This thread question is about regular versus premium fuel . I hope you don’t think premium has more ethanol .
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Tester
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Who said ANYTHING about using higher ethanol ratio? For that you require a flex-fuel engine.
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Dude, are you high or what? Bringing my underpants and ethanol into a discussion about octane? These are three completely unrelated things.
Those of us who have made life-long careers out of being real mechanics have a hard enough time finding other “real mechanics” to work with us. There are precious few out there. If you ever run across one let me know.
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Why? Status, styling, luxury, status, performance, safety, status, safety, did I mention status? Not being able to afford a 10 year old Corolla they will purchase a 4 year old Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and can’t afford to fill the tank with the required fuel much less afford scheduled maintenance and repairs.
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Too bad Dooley.job_148694 was not around to advise military aviation in WWII, all that waste using high octane gasoline.
Who the hell ever said anything about ethanol? Are you confusing ethanol with Ethyl? ( Tetraethyl lead).
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Since 87, 91, and 93 octane gasoline ALL “contains up to 10% ethanol” support your theory?
Are you referencing the Germans using 87 octane gasoline with water/methanol injection to prevent pre-ignition verses the allies simply using higher octane gasoline?
Yes:
Eugene Houdry, born in France, developed, after settling in the USA, one of the earliest catalysts to convert useless crude oil into high octane fuel. He revealed the “cracking” process at a Chicago chemicals conference in 1938
The 100-octane fuel that resulted from the Houdry Process increased the Spitfire’s speed by 25 mph at sea level by 34 mph at 10,000 feet.
This extra speed gave the British fighters in the summer of 1940 the edge over the Luftwaffe above the English Channel and in the skies of London and south-east England.
With the balance tipped towards the British, the German invasion was abandoned and Hitler turned eastwards, allowing the UK armed forces time to regroup and to revive.
“Luftwaffe pilots couldn’t believe they were facing the same planes they had fought successfully over France a few months before. The planes were the same but the fuel wasn’t,” said Palucka.
Tim Palucka says that in the 1943 book The Amazing Petroleum Industry, V A Kalichevsky of the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company explained what high-octane gasoline meant to Britain. Kalichevsky wrote:
"It is an established fact that a difference of only 13 points in octane number made possible the defeat of the Luftwaffe by the RAF in the fall of 1940. This difference, slight as its seems, is sufficient to give a plane the vital edge in altitude, rate of climb and manoeuvrability that spells the difference between defeat and victory.
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I nearly spit out my coffee. Telling @asemaster to get a real mechanic - that’s priceless.
You gotta know your audience man…
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2h dooley.job_148694
You guys have no idae what you are talking about. You can’t just go around tossing ethanol into your gas. If your car is telling you to use a higher ethanol to gas ratio, they are really just trying to get you to spend more on gas. All that ethanol will only cause fuel separation and engine wear. Its ok guys we all learn something new everyday!!! Your welcome
oldtimer 11
You seem to be under the mistaken Impression that higher octane gas has more ethanol in it. That simply is not true. When you buy a car, it either calls for regular grade gas, recommends premium or mid-grade or requires premium or mid-grade.
The cars that recommend premium or mid grade have higher compression than the cars that can take
regular but by having the computer retard ignition timing, engine damage can be prevented but power and fuel economy as well as drive ability will suffer.
The cars that require premium generally have even higher compression and the computer cannot adjust timing enough to prevent engine damage.
There are so many cars out there that take regular gas that I don’t understand why people buy cars that require premium and then don’t buy the right gas. It is the same thing buying a car that requires synthetic 0w20 oil and putting conventional 10W30 oil in it because it is cheaper.
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For some cars perhaps but it is mostly a numbers game for the manufactures, fuel economy and horsepower.
For example the 2010 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 share the same 2GR-FE 3.5 liter engine with a compression ratio of 10.8:1, the Camry uses regular gasoline while the Lexus “requires” premium gasoline. These engines all have knock sensors that allows for such high compression ratios on regular gasoline, in 1970 an engine with 10.5:1 compression would require premium gasoline.
The Camry engine has an advertised horsepower of 268, the Lexus is 272 horsepower, not much of an advantage but it makes a difference between the competition in sales.
Does the Lexus have the timing advanced a little so it can make 4 more horsepower on regular gas?
interesting
yet regular gas is recommended for the ES350 in MYs 2012-2019 – maybe it no longer shared the Camry’s engine?
https://lexus2.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8129/~/which-fuel-grade-should-i-use-for-my-lexus-vehicle%3F
or maybe ES350 buyers in 2010-2011 complained about using premium and so Lexus/Toyota switched back?
One car I recently read about had two HP figures: one for regular, a higher for premium. That implies the engine adjusts to use either fuel without being harmed. If I find that article I’ll get back here and cite it.
Not every engine can be trusted to handle regular without harm if it requires premium.
I totally agree. And why would you risk damaging a $5000 engine to save $4 a fill-up in the cost of gasoline?
I can’t understand buying a $40,000 Lexus and complaining about requiring premium gas.
I can’t understand buying a $50,000 Mercedes Benz and complaining about the high cost of run-flat tires.
I can’t understand buying a $60,000 Audi and complaining about the price of parts and service.
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The operative words are “required” vs “recommended”. Ya pays your money and takes your chances.
Don’t You understand that, it is just not fair that they have to pay for those things after putting themself into a deep hole, buying something they couldn’t afford.
It would be more fair if those of us, who buys within our means had to bare the brunt of high maintenance/repairs.
You really surprice me Mustangman.
I mean, that must be how they look at it.
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