doode

A bit of a long story here...
So i just got back from a quick blast to Seattle Washington from Vancouver BC sunday night.

Made excellent time, did the 250km ish blast there in a tick over 2 hrs.
Was playing traffic tag with a C5 Vette with a radar detector and pretty much blitzed down the highway at around 150km/h or 90+ mph for the majority of the way.

Anyways, i need gas so i pull into a chevron in Bellvue, fill up about 12 gallons of regular 87 octane.

Putting around the streets and downtown seattle city. no problems.

Going back on the highway, merging, nail it in 3rd at around 60mph and i heard engine knock!!!
I know what engine knock sounds like as i have a 1980 Volvo with a very tempermental carb, but damn! Heard it for about 2 seconds, then i assume the ECU dialed everything back as the engine became noticibly slower, loss of power, speed / throttle response and just general responsiveness. Now im not saying it lost all power, but the power loss was signifigant enough for me to notice.

Seeing as i had a full tank, i decided to just burn it off by going just as fast on the way back
Not to mention sitting at the stupid Can / US border for 2+ hrs sure helped . Didnt keep it running the full time, but all the start up and shut down certainly helped fuel consumption.

Also, as added insult, cross the border back into canada, gas is cheap, try to fill up and BAM! gas tank doesnt wanna accept anything. 1st time ive had this problem, read about it before on the boards. Spent about 5 mins fighting with it, got in 1 measley gallon, said screw it, and went home and decided to deal with it later haha.

Anyways, back on topic, do you think i just got some bad gas? Or is US 87 octane slightly different from the 87 Octane we have up here in Canada?

Im a chevron guy as there is 1 down the street from my house and ive never had any problems with 87 octane.
Just wondering what you guys think.

Orion_240

You don't say if you are using a tuner...
Could be you got some water in the gas- was it raining, like always in the PNW? Try one of those 99 cent additives for the rest of the bad tank of gas
Hpw much are you paying for 87 octane anyway? We are down to about $2.87 (US) here in LA.

With the fuel tank problem, just turn the handle of the pump to the 2-3 o'clock position and pull the handle to fill it up. The nozzle should stop shutting off. Or else turn it all the way upsidedown.

Stooge

Thank the environmental left-wing for the "bad -science" and the ethanol in the gas. Our northern brothers don't use the "political gas additive."

W1ldcat

I paid $2.13 here in MI yesterday

Gman13

Stooge is correct, there is ethanol in the gas and if your car has never had ethanol in it, it will affect it the first time. Normal gas puts a slight varnish coating inside all metal tanks. The ethanol will clean this off and dirty up the gas. Do as Orion suggested and put an additive in it, run the tank out and you should be ok. Also may want to check fuel filter...

doode

Thanks for the replies. Yea, could be the ethanol doing its thing. Oh well. Now i know!

My car is stock, no tune or anything.
My tank is sitting at a little over 1/4 tank, i'll run it closer to empty, fill up with some 89 octane and i should be good to roll.

Thanks again.