My ex-wife drove gas tankers. She said all the gas comes out of the same spigot at the refinery.
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My buddy ran a tank farm. All of the tankers filled up from the same tank. When his companies truck came in, they went to the fill that was separate from the others. When I asked what was the difference? Our farm, our trucks don't wait in the line to fill up. Mobil, Sunoco, Shell, etc.. All filled up from the same tank. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:
So then there is no difference between 85, 87, 89, 91, 93 or 101 octane or diesel fuels by your statement. It simply is not true. Did you ever see all the different storage tanks and the distribution yard?
And while fuel from one refinery may meet another brands standards, it may not meet all or the reverse may not be true.
I can tell you open market gas that is sold at mom n pop convenience stores is NOT the same gas as Chevron premium. Unless there was excess premium inventory sold to the spot market. The reverse is NEVER true.
JC that is exactly what happens! The tank farms operate on contracts. It may be 7 days, 15 days, 30 days. They may have a million gallons of Chevron to sell. The Chevron branded trucks fill up. So do the independent stations. Mom and Pop, 7-11's so forth. They just can't advertise they are selling Chevron. Additives can also be added in after the fill up. There is also a term that no one wants to talk about, "lay it over". If a station owner orders a load of 10,000 gallons of regular. But they only take 9,900 gallons. They still have to pay for the full amount! The driver has to dump the gas somewhere. Want to guess where it goes? They "lay it over" to another tank. The regular gas gets dumped into the mid grade, or worse the premium. Legal? No! But it gets done many more times than anyone wants to admit. :shocked: :popcorn: Tom :spyder:
While i always try to run 91+, IMHO the age of the gas station, condition of the equipment, and presumed fuel turnover, is WAY more important than the name on the sign/brand of fuel.
If I have to I'll choose 87 from a newer, busy station that's in good repair vs. 93 from an old, crusty, run down station that sees little fuel turnover.
You actually agreed with my point. Yes, excess tier one gas is sold to mom n pop stations. Spot market low spec gas is NOT sold at the tier one stations. Lets not talk about stations selling regular through the premium pump. As you said its illegal and they do get caught. It happens FAR less at company owned and operated stations. They have too much to loose.
So yes, you MIGHT get great gas at the local stop n rob. You can KNOW you are getting 93 Octane Top Tier gas from the premium pump at the Chevron station.
Enough of this. If you want to fill up at the wally world and buy regular gas for your spyder, have at. I won't be riding or buying your bike anyway. Mine runs great on Chevron or Shell premium. Spyder runs fine on other brands too, its not nearly as fuel quality sensitive as my GT. In that, I can tell the difference within 5 miles of the station when its not running Chevron Premium or if the gas is less than spec.
I buy 90% of my gas at top tier stations. Usually BP. We have no Chevron stations anywhere near us. I also ran a couple tanks of pure gas 91 octane. It got better mpg. Don't think it's worth the extra 30 cents on top of the premium with corn juice in it. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:
it seems like some are missing the point. In our area, the refineries send 91 octane down one pipe and 87 down another pipe to a tank farm or manifold where the delivery trucks are loaded. Our delivery trucks have two tanks one for 87 and one for 91. They get filled, if the gas is going to Chevron they throw in a bucket of additives for Chevron, if it is going to Shell, it gets a bucket of something else. If its going to mom and pop, nothing is added. It is still the same original gas from the refinery. After it gets to the station and the gas is pumped into the correct holding tank and the customer comes in and decides they want 89 octane the pump blends 91 and 87 together.
In Northern Calif, we have Chevron, Tesoro, Phillips and Valero located in the bay area. Which means that Shell, Texaco, Mobil, Sinclear, Arco get their gas from one of those refineries for their Northern Calif stations. Santa Maria has an independent refinery -- so that would lead me to believe all the stations in that area get their gas from it.
So I don't know which one pumps to our tank/manifold -- but I can bet they all say they are tier one. refineries
Sinclair. Wow! Didn't know they were still around. :thumbup: Tom :f_spider:
I was not talking about specific gas for the 1330. Only how fuel is delivered in our area.
I think the "reasoning" behind using "Chevron, Shell or any other major brand is all hooie.... GASOLINE IS THE MOST REGULATED COMMODITY ON PLANET EARTH..
our gubberment emphatically dictates what refineries can and cannot add to gasoline.. because of emission standards...
osm
Premium only here
Oh boy, so many misconceptions and mistakes in this post.
Bottom line, Can Am recommends 91 or better, with 87 being acceptable in North America. Premium is recommended for optimum performance.
That's in the book, and on the CanAm manual page on the web.
If you run 87, timing will be slightly retarded IF spark knock (ping) is detected by the knock sensor.
There is a certain amount of truth when Mobil, or Amoco advertises that premium fuels can clean up fuel systems and keep them clean. In some/most majors, there are extra additives added to premium to exceed top tier specs.
I run premium, and ethanol free if it's available.
This thread dates back to 2015. It is very interesting to read the replies again. And a few of us have actually changed what we originally posted earlier.
Welcome to 2/10/20. Mine was one of the early posts on this thread.
Forgive me...for I have changed my mind. I am now a low octane (87)/10% ethanol user :bowdown:
For the last three years or so, I have changed to 87 (the lowest available in most cases) octane. I notice NO change in performance. One other person (well known to most) has stated that it is because of the EFI system. In AK...there was no ethanol added.
May of 2019 I moved to AR. I still use 87 octane and now it has 10% ethanol in it. My car, the Vulcan, and 2014 1330 and now the F3 all use the same....WITH NO NOTICABLE (TO ME) IMPAIRMENT TO THE PERFORMANCE OF ANY OF THE ENGINES. I have never heard a knock from any of them. Linda accuses me of driving to peppy and fast when we are riding the Spyders.
Now that the thread has been revived (sort of), let the fireworks begin...again. :roflblack:
I use 91 ethanol free whenever I can. Bike LOVES it...…...
I also run 87 octane/10% ethanol during the riding season without issues/concerns. When the season is winding down and the rides are less frequent, I transition to 91 octane/100% gas to avoid moisture build up. I store with said fuel/stabilizer. Come riding season this year, I will be using a PV3 and upgraded map. I will then be required to run 91+ octane with said map. On my trips, I will switch the map back to stock for my there/back miles to save .50/gallon and up in fuel costs :)
1.) Locally by me, the diff between premium/regular is about .65/gallon
2.) Can't tell any performance difference between 87 octane-ethanol/91+ octane-100% gas
3.) Can-Am states 87 minimum/"recommends" 91+
4.) Don't need total performance on interstates/freeways
5.) Takes but a couple minutes to switch back/forth
Why not ?
The 1330 engine has a compression ratio of 14:1 = 91 octane or higher. Your regular car or truck is around 9:1 or 10:1 = 87 octane. Perhaps you've noticed that when you downshift going into a twisty, the Spyder slows quite quickly because of that 14:1 compression ratio.
Again, this is straight out the owners manual for your machine. Obviously, a moot point if you made changes to your ECU via a flash/PCV/PV3.
Type Premium unleaded gasoline
87 Pump Posted AKI (RON+MON)/2 Minimum octane
92 RON
91 Pump Posted AKI (RON+MON)/2
Fuel - Refer to
FUEL REQUIREMENTS
Recommended octane
95 RON
Fuel tank capacity 27 L (7.1 U.S. gal.)