Strongwind86 said:
Martin Q. Blank said:
If you fill with top tier gas, I don't see the reason as the additive is in the gas itself.
Please define "top tier" gas.
Are you suggesting one brand over another? Shell or Exxon vs "grocery store" pumps?
Or going 89 or 93 octane instead of the 87 octane in "regular" gas?
Not trying to be an ass... but gas is refined all over the place to a certain octane (87/89/91/??). Blended with ethanol (EPA?). Each company squirts its own "secret sauce" in the tanker as it's being filled for delivery, right? ... I don't believe there is much difference between brands of gas other than the additive they put in for "branding", correct?
Gas is a commodity, sold by energy/octane value, correct?
This is correct.
Refineries make different types of things that get blended together to make gas. Remember the "nut" or "fruit" problems from algebra (you want to make a mixture of peanuts, pecans and walnuts that is 1 lb and costs no more than $5/lb. Each nut is...). That's what making gasoline is. Coker gasoline is low RON, but cheap. Alkelate (sp?) is high RON but expensive; etc., etc.
You will have proprietary mixtures from each brand/company. There is a basic one that everyone has to follow: the EPA rules. Things like maximum benzene concentration, minimum RON, maximum vapor pressure, etc. Much past that, you can mix and match whatever you want. Most (if not all) put some kind of detergent into the gasoline. EPA also requires oxygenated compounds in the fuel. Back in the day (before President W), you could use MTBE. Then they switched to EtOH, then corn based EtOH (since the main way of making it was using Ethylene to make pure EtOH, with no water).
Putting a cleaner or additive into the gas tank every so often can help out. You put air into the gas tank when you pump it out to drive the car. That air has moisture, which due to EtOH in the fuel (and the fuel itself) can cause condensation into the gasoline. Over time, you could build up water in the gas. Also, gasoline has reactive components in the mixture (chemically: such as double or triple bonds that are looking to hook up like college aged drunk kids). If given enough time, these compounds will react and oligermerize/polymerize. These things can drop out or reduce their solubility. These, coupled with water or hydrophillic compounds, can build up in the gas tank. So putting a cleaner in tank can help re-solublize the 'bad' things and move them through the system to burn and go out as CO2.
Some of the compounds are Acetone, methanol, MEK, 2-butoxyethanol (another type of alchol), 2-propanol (another alcohol).
hth
~egon
