Fuel Frustrations...

[RacerXGirl]

What is everyone doing about the lack of premium fuel that is available? There's not a single gas station that we've found near us that has anything other than regular fuel, IF they even have fuel.

Do you put regular (or mid-grade if you can find it) in and then some octane boost and baby the car, keeping it out of boost, until they can replenish the premium fuel supplies?

It's funny, in an ironic way, that the stations that are out of regular fuel definitely have diesel fuel available.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

You will be ok to run a couple tanks on 89 octane if you have to. Here in Detroit we have plenty of fuel an dour prices are actually coming back down.

 

[TinmanMS6]

I haven't been able to find gas out here for a few days. I'm working from home today because I couldn't find gas for the Jeep. I had to take Brady to daycare today in Jenn's car, and took a gas can along just in case I found some, and luckily came across some, so now I can drive. Lame.

 

[RacerXGirl]

It's ridiculous...Luke put about five gallons of regular in with what premium he had left (about 1/2 a tank) and then topped it off with octane boost. It's time to play "let's guess what octane fuel combo is in the car!"

 

[aMaff]

yeah, this is getting down right ridiculous. What ever happened to 'the pipelines and refineries weren't damaged'?

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

The problem has little to do with any "damage" fromt he hurricanes and moreso has to do with the extra demand that was caused by them...everyone went to fill their tanks on the scares from everything so you had people buying gas to fill up who normally wouldnt...it just compounds...

We've run into 1 station here that didnt have 93 but other than that we have had any other issues...

And like people have said, you're fine with running 89...just stay out of boost...

 

[aMaff]

The freakin "everyone panic" BS has been over for a while. Stations just aren't getting anything but regular.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

I know people arent panicing anymore but the repricutions of that are just now hitting I believe is part of the issue...I also heard somewhere that due to all the extra demand there was some price gouging and some stations cant even afford to pay for the truckloads of gas so they're probably only buying what they know most people use for now...

just my thoughts on it (dunno)

The freakin "everyone panic" BS has been over for a while. Stations just aren't getting anything but regular.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

Not to be a devils advocate but I am curious why you would suggest staying out of boost? That would have no bearing on the Octane you were running. CX7 has the same engine and does not use high octane gas and I am in boost all the time. Octane is the definition of compression ignition. Compression ignition and spark ignition are timed as these are tuned a little higher than that of the CX7 but you should not have any issues running 89 octane, your ECU should adjust appropriately. If you do start to get some ping (unlikely) you can octane boost. All I am saying is, dont stress the octane when you are obviously stressing finding fuel at all. Fill up when you can and stress not about your octane.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

We're talking Mazdaspeed Proteges, not Mazdaspeed 3's and 6's etc....we have a 2.0 turbo and the ECU does not tune for lower Octane to my knowledge...

Not to be a devils advocate but I am curious why you would suggest staying out of boost? That would have no bearing on the Octane you were running. CX7 has the same engine and does not use high octane gas and I am in boost all the time. Octane is the definition of compression ignition. Compression ignition and spark ignition are timed as these are tuned a little higher than that of the CX7 but you should not have any issues running 89 octane, your ECU should adjust appropriately. If you do start to get some ping (unlikely) you can octane boost. All I am saying is, dont stress the octane when you are obviously stressing finding fuel at all. Fill up when you can and stress not about your octane.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

Hmm... That is interesting why it wouldnt tune. Anything newer than 95 I would think would or anything with variable valve at least. I will see. Good info though and sorry for butting in then.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

I could be wrong about the ECU (dunno) but i dont think it changes tunes based on octane level like I said...

and no need to be sorry

 

[Prodigy]

Buy a gallon of toluene to add to your tank. (from any paint store)
I ended up having to do this over the weekend since there was no premium or mid-grade gas available at the gas stations from my work to my house.

Formula 1 cars used to run on a 85% mixture of it.
http://home.cfl.rr.com/eskram/toluene/

 

[Velocifero]

Not to be a devils advocate but I am curious why you would suggest staying out of boost? That would have no bearing on the Octane you were running. CX7 has the same engine and does not use high octane gas and I am in boost all the time. Octane is the definition of compression ignition. Compression ignition and spark ignition are timed as these are tuned a little higher than that of the CX7 but you should not have any issues running 89 octane, your ECU should adjust appropriately. If you do start to get some ping (unlikely) you can octane boost. All I am saying is, dont stress the octane when you are obviously stressing finding fuel at all. Fill up when you can and stress not about your octane.

As owner of a CX7, we are supposed to use Premium. We can use lower but suffer mileage and performance, so there is no real benifet to using lower octane unless it is all there is.

 

[BigB]

The ECU has no idea what octane you are running.

The knock sensor is what tells the ECU to adjust to whatever octane you are using.

So it will have to knock or ping before the ECU retards or advances timing to compensate for the change in the octane vs. the map on the ECU.

 

[wingman0]

LOL everything in Dahlonega is out.
most of everything in gainesville is out.
Most of Oakwood is out.
I managed to find some premium in Gainesville so I'm sitting on full, but paid nearly $45.00 for 10 gal "Thats about $10 more than I usually pay".
How every my moms trailblazer is sitting on E and all the gas stations near us are out. I feel sorry for her she has a 25 gal. tank to fill.

 

[Metallic36]

You're telling me.. I'm in Dahlonega too. I managed to go to the Chevron down from where I live, but they were limiting everyone to $20 per vehicle, and only had Premium @ $4.49 a gallon. Crazy.

LOL everything in Dahlonega is out.
most of everything in gainesville is out.
Most of Oakwood is out.
I managed to find some premium in Gainesville so I'm sitting on full, but paid nearly $45.00 for 10 gal "Thats about $10 more than I usually pay".
How every my moms trailblazer is sitting on E and all the gas stations near us are out. I feel sorry for her she has a 25 gal. tank to fill.

 

[kcbhiw]

Passing through Nashville at about 10:30 Saturday night on the way back from Topeka, I quickly discovered that every station was out of gas. That's not including the stops between Kentucky and Nashville in search for fuel. After driving around for an hour or so, I finally had to get a room at a Motel 6 in one of the worst parts of Nashville. The plan was to ride around on the bike at about 4am in search for fuel. We unloaded the bike and tires as they weren't locked down.

Fortunately, a friend of a friend was kind enough to drive around in search. I'd never met the guy. He drove around for 45 minutes and waited in line for another 45 once he found a place with a supply. Only 87 octain was available and the limit was $25. He arrived at about 1:30am Sunday with a touch over 6 gallons. At 4 and after a quick nap, we were on our way again. I couldn't be more greatful that there are people still willing to blow an hour and a half of their time.

With the 87 octain, I more or less maintained low RPMs. Not low enough to lug the car, but not high enough to place a lot of load on the engine. All was well as far as the tune goes.

I'm sick of the morons who fear for nothing and panic whenever the mainstream media plays the end of the world card.

 

[Velocifero]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the world IS coming to an end. It's the nature of things. I suspect we only have 1.2 million years left here, we better make the best of it.

 

[aMaff]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but the world IS coming to an end. It's the nature of things. I suspect we only have 1.2 million years left here, we better make the best of it.