Shell Gasoline...Better?

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TMR

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Mar 1, 2008
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Two Harbors, Minnesota
Shell seems to be one of the gasolines mentioned as being "better" than some of the other brands. Better addative package? Is it "preferred" to other "Tier 1s"?

Does the fuel you burn actualy make much difference in health of your engine...and/or mileage and running smooth?

BTW...I just put in a fill of Shell...ya I am easily influenced...Thanks...Tom R
 
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It depends on the station as well. There is a local Shell that should have great gas according to the commercials, but my family stopped using it years ago when all of the cars started pinging after a few trips. My dad continues to try a tank every once in a while and sure enough his truck pings on their 87 as he pulls away from the pump.
 
If it pings as he pulls away, unless he was DRY empty, it wasn't the gas he just put in it causing it to ping...

I bet it pinged before he filled at that Shell station.

It takes some time for added fuel to go all the way from the tank, through the lines and fuel filter, into the engine.
 
I didnt believe it the first time he went back and told me about it, but he picked me up the next time and sure enough it sounded like someone dropping marbles into a coffee can.
 
Shell probably keeps an engine as clean or cleaner than every other fuel out there, but it kills my gas mileage.

I have had my best luck with BP, Phillips66, Conoco, MFA (missouri farmers association), and QuckTrip. I just wish I knew who QT was buying their fuel from.
 
i know back in the late 90's my exwife and I had a corolla and was only getting around 270 miles to a tank on the highway which I thought was totally off using Texaco gas, switched to Shell and started getting around 320.
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been using shell ever since...
 
Originally Posted By: pair of Blazers
I seem to remember Terry making a post about Shell gas a while back but can't find it right now.
said it had the best add pack out there right now,


I'm not sure what you are referencing, but he did stop recommending Techron additives and started recommending V-power additives only.
 
Originally Posted By: badtlc
Originally Posted By: pair of Blazers
I seem to remember Terry making a post about Shell gas a while back but can't find it right now.
said it had the best add pack out there right now,


I'm not sure what you are referencing, but he did stop recommending Techron additives and started recommending V-power additives only.


So the 87 and 89 is not good?
 
TMR,

Generally I found Shell gasoline a no big deal in performance compared to other brands. I just no notice and difference.

However today I noticed a big differnce n price for 87!!!! It's now $4.00 bucks per gallon. What a rip-off.

Good luck where you are. I won't use it until the price get's less silly.

Durango
 
Add me to the list of Shell fan:

1) In my area Shell has the cheapest price (probably due to the station).

2) They have very fast pump, that I don't have to spend as much time waiting.

3) Their stations are usually very clean

I would have picked Rotten Robbie but we don't have them here.
 
That's one thing I hate at any station is a pump that is slow.

I'm a fan of shell gas as they're one of the few around that have 93. Most places only have 92.
 
i typically use texaco with techron for the past 10k miles or so. i stopped by a shell last week and filled up. when i got on the gas a few days later to get on the highway i heard pinging. more than usual compared to texaco w/ techron gas. just my observation.. it pinged like i bought cheap gas.
 
I have no shell stations near me so I use chevron because the exxon near me is slow and it prematurely shuts off the pump incessantly to where I always had to fill up slowly so it wouldnt shut off. I dont have those problems at chevron.
 
Citibank Shell Mastercard: 5% back on all Shell gasoline purchases... makes it the best deal around for a quality gas that beats the cheapest stations in price. Once it hits $4/gal - that's $.20/gal off!
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I know this doesn't apply to all vehicles but when you fill up with about 5 gal or more, the ECM knows this and reverts back to a high-octane table stored in the ECM. Your ECM has a memory of driving conditions...hot/cold, low/high throttle setting, etc, etc. The ECM will try to keep as much ignition advance as possible without detonation, if you have a low octane in the tank, it will run on a stored "low octane" map to keep the parameters at a narrower value.

When you have high octane in the tank, it will run on a different table to give you more spark advance thus..on certain occasions ie, full throttle, climbing grades, when you have more demand on the engine it will run a little bit better.

This is debated in depth so please don't turn this into an octane war
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When you fill up, the ECM goes for the higher map if in fact you used a higher octane. When you induce a load over a set number of attempts and it starts to ping, the ECM will default back to the low map and thus you won't get the max spark advance as you could since that is mainly why it's pinging.

As the motor spins faster, you need more advance to catch the piston in the right spot to maximize the fuel burn, however, at high rpm's if you fire the plug to soon, the rapid burning characteristics of low octane will reach peak pressure before the piston reaches TDC thus trying to force it back down the opposite way (upstroke/compression).

Think of a tether ball being hit in the direction it's already traveling...you don't get much impact, but if you catch it early enough and can get a solid hit, it will go faster..wait too long and you just catch the tail end of it.

Same with spark advance, retarded timing will give you a burn while the piston is starting to go to the downstroke and you cannot harness all the energy, more advance and it will be just right but the limits of low octane won't allow alot of advance..higher octane burns slower allowing more advance because the piston will clear TDC before peak pressures happen.

That is probably why the motor pinged after fill-up, you are now running higher advance on low octane fuel.

I really hope all that's correct
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Sorry to be long-winded....please correct any errors, i'm always open to criticism.
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In my experience (which is far from all-encompassing) I haven't run across an ECU/DME that tracks when you fill up and takes that as an opportunity to test the map at full advance. I've found that the ECU continually slowly adds advance until pinging starts and backs off (unless of course there isn't any because things are in good condition and you're running the proper grade of fuel). This results in anywhere from a couple of hundred to a thousand miles of "recovery time" when switching to better fuel (which is not always simply AKI).

I also found that resetting the ECU (disconnecting the battery for ~30mins) would reset to full advance too depending on the vehicle. On a 1992 Porsche it was a day/night difference resulting in a serious increase in torque/power after a reset even though 94AKI (called for 93) had been used for the previous couple of tankfuls. This was a fuel sensitive car and I could feel variances from tank-to-tank, even from the same station (idle, performance and economy). In fact, in the 5 years I owned that car I think I only had 3-4 fantastic tanks of gas that really brought the car alive.

I readily admit that 1992 isn't exactly state-of-the-art and there are all kinds of different ECUs out there.
 
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