Ethanol Free Or Premium Or Either

[SquareRoot]

Define normal...clearish, smells a bit, flammable? Not trying to be a d*** but normal is very subjective.

People confuse Ethanol and ethanol free; Premium, mid, and Regular; as well Top Tier and standard.

Normal at your local station may be Top Tier, mid grade, ethanol free depending on where you live and shop. Octanes vary around the country as well.

Good point. I think of myself as "normal". My wife on the other hand, insists I'm far from Normal, Premium, Regular or Top Tier and I smell a bit and am sometimes flammable. Perspective.

 

[drumvirt]

Good point. I think of myself as "normal". My wife on the other hand, insists I'm far from Normal, Premium, Regular or Top Tier and I smell a bit and am sometimes flammable. Perspective.

Don't worry about it. They all say that.

 

[Bextreme04]

Define normal...clearish, smells a bit, flammable? Not trying to be a d*** but normal is very subjective.

People confuse Ethanol and ethanol free; Premium, mid, and Regular; as well Top Tier and standard.

Normal at your local station may be Top Tier, mid grade, ethanol free depending on where you live and shop. Octanes vary around the country as well.

I'm running a 70's 4 bolt 350. Slightly reworked 882 heads. Flat top pistons and a mild towing/rv cam. 9:1 static compression and 8:1 dynamic. Stock 1980 intake manifold and rebuilt original quadrajet. I run 87 octane with ~10-11% ethanol(I run the same in my 2011 5.3 flex-fuel and have read the percentage of ethanol on the ECM). Its usually Costco or sometimes a local space-age. Costco is on the top-tier list, but space-age isn't. Truck runs the same either way. Top-Tier just means they have a high detergent package in the fuel. It has nothing to do with less carbon, just means that it is kind of self cleaning for injectors and such.

I never have detonation or misfire issues, even when towing. There is no reason to run premium on a stock square unless there is something wrong with it.

 

[drumvirt]

If you own an older vehicle with a carb and can buy ethanol free for 50 cents more...buy it!

I can tell you that since I switched to ethanol free on my small equipment like mowers, pressure washers, go carts, etc almost all of my problems cured. No more run on, fires first kick/pull.

Also, try and always buy "Top Tier" if you can. This is a much better gas and reduces the carbon build up in the engine. Especially with GDI engines. All of my cars have improved since switching to Top Tier. My neighbor owns 3 Kia's with GDI engines and was always complaining about the way they ran, switched to Top Tier and within a few tankfuls, all better. GM and BMW recommend it on most turbo equipped cars.

Thanks Bennyt. Top Tier isn't just hype. They have high standards in gas formulation and test the different brands on a regular basis. Gasoline brands must continue to meet the standards if they want to keep the Top Tier designation. If a brand like, let's say, Shell, wants to advertise that they have Top Tier gas, all grades at all stations must sell Top Tier. At times, certain brands have dropped off the Top Tier list and later come back on. I've seen it. It's as close to a guarantee of high quality gasoline as possible.

Just remember, all the caveats of using gasoline with ethanol still apply.

 

[Bennyt]

Top-Tier just means they have a high detergent package in the fuel. It has nothing to do with less carbon, just means that it is kind of self cleaning for injectors and such.

The detergents in the top-tier are what reduces the carbon. On GDI engines in particular, there is no liquid fuel to "wash" the intake valves as the fuel is injected directly in to the cylinders and bypasses the valves. Because of this carbon builds up on intake valves and GDI engines have to be decarbed by removing the head and cleaning or cycling the engine and walnut blasting the underside of the valves as part of normal maintenance. The manufacturers for the most part have now added an additional injector into the intake track to help clean the valves.

I'm not saying Top Tier would make a difference on a SBC, but knowing that it makes a difference with GDI equipped cars, I would think it would help all as well.

 

[JACK34]

Why would you not run Premium?

 

[AceHanlon]

Define normal...clearish, smells a bit, flammable? Not trying to be a d*** but normal is very subjective.

People confuse Ethanol and ethanol free; Premium, mid, and Regular; as well Top Tier and standard.

Normal at your local station may be Top Tier, mid grade, ethanol free depending on where you live and shop. Octanes vary around the country as well.

E87.

 

[Grit dog]

@JamesSam, don’t believe everything you hear or what your relatives say.
And there is so much misinformation about fuels out there, including this thread, it’s not even funny.
Like adding “stuff” to your fuel after its sat and gone bad/stale making it good, as one person here suggested. Totally false.
Run whatever the cheapest chit that your truck doesnt ping with.
Storing fuel for long periods of time and those considerations are a different story, unrelated to what fuel your truck needs.

And fwiw, a stock turd bucket low compression, electronically controlled, low power engine should never require more than low octane regular. If it does, the added octane need is likely masking a problem (like timing).

 

[SquareRoot]

Why would you not run Premium?

Waste of $$$.

 

[Catbox]

The mild 454 in my truck will drink whatever I put into it at 10 mpg.
So I feed it a regular diet of 87 from Costco.

No valve noise so it seems to be just fine.
If we had valve timing issues we would know as my 20 year old drives the shee-it out of the truck.
But then, so do I...

 

[DoubleDingo]

@JamesSam, don’t believe everything you hear or what your relatives say.
And there is so much misinformation about fuels out there, including this thread, it’s not even funny.
Like adding “stuff” to your fuel after its sat and gone bad/stale making it good, as one person here suggested. Totally false.
Run whatever the cheapest chit that your truck doesnt ping with.
Storing fuel for long periods of time and those considerations are a different story, unrelated to what fuel your truck needs.

And fwiw, a stock turd bucket low compression, electronically controlled, low power engine should never require more than low octane regular. If it does, the added octane need is likely masking a problem (like timing).

Aw come on, you can tag me, I ain't askeerd. I didn't claim cleaner made the gas good. I have years of good results using it the way I stated. I don't have access to real fuel, just crappy ethanol stuff. So I run cleaner in all of my vehicles along with high grade/premium, and that includes the small engine machines, and have not had any issues. Is my way the right way? Maybe not. I have no other options, so I shall continue using my method. If I ever get to move to an area with real fuel, I will run nothing but, especially in the old vehicles.

 

[AZ Highlander]

The prices here in northern Arizona

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[SquareRoot]

The prices here in northern Arizona

You must be registered for see images attach

Same in Southern Arizona.

 

[Ricko1966]

N.M. Grit dog gave the same info I was starting to give. Take 5 gallons of bad fuel now add 5 gallons of good fuel and now magically you have 10 gallons of bad fuel. Higher octane is a higher resistance to pre ignition, which is great if you need it,but unnecessary if you don't. Water has less chance of spark knock than premium,that doesn't make it a better fuel.

 

[Buck69]

Why would you not run Premium?

The BTU level drops as octane increases?