yup, but those additives can be the difference in a clean motor and a dirty motor. i used to fill up @ the local citgo and when i broke down my 302 it had a nice layer of crap on the intake valves and in the ports. when i put it back together i filled up at chevron every time (techron FTW) and when the crank snapped in 10 pieces and i tore it down the intake ruunners and valve was virtually spotless.

so yeah, cheap *** gas (walmart) FTL. plus, locally i have noticed if i get gas from the shell's around here on occasion or the wife fills up (she'll go anywhere [:@]) the car will "ping" more

 

In the mid-Atlantic states, our gas is blended with 10% Ethanol & 90% gas. It's done strictly to lower emissions, which is a good thing. The negative is that E-blended gas provides less mpg, and by my calculations the loss is greater than 10%. So you end up buying more of it to go the same distance.

 

They actually owtlawed MTBE......methyl tributyl ether. Cancer causing was the cop-out. The real problem with it was that 1-2 ppb's in water could be smelled very easily. Blame the generally lax controls / inspections on underground gas tanks. Not that I'd want to drink MTBE, but it is far superior to iso-octane (which is the replacement) as a gasoline additive.

 

I agree with the pipeline post above. Someone did a nice article about it last month. All the gas that comes into a city (Charlotte here) comes via a pipeline and brands add additives. "Top tier" gasolines (Shell, Chevron) add more additives to get this rating. BP is the brand that Ford recommends, and is not a top tier gas. The study that was done in comparision of the brands showed no less wear or valve build-up on lower tier brands.
OK, I found the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...gas-usat_n.htm

 

E85 is 85% ethanol - 15% gasolineand it is very corrosive. Cars that are meant to run on E85 have either plastic or stainless steel tanks , gas lines and any thing else that comes in contact withethanol because of its corrosive nature.

 

E85 is a blend of fuel, not the name of straight ethanol. Personally, I would give anything to be able to run it in my stang... I can already hear people going "why the heck would ya say that?". Simple... It's 115 octaine, and costs less than $3.00 a gallon. Anyone here checked the price of Cam2 110 or 115 octaine lately?

Also, for it's corrosive nature, in older vehicles, it will eat seals and gasketsfaster than twinkies get eaten at a Jenny Craig convention unless those seals have been replaced in the last few years. It's also not very carberator friendly due to poor atomization at lower fuel pressures. Most newer vehicles that aren't designed for E85(and especially ones that were manufactured after the MTBE ban) can handle a tank here and there with no major issues BUT YOU WILL KILL THE MOTOR IF YOU RUN ITCONSTANTLY. Keep in mind, that your fueling while running it will be WAY off. E85 does not burn like gasoline, and your AFR's need to be very very different.

My next project that is Chevy powered is going to be one of those LSx based 5.3 liter engines that are flex fuel capable, running about 25 or 30 pounds of boost andfeed it nothing but E85, and I'm going to stuff it into something that is in the Sub 3000 pound range.
[sm=gears.gif]

 

Heheh. Amen to that.

Walmart is bad! I boycott that company.

 

I wouldn't even pull into a Wal Mart parking lot in my car. Much less put their gas in it.

 

a couple quotes worth reading...... i prefer chevron/texaco (same additives) but seems shells stuff is keeping clean too.

 

E85 ethanol fuelis 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, hence the term E85. It is "Flex Fuel" and it is only for vehicles that are flex fuel rated. And, yes it can damage a non-flex fuel vehicle. It will cause our cars to run extremely lean. This is not good at all. Mostpump gas is "oxygenated" to reduce emmisions.That means they have added a very small percentage of Ethanol to the gasoline.This is not the same as "E85". So, never, everput E85 in your tank unless your car is "Flex Fuel Rated".