Premium Gas

FYI
Domestic
USA PC members
A couple of observation aka common sense . Unless the fuel you get is next to a refinery (example houston/tulsa/shreveport) the quality of the distribution is a concern. You also have summer and winter blends..... If you have motorsport shop access like cobb tuning you can actual know and
determine the mixture of blend you have, most of my local gas is ethanol/water/additives/refine crude. Pay extra for a blend premium fuel makes no economic /performance rational for my two cents worth

 

I tend to stay away from the "supermarket" suppliers here. The main one that I can think of here is Tesco. I'm told that all the petrol here comes from the same supplier, but for whatever reason, the Tesco petrol does not achieve the same mileage as the other known brands, such as Esso or Topaz. Whilst they are more expensive at the pump, I get alot more miles from their petrol.

If we got Shell VPower here I'd use it in the CRV as it seems to be a lot better on it, and given the extra cost, it is really insignificant as the CRV only does less than 7,000 miles per year.

I must get my mechanic to check/clean the EGR on the Prius at the next service. Anyone have a link from here on how to clean it?

 

Gas from the refineries is pretty much the same, where it can go all wrong is either a clueless or an unscrupulous station operator. For example, gas storage tanks have to be regularly inspected, and if found to be contaminated (e.g.: water), cleaned. If they are not, your car suffers. So stick to stations that you know have given you great FE in the past, and pay close attention to FE for every tank of gas. If FE drops and your previous fill-up was done at a new gas station, you may want to avoid that station, especially if FE goes back up on the next fill-up.

 

Here's something:

Prius III engine knocking at high torque low RPM (solved) | PriusChat

 

Hmmmm. I wonder if there are problems ahead? Does the egr issue occur to cars mainly used in town or those that sit at 80 mph on the motorway? I'm guessing the former. Is this recall worthy or a service bulletin or just hard luck?

I've had two break downs with my Prius; 1, the inverter failed and 2, the egr choked. Both of these now seem to be common issues. Thankfully nothing else has gone wrong.

 

Cheers for that, I'd forgotten what it looked like! lol I cleaned mine on my old VW Golf TD a few years ago

 

I took a look at the connector pipe shown in that thread; at 46000 kilometer it was starting to build up. Not really constricted yet, but a decent coating. A lot of our driving is lower speed, and some highway with 80 kmh limit.



(It's a little thicker right at the flange, not the same all the way through.)

 

Interesting to see that much build up for such small mileage

I'd say that 75% of my driving is city driving and with 75k miles (120k kms) on mine, it'll be interesting to see what it's like as I'd say that it's never been done. I'll try to get a photo when it's done

 

75k? That was about the time mine failed. No warning or drop in performance or economy. One day it worked, the next it started playing up and the day after it was banging and clattering.

I'd be curious to see what yours is like inside. Lots of photos please.

 

Don't forget I'm in a Gen2!

I'm not due an oil service for another 4k miles, but might have them change it early and get the egr done sooner. A little knowledge is a terrible thing! Most people don't have a clue or care what an egr is and drive on regardless, but not us .... just more sh1t for us to worry about ..... damn internet

 

That pipe hooks into a big black thingy going across the front of the engine, with coolant hoses running in/out. This is the hub of the Exhaust Gas Recirculation system, I think... I mean, I'm looking at the (sorry excuse for a) Repair Manual, but it's so cryptic/terse. That object looks to have similar clogging, and removing it would mean opening up the cooling lines.

Seems similar to the spark plugs, Toyota doesn't put high priority on easy maintenance access.

Addendum: big black thingy is intake manifold, I think.



(In above, EGR valve at right end of that pipe (highlighted in yellow), intake manifold at left end)

 

Yeah but that's why the good Lord invented beer

 

High-octane gasoline was invented for a reason, but that reason doesn't always exist with every car. If you watch the video, it makes a compelling case that petroleum companies are doing all they can to promote the myth that everyone should spend the extra money on Premium fuel, even when it delivers no benefit. And it is a myth in the vast majority of cases; government regulators have issued warnings to companies bending the truth with regard to claims about Premium fuel having better quality than Regular fuel. It's simply not the case.

Like many things in our society, the myth has been repeated so many times, it has almost achieved the status of a "fact."

 

And that my car starts and runs better on Super than normal unleaded. Is it just placebo? Want to bet your house on it?

Even Mrs Cabbie buys Super now as it makes her little IQ run better. If she notices then there is a difference.

 

Yep, but I don't have to bet on it; you may have already made many "mortgage payments" with your needless purchases of Premium.

 

Fact or Fiction?: Premium Gasoline Delivers Premium Benefits to Your Car - Scientific American

If anyone is still skeptical, there's plenty more where that came from.

Wouldn't you feel better, not being duped?

 

Here's a link to abut of info on Shell Vpower and how it differs from one country to the next

Shell V-Power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

So our Shell VPower has an octane rating of 99 RON and much increased detergents compared to 95 octane Premium unleaded. No wonder our American friends say there's no difference. Their Super is our standard.

I didn't realise VPower was 99. I though it was 97/98. It's only about 4p a litre more expensive than Premium 95 and definitely worth it. The Esso Super Unleaded also has double the detergents to normal 95 unleaded to help clean the engine valves etc. Considering how badly gummed up my EGR was, I might be better using Esso in future. Seeing as the two nearest petrol stations near me are Shell & Esso I'll be fine for choice.

Unleaded Petrol and Supreme Unleaded | Esso

 

Not true. Your rating is RON, Americans use (RON+MON)/2 which results in 4 to 6 octane numbers lower because MON is 8 to 12 octane lower than RON. In other words, your 99 in America is 93-95.

 

And is that not what I said? Have a read of this;

Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See the link from Tony D also. That said that the US version of Super is 96 RON which is lower than our 99 RON. Our lowest rated petrol known as Premium is 95 RON or only 1 point lower than the US Super.