99fbpem1

I got into an argument the other day with someone about this. He claimed that certain gas stations "water down" their gas. It sounds like people trying to justify buying the more expensive gas. Can anyone shed light on this?

jit01

I heard about that too but I still use 92 octane (from chevron)

vroomvp

how exactly do the "water down" the gas? some stations are starting to mix ethanol in with there gas. i have seen stations in MD with as much as 10% ethanol. if that's what he was referring to then he is right. i don't know how ethanol affects performance, or sensor wear. i would like to look into it. i try to stay away from the mixed gas. most stations that use the blend have information available about it and have some sort of information posted on the pumps usually.

nighttrain33

Depending on the station (or more specifically company/refinery), according to wikipedia, the gas may not be "exactly" the same, but you'd never notice a difference anyway. Unless you go from 89 to 116 octane (assuming your motor needs race gas to run better).

-Shane

93egSLEEPER

companies do "water down" gas so to say...you can tell this by looking at how much condensation comes out of your tail pipe. a lil bit is normal but when it runs out like water its "watered down gas"

vroomvp

they don't actually use water. the water you see come out of your tailpipe is from condensation buildup in the muffler. when you turn off your car the cool air caused condensation buildup inside the muffler. when you turn on your car the water if forced out of the muffler from the pressure. if water were to inter the combustion chamber it would not compress like the gas and air mixture, and cause major engine failure, commonly referred to as hydrolock. water in your combustion chamber is one of the worst things that can happen to an engine.

93egSLEEPER

its not water...i cant remember what they call it but they make a fuel additive that is supposed to get rid of it. i wish i wasnt forgetful.

vroomvp

are you thinking of ethanol?

93egSLEEPER

no...it is a chemical in gas the company adds that takes place of what water would be used for to take up space instead of octane itself. i think it starts with an "I". i saw a study on the internet about it....it turns into a condensate.

JarvisW

They do NOT purposefully water it down. With WATER at least...

I worked at several stations, and what happens is that ground water will seep into older tanks.

I had to measure not only the gas with a 18' long stick every night, but also the water that was under the gas. I used a special marking paste that reacted to water.

I've seen it go from almost nothing to 3 inches of water in the tank! If I recall, they have to yank the tank at 4 inches.

Now that said, remember that gas floats on top of water, and they have a special pick up so you get the gas. So unless you are getting the VERY LAST GALLONS (probbly 50-100 or so) then you will never get REAL water from the pump.

Now, as far as what might be called 'stepping on it', as in adding cheap additives that still may burn, and stay mixed with the gas, well, I didn't work on that end lol. But at least here in Texas, the pumps here get random tests, and once a year.

Anyway, my $0.02


Modified by JarvisW at 3:34 AM 7/6/2007

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93egSLEEPER &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no...it is a chemical in gas the company adds that takes place of what water would be used for to take up space instead of octane itself. i think it starts with an "I". i saw a study on the internet about it....it turns into a condensate.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, it's called ethanol.

I don't know much about it as I hate chemistry but it waters down your gas not in the sense that there's "water" in it - but in the sense that it's more diluted (less actual "gasoline").

You can't run ur car on ethanol, it doesn't combust like gas does - simple as that.

I forgot why they put it in but yeah, the've been upping the ante on it for some reason - I haven't really looked into it.

(more directly at OP)
Yeah, it's VERY possible to get a "batch of bad gas" - If you ever see a tanker truck at a gas station filling up the tanks - DON'T BUY GAS THERE. The gas getting pumped into the tank stirs up the tank and gets the debris (yes, there's debris in the tanks) moving around and it can clog **** up - yes this happens to pple, yes it ownz injectors 'n **** sometimes. You never buy from them.

Bad batches of gas happen all the time, to be truthful, I'm REALLY surprised this is the first you've ever heard of it, they're REALLY common - it's simply fuel that for various reasons makes your car run like ****.

Maybe the tanks are stirred up and there's too much sediment, maybe they jacked up the ethanol, whatever the reason, bad batches of gas expletive u sometimes

That's why when you're getting your gas mileage - get it 4 or 5 times in a row (ON THE SAME TRIP) - Bad batch of gas can run u an ***-ton less than ur avg - so take it a few times on the same trip w/ the same speeds for an accurate measure - ONCE never cuts it.

JarvisW

Syn, yep, its what I said, they have water in them, and like you said, the pumping of gas could cause it to be disturbed. I would wait for a few hours for the water to settle back to the top...

BUT, I was never told that at the stations, so there may be a way they pump into the lower end of the tank to avoid this.

That said, I agree it WILL stir up sediment. That WAS something we knew.


Really, the thing we knew the most was, if we really cared about our gas being clean, we went to the newest stations in town

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JarvisW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Syn, yep, its what I said, they have water in them, and like you said, the pumping of gas could cause it to be disturbed. I would wait for a few hours for the water to settle back to the top...

BUT, I was never told that at the stations, so there may be a way they pump into the lower end of the tank to avoid this.

That said, I agree it WILL stir up sediment. That WAS something we knew.


Really, the thing we knew the most was, if we really cared about our gas being clean, we went to the newest stations in town </TD></TR></TABLE>

****, I can't remember, but if you park a certain way (road pitch) it helps - I didn't give a **** in so long I forgot.

Yeah, tanker @ station = don't buy gas there for a few hours.

The other tip is don't let your gas get low enough until the fuel light comes on - fill it the hell up at half a tank or something.

Reason being:
Sediment (and there IS sediment in your gas tank) floats to the bottom, if you run it down to 1/8 of a tank - all that sediment becomes more easily found because there's less fuel for it to move around it - so you pick it up. That's why there's a sock filter on the pump.

Though pple let it go to empty b4 filling it up so I'm preaching to a choir that's not listening.

JarvisW

Yeah, and oops, I meant waters at the bottom. But they have a pickup so you only get gas. Lol

water over gas lmao.

sry, its late, and I've been spray paintin my fog lites

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JarvisW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, and oops, I meant waters at the bottom. But they have a pickup so you only get gas. Lol

water over gas lmao.

sry, its late, and I've been spray paintin my fog lites </TD></TR></TABLE>

I aint bitchin, it's almost 5 here - around that time ur eyes start getting noticeably heavy.

JarvisW

lol, yeah.

And BTW, something funny I remember for those old days...

At one of the stations I worked at, the tank that consistently had the most water in it was...


PREMIUM!!

So, yeah, I never got from that tank.

brooksto

im convinced the local raceway sells crappy gas, my car detonates when I have filled up with 87 there, and it is always about 10 cents cheaper then the shell across the street, yet the shell still gets customers.

01_CLtypeS

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jit01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I heard about that too but I still use 92 octane (from chevron) </TD></TR></TABLE>

x2

except we only have 91 octane at our chevron

k0rupt_ed

iTrader: (1)

A BP near me got shut down after they got investigated and were discovered to be watering-down they're gas. Friggen pisses me off, your getting enough money from the gas prices, you have to pull this **** too?

Not all do it intentionally, if the tanks aren't put in properly, leaks occur and water can get into the gas-stations tank.

Manic!

Gas stations do not water down gas. We own a gas station and if there was water in the gas tank the alarm on the veter root would go off.

egbaby

don't you think that its odd that shell gas station across the street is selling there premium gas for 3.30 and across the street an AM/PM sells there premium for 2.90... i think thats what makes people think that some certain stations "water" down their gas

99fbpem1

AM/PM's in my area, I don't know about yours, Make you go inside to pay. By making people go into the mini mart, they buy **** they wouldn't otherwise buy. Gas stations make more money this way. They actually make more money on the mini mart than they do on gas. Believe it or not.

EkLanta

weird.. i use 92 fron Bp for ~3.10 think it went down since two days ago.. they mix gas i know that.. probly wont help your question

01_CLtypeS

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EkLanta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">weird.. i use 92 fron Bp for ~3.10 think it went down since two days ago.. they mix gas i know that.. probly wont help your question</TD></TR></TABLE>

i wish preimium was 3.10 here i just paid 3.37 for preimium at chevron the other day

posHonda

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 01_CLtypeS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i wish preimium was 3.10 here i just paid 3.37 for preimium at chevron the other day </TD></TR></TABLE>

$2.99 in TX for 93 at Chevron a few days ago. and the prices are dropping slowly