Gas quality
From : electrician
Q: i have a 97 dakota 318 and have noticed what appears to be a difference in gas quality between brands of gas. when i fill up at valero or kroger i get some pinging under hard acceleration but when i use shell it doesnt seem to do that. is there really a difference between brands and which is the best .
Replies:
From : peterd
on mon 9 jun 2008 131549 -0700 pdt the reverend natural light reverend@fourthgen.org wrote on jun 9 1158 am john h. guillory jo...@communicomm.com wrote ive worked at 3 different gas stations in the areas and ... thanks for the info. im curious. if the local suppliers are all out of high test will the driver ever just fill up with midgrade and deliver it as if it were high test im almost positive that happens in my area. there is *no* such thing as mid-grade. there is only the low grade regular and premium. mid-grade is just a blend of the two. therefore it is impossible to run out of premium and still have mid-grade. good advice on not filling up during a delivery. hadnt though of that. i turn off my oil furnace during and after an oil delivery for the same reason. .
From : the reverend natural light
on jun 9 1158 am john h. guillory jo...@communicomm.com wrote ive worked at 3 different gas stations in the areas and ... thanks for the info. im curious. if the local suppliers are all out of high test will the driver ever just fill up with midgrade and deliver it as if it were high test im almost positive that happens in my area. good advice on not filling up during a delivery. hadnt though of that. i turn off my oil furnace during and after an oil delivery for the same reason. .
From : john h guillory
on mon 9 jun 2008 131549 -0700 pdt the reverend natural light reverend@fourthgen.org wrote im curious. if the local suppliers are all out of high test will the driver ever just fill up with midgrade and deliver it as if it were high test im almost positive that happens in my area. actually they dont normally manufacture mid-grade gasoline. mid-grade gasoline is a mix of unleaded and super gasoline. depending on the way the tanks are setup at the station so far all the stations ive worked at have 3 seperate tanks. the driver will fill up the mid-grade tank by emptying normally 1 chamber of unleaded and 1 chamber of super into the same tank. i seem to recall that gallon wise it seems to be more like a 25% super 75% unleaded mix but dont remember as we dont have a lot of mid-grade and super deliveries these days.... some stations only have 2 tanks super and unleaded and the pumps will mix the gasoline at the pump its self.... when they changed out our dispensers they mentioned it was like the older dispenser in that it used all 3 tanks. had they changed the dispenser to one that used 2 grades of gas and mixed it then wed only used two of our 3 tanks under ground. and eventually would have had to have the mid-grade pumped out and sent to another store.... on the subject there is a couple of other thoughts.... 1 when they closed down this gas station in the middle of the worst crack-slum in the area the gasoline was pumpped out and distributed to other stores the owner owned. the gasoline driver said he wouldnt get any gas from any of their stations for at least 3 weeks afterwards.... granted i used to buy my gasoline from that station so i had no problems buying it from another station but he had a good point.... the place usually flooded and there was a really high chance of getting water in the tanks.... after a station is shut-down the gasoline gets delivered to another station somewhere.... it could affect another gas station owned by the same company.... what i look for in choosing a station is the quality of their cement.... i learned a long time ago if you have cracked cement when it rains / floods especially older tanks with cracks in the cement can leak water in and cause you to have problems with the gasoline.... 2 the other thought is that you said your using super gasoline.... bear in mind that at todays prices few people use super gasoline.... translated that means that the gasoline you put in your vehichle has been sitting in the tank for probably 2-3 months as compared to the gasoline most people are putting in their cars lasting no more than 2-3 days in the tanks.... furthermore if a driver gets gasoline from a trashy source or has trash in his truck etc. one time that means itll take longer for them to get rid of the bad gasoline than if it was unleaded.... just a thought... good advice on not filling up during a delivery. hadnt though of that. i turn off my oil furnace during and after an oil delivery for the same reason. if it works on the same concept as the gas pumps then id have to say also turn the furnace off if you ever run out of oil/fuel for it. you can burn up your motors in the pumps by not turning it off if you run out of fuel because theyll constantly try to pump gas and never get anything .... like leaving your starter hard-wired to your battery and running for a week or so straight continously without giving it a break.... and pumps for gas tanks arent cheap.... dont know about pumps for furnaces.... ;- .
From : john h guillory
on fri 6 jun 2008 142134 -0700 pdt the reverend natural light reverend@fourthgen.org wrote on jun 5 943 am electric...@xo.com electrician wrote i have a 97 dakota 318 and have noticed what appears to be a difference in gas quality between brands of gas. when i fill up at valero or kroger i get some pinging under hard acceleration but when i use shell it doesnt seem to do that. is there really a difference between brands and which is the best i agree with tbone that it all probably comes from the same place. my corvette requires high test. itll ping a little under load with mid grade and its undriveable on low grade. thus its pretty easy to know what kind of gas went into the tank. ive found a few gas stations that have low grade on all three pumps. also found a pump once that managed to squeeze 23 gallons into a 20 gallon tank that wasnt even empty. go figure. ive worked at 3 different gas stations in the areas and yes it does all come from the same place for the most part. we have 1 refinery that all the stations end up getting their gas from for the most part. and if you look closely youll find that around here most of them use dupre to deliver their gasoline from the refinery to the station. i dont know your refinerys policy but around here in order to use conocos bulk terminal you have to own 3 gas stations or more. when huber oil filed bank ruptcy and sold all but 2 of his stations he had to do away with using his own trucks and started using dupre to haul his gasoline if im not mistaken.... been a while since i worked for them. any way when looking at the manifest sheets you can see what refinery they get their gas from. when connocos out of super unleaded they usually get it from citco. if citgo cant provide them enough super and connocos out then they have to go to this plant near new orleans.... so while a particular station may alllways get their gas locally if the refinery isnt producing as much very common as they like to hold-back production to raise gas pricese these days the gasoline drivers must then go to refineries farther away to get the gasoline and likely charge a higher price causing a change in the quality of gasoline. ive been told by a driver that the gasoline we use is actually of a very high quality because it gets pipelined in from citgo where its pipelined in from somewhere else.... he mentions that up north i think near new york they get their gasoline from a barge and says that whenever you get the gasoline from a barge it usually contains a lot of trash in it. though bear in mind that all gas stations are required by law to have filters on their pumps and get inspected quite often. what is less known though is that some pumps have filters to stop the flow of gasoline if water is present by using a floating plastic ball in the filter. not all gas stations have such filters! though it is still not wise to pump gasoline while the gas driver is dropping off gasoline as his dumping of gasoline stirs up the trash on the bottom of the tanks which eventually will clogg of the filters and cause the hose to start jerking and eventually not allow you to get gasoline until the filter is changed.... .
From : carolina watercraft works
i agree 100%. i did the hughes plate fix and everything is fine now. i do however still get some pinging on very hard acceleration but i have the superchips reprogram and it requires high octane fuel. on that note i have been paying close attention to which brands seem to do better and so far i think shell seems to be my fuel of choice. -- ------------------------------------------ laszlo almasi ----cool toys formerly carolina watercraft works ----mack daddy trailers ----ice angels says... thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. do you know how big of a deal this is to have it replaced i.e. how big are the dollars to have a shop do it and thanks for your info on this. since i had to do it myself yes i do. how big of a deal it is really depends on how mechanically inclined you are and what tools you have. it is a bit if work as you have to remove the intake manifold as this gasket is on the bottom of it and this reqiures a fair amount of disassembly on the top of the motor. i would also suggest not just replacing the gasket but to go with a upgrade kit such as http//www.hughesengines.com/partdetail.asppartid=11698 this is the one that i installed on my engine and was amazed with the results. you really dont know how much power you are losing due to this condition or how really lousy your engine is actually running until you make the repair. this gasket is failing for a reason and i believe that its because the plate that the factory uses is just inferior and the company was more concerned with making a few extra dollars then doing it right ti begin with and this upgrade kit corrects that. after all it it last thru the warranty period its no skin off of their nose when it fails. i would suggest getting either the fsm or a chilton manual for your truck and take a look to see what is involved and if you have any questions post them here. as for shop costs i dont have a clue as i just dont use them any more. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .
From : tbone
says... thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. do you know how big of a deal this is to have it replaced i.e. how big are the dollars to have a shop do it and thanks for your info on this. since i had to do it myself yes i do. how big of a deal it is really depends on how mechanically inclined you are and what tools you have. it is a bit if work as you have to remove the intake manifold as this gasket is on the bottom of it and this reqiures a fair amount of disassembly on the top of the motor. i would also suggest not just replacing the gasket but to go with a upgrade kit such as http//www.hughesengines.com/partdetail.asppartid=11698 this is the one that i installed on my engine and was amazed with the results. you really dont know how much power you are losing due to this condition or how really lousy your engine is actually running until you make the repair. this gasket is failing for a reason and i believe that its because the plate that the factory uses is just inferior and the company was more concerned with making a few extra dollars then doing it right ti begin with and this upgrade kit corrects that. after all it it last thru the warranty period its no skin off of their nose when it fails. i would suggest getting either the fsm or a chilton manual for your truck and take a look to see what is involved and if you have any questions post them here. as for shop costs i dont have a clue as i just dont use them any more. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .
From : the reverend natural light
on jun 5 943 am electric...@xo.com electrician wrote i have a 97 dakota 318 and have noticed what appears to be a difference in gas quality between brands of gas. when i fill up at valero or kroger i get some pinging under hard acceleration but when i use shell it doesnt seem to do that. is there really a difference between brands and which is the best i agree with tbone that it all probably comes from the same place. my corvette requires high test. itll ping a little under load with mid grade and its undriveable on low grade. thus its pretty easy to know what kind of gas went into the tank. ive found a few gas stations that have low grade on all three pumps. also found a pump once that managed to squeeze 23 gallons into a 20 gallon tank that wasnt even empty. go figure. .
From : electrician
says... thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. do you know how big of a deal this is to have it replaced i.e. how big are the dollars to have a shop do it and thanks for your info on this. .
From : Annonymous
ramman@dodgecity.cc writes noway@nothere.com writes thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. failed plenum gasket is a problem which seemed to plague the 97s - my ram 1500 had the exact same problem but along with many more issues including a cracked cylinder head right across the #7 exhaust valve seat. i still have the truck today 99k on the clock. apologies for following-up my own post but i forgot something. finally after replacing both cylinder heads at 80+ k and a number of other mechanical problems with the truck through the years we recently had an attorney-friend of the family volunteer to do a title and records search & found the original commercial owner. although the car-facts reports came back clear our attorney discovered that there had been an insurance incident report not a claim in late 1997 after the truck was accidentally driven into a swimming pool. this showed up on the original owners business shopkeepers liability insurance and not on any vehicle insurance policy. bottom line carfax **doesnt** find everything. ----== posted via pro.com - unlimited-unrestricted-secure usenet ==---- http//www.pro.com the #1 group service in the world! 100000 groups ---= - total privacy via encryption =--- .
From : Annonymous
noway@nothere.com writes thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. failed plenum gasket is a problem which seemed to plague the 97s - my ram 1500 had the exact same problem but along with many more issues including a cracked cylinder head right across the #7 exhaust valve seat. i still have the truck today 99k on the clock. ----== posted via pro.com - unlimited-unrestricted-secure usenet ==---- http//www.pro.com the #1 group service in the world! 100000 groups ---= - total privacy via encryption =--- .
From : tbone
thats what i thought. you have a failed plenum gasket which is causing both your oil consumption as well as the pinging. eventually it will probably cause your idle speed to increase which will then set an error code and light the check engine light. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving says... the word is that all of the gas stations get their gas from the same refineries and that there is no difference between them for the gas itself. there can be and are differences in the additives that the different brands add to that gas before they sell it that may effect how the different fuels react in your vehicle. are you starting to use more oil now then you used to does your engine idle a little on the hugh side i havent noticed any problems with the idle speed but it does use about a quart of oil every 2-3k miles or so. and that started all of a sudden a couple of years back. but i havent had any problems with fouled plugs and it passes the state emissions check so i havent worried about it too much. .
From : electrician
says... the word is that all of the gas stations get their gas from the same refineries and that there is no difference between them for the gas itself. there can be and are differences in the additives that the different brands add to that gas before they sell it that may effect how the different fuels react in your vehicle. are you starting to use more oil now then you used to does your engine idle a little on the hugh side i havent noticed any problems with the idle speed but it does use about a quart of oil every 2-3k miles or so. and that started all of a sudden a couple of years back. but i havent had any problems with fouled plugs and it passes the state emissions check so i havent worried about it too much. .
From : tbone
the word is that all of the gas stations get their gas from the same refineries and that there is no difference between them for the gas itself. there can be and are differences in the additives that the different brands add to that gas before they sell it that may effect how the different fuels react in your vehicle. are you starting to use more oil now then you used to does your engine idle a little on the hugh side -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving i have a 97 dakota 318 and have noticed what appears to be a difference in gas quality between brands of gas. when i fill up at valero or kroger i get some pinging under hard acceleration but when i use shell it doesnt seem to do that. is there really a difference between brands and which is the best .