Mid Grade gas makes noticeable difference on my Ranger

[Eddo Rogue]

If you want good gas keep an eye out for ethanol free. Some places got it at the pump.

 

[sgtsandman]

Station I go to, he has 87, 90 and 93. 90 is exactly halfway between 87 and 93. You're thinking of 87 and 91, which, halfway in between is 89.

Sunoco and I think BP both have 89 and 91 as well as 87 and 93. The only station that has 90 here is Kwik Fill and that is non-ethanol with a separate nozzle. I believe they have all four of the octanes as well but they sell crap gas. So, the inly time I stopped there was for the non-ethanol fuel. They have had personnel issues and weren’t open all the time. So I stopped going even for that.

 

[19Walt93]

We have several stations that sell unbranded gas and I drive right by them. The 351 in my Ranger came out of a 95 F150 and even with the new pistons it's less than 9:1 by my math. It has a Holley 4 barrel and Duraspark but for the first time in my life, I left the puny 1995 roller cam. It likes 87 just fine and doesn't even notice changing to 89- or 93. My Mustang doesn't like anything less than 93 and runs like crap on 6 month old gas with Marine Stabil in the spring so I drain most of the gas and feed it to the truck and Escape.

 

[cbxer55]

In Oklahoma, the pump has to state, by law, if the gas has alcohol in it, and the percentage. Place I buy my 93 octane from, for my Lightning and three bikes, is totally no ethanol. Most stations here offer you the choice, ethanol or no ethanol.

 

[sgtsandman]

With very limited exceptions, most gas stations here sell 10%. Some offer 15%. And some 85%. All pumps are marked with the percentage or if it’s ethanol free. The ethanol free ones are few and far between.

I think the fuel type and content markings are a federal requirement.

 

[cbxer55]

Not sure about that. I know, back when Oklahoma passed it, they made a big deal of it.

 

[superj]

i drive the ranger to save gas versus the full size. way better in town mileage from the 3.0 than the 5.6 v8.


we used to have a number of "real" gas stations but now there is only one non-ethanol gas station

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Sunoco and I think BP both have 89 and 91 as well as 87 and 93. The only station that has 90 here is Kwik Fill and that is non-ethanol with a separate nozzle. I believe they have all four of the octanes as well but they sell crap gas. So, the inly time I stopped there was for the non-ethanol fuel. They have had personnel issues and weren’t open all the time. So I stopped going even for that.

Good point. Separate nozzles. Look out for those as well.

If all 3 grades are coming out of the same hose, you are probably getting some of whatever the last guy filled up with before your gas flows.

When pumping premium for the bikes toys and whatnot, I check what grade the last transaction at the pump was, and either way put a few gallons into the truck before filling the jugs.

 

[sgtsandman]

Good point. Separate nozzles. Look out for those as well.

If all 3 grades are coming out of the same hose, you are probably getting some of whatever the last guy filled up with before your gas flows.

When pumping premium for the bikes toys and whatnot, I check what grade the last transaction at the pump was, and either way put a few gallons into the truck before filling the jugs.

Thankfully, I have nothing that critical to worry about it. If I plan to make the 2019 do any real work, I’ll bump up the octane. It also depends on what is in and how much is left in the tank. Most times, 87 is just fine.

I never played with the octane on the 2011. Fuel mileage with the Kwik Fill non-ethanol, 90 grade was about the same and get up and go wasn’t any better. It could have been the quality of the gas playing a factor as well.

Other than using up some getting old 89 octane for my power equipment, it just gets fed 87 as a result.

 

[Josh B]

I was coming home late one time in my parents Karman Ghia and stopped at an out of the way little truck stop and there was nobody at the pumps. I saw the guy over at the tire breaker but just ignored him as I started to fill it up. A minute later he came over and said, "You're putting diesel in that VW"

I drove it on home and told mt dad about it, I think he just thinned it with tractor gas or something and drove it on through, said later he thought it maybe even done some good

 

[superj]

Ha ha ha. It probably would have helped the first two engines in my karmann ghia

 

[19Walt93]

Good point. Separate nozzles. Look out for those as well.

If all 3 grades are coming out of the same hose, you are probably getting some of whatever the last guy filled up with before your gas flows.

When pumping premium for the bikes toys and whatnot, I check what grade the last transaction at the pump was, and either way put a few gallons into the truck before filling the jugs.

Sunoco used to have 8 grades of leaded gas dispensed from the same nozzles and we had 2 grades in the tanks- 190 economy regular(89 octane) and 260 super premium(103 octane) that mixed right at the nozzle based on which grade was selected. We figured anyone who bought the 89 octane 190 was a cheapskate.

 

[sgtsandman]

The only nozzles I’ve seen separate on gas pumps at most gas stations are the “non-standard” fuels like non-ethanol, E15, E85, and the pumps that offer diesel. The rest is all one nozzle, whether the station offers 3 octane levels or 4.

There is the odd station out there that has a nozzle for each fuel type but it isn’t common, at least not around the areas of the country I’ve been.

The first time I ran across a pump that offered E15, it took a bit for it to process but I figured it out. I had the 2019 at the time, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal but I’d rather burn as little ethanol as I can.

I’m not a big fan of burning food as fuel.

 

[19Walt93]

The only nozzles I’ve seen separate on gas pumps at most gas stations are the “non-standard” fuels like non-ethanol, E15, E85, and the pumps that offer diesel. The rest is all one nozzle, whether the station offers 3 octane levels or 4.

There is the odd station out there that has a nozzle for each fuel type but it isn’t common, at least not around the areas of the country I’ve been.

The first time I ran across a pump that offered E15, it took a bit for it to process but I figured it out. I had the 2019 at the time, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal but I’d rather burn as little ethanol as I can.

I’m not a big fan of burning food as fuel.

It's not just a waste of food, ethanol lowers the mileage because it has fewer btus per gallon than gas. There is no logical reason for ethanol in our gas, it's purely political. Brazil uses a lot of ethanol for fuel but they make it from sugar cane which is much more efficient than our use of corn. We expend more energy making ethanol than it produces. Not to mention, the smell of E10 coming through a cold cat would make a billy goat puke.
I wish we had non ethanol more available here.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

The only nozzles I’ve seen separate on gas pumps at most gas stations are the “non-standard” fuels like non-ethanol, E15, E85, and the pumps that offer diesel. The rest is all one nozzle, whether the station offers 3 octane levels or 4.

There is the odd station out there that has a nozzle for each fuel type but it isn’t common, at least not around the areas of the country I’ve been.

The first time I ran across a pump that offered E15, it took a bit for it to process but I figured it out. I had the 2019 at the time, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal but I’d rather burn as little ethanol as I can.

I’m not a big fan of burning food as fuel.

Yea it is way less common. My favorite 76 used to have em, but then switch to single nozzle for gas and separate for diesel.

I like the non ethanol for the yard equipment, so they will start again next season.