane, but they all have the good detergent
package. VW thinks it's a very good idea for you
to use gas meeting the Top Tier standard as it
will keep your engine clean and happy
inside. But they don't care which brand you use,
and they don't forbid you to use gas that is not
Top Tier. They just warn that you may not like
the long-term results when your engine
potentially gets all clogged up with stuff.
Yours,
David
> so I immediately switched from 91 octane Costco gas
><http://blog.modbargains.com/what-is-top-tier-gas-and-why-it-matters-its-at-costco/>
>to 87.
>
>A few weeks ago, after a tuneup and compression
> adjustment
>in all 4 cylinders, my mechanic, Bela, told me I was using "BAD GAS." He
>told me that Costco gas was BAD, and would ruin the cylinders, and that I
>needed to use 91 (89 at the lowest) octane *MOBIL* gas for the best
>performance. (Mobil gas is extremely high-priced, and averages $.3
>5
> - $1.00 per gallon above all other brands.) OK. So I switched to Mobil
>91 octane - for my van ONLY, and I actually have been getting better
>mileage. (Had to use Gas Buddy to find the lowest priced Mobil, which is
>
>on my daily route, and pay cash to avoid credit card surcharge
>.)
>
>
>Yesterday, I noticed the dog-eared stickers on my passenger door, and was
>able to see that 91 octane was recommended when the vehicle was made
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