Shell V Power Gas

[JIM1inWisconsin]

If you have not yet tried this gas I would recommend you put $20 in the tank and give it a try. I used to use 91 ethanol free but find the V Power gas to be a better product even though it has the melted corn cobs. I'm not into the science at all and am not looking to debate this but it's just that the car seems to perform better. Hopefully yours will too. My E30 has a Turner chip and about 215,000 on the clock.

And no, I don't own a Shell station.

[rommeldawg]

i use it in all my cars... there are tsb's from many manufactures that insist on the use of "top tier" fuels of which shell is listed. as a tech i can say that the magic of chemistry can help sometimes

[KIRIEIW]

Gas is so regulated these days, its all the same crap. There in it to make money. Shit, every time you go to the pump its a new blend, there's no specific recipe to making gas.

[george graves]

its all the same crap

Not quite true. Yes, the gas is the same, but the additives are not.

There in it to make money.

Maybe one day UNICEF will get into the gas business...;)

[KIRIEIW]

Not quite true. Yes, the gas is the same, but the additives are not.

True, but like I said in the post above, gas is made of a different mixture every time, there's no recipe to making it (except race fuels). That being said, yes there will be different additives and chemicals in each batch of fuel you fill up with.



Edit: Also the last thing I want to get into is a Fuel debate, its about as pointless as the oil debates lol

[george graves]

I don't want to get into a political discussion of oil either, but you are so wrong, it's annoying me.

gas is made of a different mixture every time, there's no recipe to making it (except race fuels). That being said, yes there will be different additives and chemicals in each batch of fuel you fill up with.

That's now how it works. That's not how any of this works. Do they not teach science in school anymore?

There's no "recipe" to fuel. It's not "made" at all. (And no, not even race fuels). It's a process called distillation. Basically, you heat up crude oil in a large vertical column, and up top rises the lighter fuels with lower molecular weight, and down low the denser fuels. You suck of the stuff you want at different levels. They kinda have it down to a science. You know, 100 years of doing it, and a few trillion dollars in sales later. They know what they are doing. But if you think you know more....by all means, enlighten us.

The "additives" - that you mistake for sloppy manufacturing- is actually additives put into the petrol by the petrol company AFTER distilling. It's there to do things like increase octane, remove carbon deposits, and IIRC reduce it's hygroscopic...ness. And that is why I always try to buy Chevron gas. In my neck of the woods it's 5 cents more. So filling up a e30 tank is an extra $0.70. And IMHO it's totally worth it to keep carbon deposits at bay.

So.....Ya' really don't know what you're talking about. Sorry - I don't want to come off as an ass....but I hate mis-information with half formed ideas backing it up. So don't shoot me.

[lukeADE335i]

Nice explanation there George.

I use Caltex 98RON down here for the same reason - their 98 has a higher level of cleaning additives vs. other high ocatane fuel down here. Keeps carbon deposits at bay.

With my Miller MAF & chip I have to run 98 now or the M30 pings, so I have no choice!

[digger]

I use Caltex over shell v power whenever I can

[JIM1inWisconsin]

gas

Don't believe Caltex is available here mate. However, I can get racing gas having 110 oct. and I've tried making my own brew mixing perhaps a gallon of the racing gas with ten 91 oct. all ethanol free. That being said I still feel my car runs better with the Shell V power. Only suggesting that it's worth $20 to see if other members have the same positive experience.

[agent]

I used to run nothing but Amoco 93 in all my cars. I stuck with it when BP took over, though when finding a BP station became increasingly difficult between here and Florida I switched to Shell - in no small part because it's simply easy to find a station and not have to pre-plan fuel stops.

For the last few years I've been running Shell 93 in all the BMWs and now the Merc and have been very happy with it, and I run a bottle of Techron through at oil change intervals. The missus' Honda runs just fine on the lower grade stuff.

[nando]

True, but like I said in the post above, gas is made of a different mixture every time, there's no recipe to making it (except race fuels). That being said, yes there will be different additives and chemicals in each batch of fuel you fill up with.



Edit: Also the last thing I want to get into is a Fuel debate, its about as pointless as the oil debates lol

lol, okay Mr. Process engineer.

Fuel refining is highly regulated, there is definitely not a "different mixture" every time. It is pretty much an exact science - refineries may look old and crappy, but they're actually very sophisticated and advanced manufacturing facilities.

In California, the refining process is so regulated they make different types of fuels for specific regions of the state. If it was just "random" that wouldn't be possible.

The quality if fuels coming out of our refineries today is better than it's ever been. One of the few things left is to further reduce sulfur content, which in a few years will be mandated by the EPA (Tier 3). The other thing is to waste less by products, especially gasses, which previously they just flared because they couldn't do anything with it, but now they are finding ways to use it.

[LowR3V'in]

From my experience 91 is 91 as far as octane maybe v-power cleans better
or vtec whatever chevron uses cleans better over time, but this thread is bullshit.

J1M1 why would you recommend v-power exactly?
Why do you think it's a better product. When you say "seems to perform better"
does that mean you have no idea if it does but you felt good driving that day.
Maybe the sky had more clouds that day or more birds where chirping.

[KIRIEIW]

I guess I'll have to comment again to make myself more clear and not look like some ass because I haven't Google'd the subject in quite some time to refresh my memory. Been a couple years since I took that class in school, but that day we had a speaker come in to talk.

From what I recall in class, the speaker owned a race fuel shop in the Bay Area. I remember him talking about "Blends and Recipes", yes I got the words mixed up above saying "mixture/ recipe". From what he was explaining, he talked about how are local pump gas was basically just a mixture of different chemicals, which give different Volatility points to have a good burn at any temp while your cars warming up. I also remember him talking about how the lower burning point chemicals are usually first to evaporate after sitting around, and he used a chain saw as an example saying it will have trouble starting after sitting cause those lowering Volatility point chemicals evaporated.

Anyways, the point I was trying to make above, whether you agree with me or not, was that pump gas is just a blend of chemicals to give you a ton of different Volatility points so the fuel can have a even burn at any temp. He told me there was no specific "blend" for this and pump gas would have different types of chemicals added each time, in different amounts, to achieve the same thing. The part I remember most clearly was each time you go to the pump, its a different batch of fuel, with different chemical amounts added from the last batch to achieve the same thing. The race fuel he sells, he said had a recipe and will be produced the same way, with the same amount/ quantity of chemicals added every time in each batch he sells.

Go ahead and continue making me look like an ass, sure I don't know the most on the subject but I'd want to say I know more then most. I'm out of this debate flame away.

*Replaced every "Boiling" with "Volatility".

[nando]

boiling points? lol...

Stop. just stop.

[jlevie]

I pretty much agree with what george graves said. Essentially all basic gasoline comes from only a few places. What he didn't say is that the vendors add things to the gas that makes it "their own" product. Those additives, from what I read vary by where the gas will be sold and in what season.

Any of the top tier brands should work pretty much the same on a stock engine, though some might work little better in some cars. Personally I use Shell, Texaco, or Chevron. Also note that a stock M20B25 only needs 87 octane fuel. A chip or other performance mods will change the required octane rating.

Probably what is more important is to get gas from a station that high has high traffic in order to always get fresh fuel.