Fuel - brands & octane

[Sloth]

We all know that we should run our cars on premium unleaded (98 octane). While wandering around work today I looked at some drums of race fuel I have (60 litres of 110 octane unleaded - gonna keep it for when the mods are done!).

Anyway, it got me thinking about petrol in general.

What fuel do people use? Why?

Personally, I find that my car seems "happier" with BP Ultimate, to the point I won't use anything else. I have tried Shell, Caltex etc. (To the point where I change the fuel filter, run 3 tanks through, then chop the filter up - BP seems to be "cleaner" - less visible crud, less discolouration of the filter material.)

What are your experiences / preferences???

 

[jet150]

I mainly use Caltex Vortex 98. So far it has been alright.

I'll give BP 98 ago next time I fill up.

 

[qball]

I Know both my car do not like Shell, Both smoke badly with shell petrol. I mostly use caltex

 

[Nitephyre]

Vortex 98, the odd tank of V-Power.

 

[knickers]

BP ultimate

 

[fieldy107]

I use any of the 98 octane fuels and cant notice a difference

 

[smitty]

I prefer Ultimate but use V-power every now and then. Seems as though I get slightly better economy with BP Ultimate than the Shell V-power.

 

[TomTom]

RON 100 is the maximum you can achieve. RON 100 means you've just refilled 100% C8H18.

RON 110 doesn't exist!

 

[king_panther]

RON 100 is the maximum you can achieve. RON 100 means you've just refilled 100% C8H18.

RON 110 doesn't exist!

It doesn't ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

"It is possible for a fuel to have a Research Octane Number (RON) greater than 100, because iso-octane is not the most knock-resistant substance available. Racing fuels, AvGas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and alcohol fuels such as methanol or ethanol may have octane ratings of 110 or significantly higher — ethanol's RON is 129 (102 MON, 116 AKI). Typical "octane booster" petrol additives include MTBE, ETBE, isooctane and toluene. Lead in the form of tetra-ethyl lead was once a common additive, but since the 1970s, its use in most of the industrialised world has been restricted, and its use is currently limited mostly to aviation gasoline."

 

[king_panther]

I've been reading on Wikipedia & kept going through links in articles & came across this little snippet of info in the Avgas page;

"Other Uses In some remote communities in Australia where petrol sniffing has been endemic, automobile gasoline has been replaced by aviation gasoline for use in all automobiles. The lower vapor pressure and slightly different composition of aviation gasoline make it less 'usable' as an inhalant."


OZVR4 cruise to load up on some Avgas?

 

[knickers]

How much does it cost to hire a petrol tanker?

 

[king_panther]

How much does it cost to hire a petrol tanker?

I've got a feeling it will turn out like the finale to Mad Max 2 :sad:

 

[Macca]

I use BP ultimate as well. Just seems to be better for me, I have no proof of this of course just my opinion.

 

[Fred]

Always BP ultimate. Seems to go better ?

 

[Kitty's VR4]

I use Ultimate, get better economy and the car run's smoother.

Mobile synergy8000 isn't to bad, but 25k's less per tank than Ultimate.

Caltex Vortex98 is crap, tried 4 tankfulls and using datalogger my knock values go through the ceiling whenever I use it & 45-50k's less per tank than Ultimate. (knock values range from 6 - 64 using Vortex)

There are 2 caltex servos where I lived and I bought 4 consecutive tanks of Vortex trying to see if I got a bad batch, so 2 from each outlet, the results where conclusive my car just doesn't like it based on knock values gained, (a tank generally lasts 2-3weeks with the K's I was doing)

There is 1 Mobile outlet in town and I've bought 5 tanks there, negligible knock values, so its not to bad!!!

The nearest BP outlet is 27k's out of town, so a 54km round trip for fuel, but the knock rates are next to zero, the car seems to really like it, so Ultimate wins in my books even though any economy gains are lost by the distance driven to get it !!!!!!!!

Haven't tried Shell yet and with the k's now that I'm doing in Kitty would take a few months to empty a tank, so a accurate comparison wouldn't be likely!!!

 

[Macca]

I've used others in the past but the BP seem to run smoother and the engine seems to have more torque. Again I have no proof, it just feels like it.

 

[king_panther]

The nearest BP outlet is 27k's out of town, so a 54km round trip for fuel, but the knock rates are next to zero, the car seems to really like it, so Ultimate wins in my books even though any economy gains are lost by the distance driven to get it !!!!!!!!

Is that a reference to the BP at Marulan there?

I haven't done any testing on the various brands of fuel, but I mostly fill up on either V-Power or Caltex because I have shopper dockets lol.

 

[Kitty's VR4]

Correct Brad, its a very high turnover outlet so fuel is always fresh, which is also important to the quality of the fuel....... Fresh is Best

Fresh fuel = correct octane
Stale fuel = lower octane rating

 

[JUSTCRUZN]

BP 98 all the way nothing else car feels less responsive on other fuels

 

[Lasiorhinus]

I use 110 octane AVGAS all the time.... at work.

Mobil used to make 130 octane Avgas, but since the fuel contamination issue of about 2001, they stopped entirely, and 110 is all you can get in Australia. All the Avgas you can get, incidentally, is refined by BP and Shell, so even if you buy it from Mobil or Caltex, its from Shell in Geelong, or BP in Kwinana.

Octane is not a measure of the power you can get from a fuel - it is simply a measure of the fuel's resistance to detonation. With any fuel, if you compress it enough, it will spontaneously combust. This principle is used in diesel engines - diesel has an octane rating of about 30, so it doesnt take much to make it combust. Incidentally, diesel engines do not need spark plugs.
Petrol engines compress the fuel-air mixture significantly higher than diesel engines, and so petrol needs to be able to withstand significantly higher compression than diesel.

The higher-performance the engine is, the higher it will compress the fuel-air mixture. (High compression ratio). All a fuel needs to be able to do, in terms of octane, is withstand the compression an engine will subject it to, without exploding, so that it burns when and only when the spark plug fires. Using any higher octane fuel than what you need, is not going to give you any increase in performance, no increase in power output, nothing...

Don't ever use Avgas in a car designed for unleaded petrol... avgas contains lead.