Y
YFCvii
Thank you for continuing to share your diligence @Dale124
I'm caught not reading the instructions prior to use yet again ...
and now another tool for the tool box ... hibernation activity may grow
What gas stations to avoid?
- Thread starter Dale124
- Start date
Thank you for continuing to share your diligence @Dale124
I'm caught not reading the instructions prior to use yet again ...
and now another tool for the tool box ... hibernation activity may grow
I have a fully topped off tank of Co-op 91 sitting in my horse as I typeFor anyone with access to and will chose the CO-OP fuel. As those who have it already know, a membership can bring some of the fuel cost back through dividends (taxable).
It's not the huge save like the 15cent CTire formula, but it is better than nothing. For the 2019 year, members will be getting 8cents per litre back.
It will likely be a net of about 5 cents per litre in cash after T5 reporting and the portion that is retained in cashable CO-OP shares.
It's an easy choice as all that's needed is to put your member number in at the pump or go into the gasbar and add your lottery ticket to the year end rebate formula.
In prep for the Radium sweepstakes. Might even shine my exhaust tips tomorrow !
Not sure about elsewhere. Here in BC Chevron 94 is ethanol free. I run it in my boat because ethanol attracts water, not good in a marine environment.
costco's 91 octane is ethanol free
Y
YFCvii
That's great info to know when taking my navigator to shop at Costco
as here’s hoping that 91 octane is the only thing that will fit into a Corvette when shopping at Costco
Last edited by a moderator:
I have been using Costco 91 grade in my past cars (bmw, jaguar) for close to 8 yrs, and for the past couple of yrs I have been using it in the Corvette and Mercedes. Never any issues. I purchased the Corvette new 2yrs ago and at first ran it for 3 full tanks of 94 grade, then went back to Costco for their 91. I have to say that I have not noticed any difference, maybe if I tracked or did the 1/4mile I may have. For my driving style 91 seems just fine.....
Apparently the new Chevron on McKnight and 12th Street NE in Calgary carries ethanol free 94 octane. Need to fill up tomorrow, so I'll check it out and see.
I don't like Costco for gas. The lines at my local Costco are too long. Hate waiting!
ddgermann
Power User
I am indeed enjoying the car. It is occupying most of my brainwaves these days.
I must admit, I’m not sure what “save the wave” means.
I think you have this figured out Dale. You can dump pretty much any 91 fuel into your car and just enjoy it. Your car is designed to handle 10% ethanol so I wouldn’t spend 10 seconds worrying about it. While it’s true some older cars did not do well with fuel containing ethanol due to materials in the fuel system/injection. That is all in the past. As for storage... with plastic tanks corrosion from water/ethanol separating and settling to the bottom of your tanks is also a thing of the past. Just consider the modern issues that’s surfaced with your level sensor possibly fouling. But putting in the conditioner for storage should mitigate that too.
Just enjoy you new Corvette and try not to over fill it at the pump or spill on your fender. That’s the extent of stress I have with fueling/storing or operation my last 3 Corvettes. If chasing a few cents in savings is your thing then have at it... nothing wrong with being smart with your money.
Run a few tanks of different fuel through and see if you feel a difference. Keep the outside temperature in mind though. Bet you don’t notice much if anything.
Great post.Too funny.... We can almost set our watches each year on the gasoline debates....For what it's worth to anyone, there are only two octane ratings which are subject to production standards, and those are 87 and 91 octane. 89 octane is a blend of 87 and 91 octane, basically "enriched" 87 octane, but because it is blended and isn't produced as 89 octane, the blend may or may not be exact. The same goes for 94 octane. 94 octane is an "enriched" 91 octane fuel, generated by oxygenation of the fuel and addition of a large quantity of ethanol, plus random additives, like frerosene or methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (huge word for an octane booster) , etc... So again, blended 94 gasoline may vary considerably in composition and this may just be the reason why you feel a difference when using 94 octane from 91, as there is probably less gasoline in 94 octane and a greater variation in the ethanol and MMT boosters. Government inspections happen randomly or following customer complaints so don't count on them to police mixtures. So the long and short is, if you don't trust post production blending and/or want to avoid ethanol in your tank, 94 octane is not a choice, but there are many gas station choices for 91 gasoline that aren't ethanol blended. Petro Canada, by the way is not one of them.
In BC Chevron and Petro Canada both sell 94 octane containing no ethanol. Most of the gas in BC either comes from Edmonton through the Trans Mountain pipeline or from Cherry Point in WA, so is similar to Alberta, but the Petro Canada refinery in Port Moody only produces 94 octane and Chevron refinery in Burnaby must be producing a separate 94 as well to have no ethanol.
Ethanol also has a different stoichiometric point than gasoline so requires different tuning, but when around 10% it's not going to make enough difference on a stock tune to cause problems or be noticed which means you can buy pretty much anything at the correct octane. Most of the reason they put that notice is for places that sell E85 and other higher ethanol gasoline blends.
ddgermann
Power User
Interesting thought on E85. I had an new Avalanche in 2008 that had the E85 emblem on it but there was no place to even buy it then that I found through my travels. Actually don’t see it now either... but to be honest I’m not looking at all now.
Petro Canada posts that all their grades of gasoline have up to 10% ethanol. I was of the understanding that Chevron is now the only gasoline produced on the Lower Mainland.... Petro Canada Port Moody shut down many years ago. Maybe Suncor started the refinery back up after purchasing Petro Canada.
Yes, I think I was wrong about the ethanol in Petro Canada 94, it's just Chevron that doesn't have it in BC. As far as I know Chevron/Parkland Fuel is the only gasoline refiner in the Lower Mainland, but Petro Canada/Suncor Port Moody Terminal was producing 94, though maybe they've now stopped?
E85 vehicles like your Avalanche also know has Flex Fuel were all the rage in the mid to late 2000s, but it was very hard to find the fuel in Canada. Flex Fuel vehicles have a fuel sensor and ECU tuning along with ethanol rated fuel systems to automatically switch between gas, E85, and in between. The US government incentivised E85 during the Bush administration as a way to reduce emissions, reduce reliance on foreign oil, promote local industry, and GM, Ford, and some others marketed it heavily in their trucks and SUVs as well as some cars. There was only limited availability in certain centers of the US, never reaching mass availability, likely due to increased production cost, availability of ethanol, reduced power and fuel economy (ethanol has lower heat content than gasoline), and finally the Obama administration canceled those incentives in favour of solar, wind, and electric car programs, so the adoption was further reduced.
ddgermann
Power User
Unfortunately ethanol is a joke used to fool the general population of tree huggers into thinking their governments are being proactive for environmental change. Ethanol use is a short term reactive measure that is totally unsustainable in the long term. The only thing keeping it in our fuel now is subsidies. Comparitively, it costs 95 cents to make a gallon of gasoline, while it costs 1.74 to make a gallon of ethanol. 70% more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that is actually in ethanol. Explains why they can't afford to use ethanol to make ethanol.... They use hydrocarbon fuels....
....and taking food stocks out of production....
No kidding.... Thta's why we didn't (and won't) see E85 come to fruition... If every vehicle in the US ran on 85% ethanol, corn for fuel would use up every acre of arable land the US has....
ddgermann
Power User
Interesting de-rail but when I was in Brazil all those years ethanol was being pushed hard as well. They had specific agricultural sectors dedicated to growing the corn. (Think it was corn... my priorities were focused in other aspects of beautiful Brazil back then)