Why is There no Bad Gasoline Today?

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HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,857
42,244
Iowa
I don't know much about this. But In Wisconsin, different counties require different rules. The county I'm in, I have gas with ethanol in it. And I have to pass emissions testing every other year. The next county over, they have no ethanol in their gas, and they aren't required to pass emissions.....
So cheese with pie has been replaced with corn with gas?
 
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Reactions: didimauw

FurCoat

Lifer
Sep 21, 2020
10,247
96,602
North Carolina
Ethanol gas is garbage, so there you have it, it's all bad for the most part. I only use non-ethanol.
I personally have never heard of anyone getting "bad gas", accidentally putting diesel in a gasoline powered car, that I've heard of. I worked at a gas station and we checked for water in the holding tanks every morning. Sounds like some folks were getting gas from less than reputable station owners. Oh, if your car pings, especially back in the day, your timing is off. Had nothing to do with the quality of the gas as much as piss poor maintenance. I never had a car ping, but I own and know how to use a timing light and dwell meter.
 

makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
761
1,986
Central Florida
My dad, who worked as a petroleum distributor for decades, never seems to have a problem with some tiny gas station out in the middle of nowhere that might not have much turn over, but when he sees a transport filling the tanks—even at a major travel center—he gets nervous. He says it stirs things up. That said, I often fill up when they are filling the tanks and I rarely have problems ( knock on wood)
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,864
37,049
72
Sydney, Australia
Most pre-war British bikes will only run on pool petrol which is defined as 3 Star or pretty low octane petrol. I have to use an additive with modern fuel and change the timing on my magneto to avoid burning out the valve seats or stems.
Nice to know you ride a bike (almost) as old as the pipes you smoke 😁
 

sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,394
14,194
37
Lower Alabama
So cheese with pie has been replaced with corn with gas?
Damn, got "Taxi Driver" stuck in my head now...

 
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Reactions: HawkeyeLinus

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,857
42,244
Iowa

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,912
21,599
SE PA USA
I’ve been driving for 45 years and never had a problem attributable to bad gasoline. I had two diesel cars for 150k miles, and I have a diesel compact track loader, and I’ve never seen water in the seperator or had clogged fuel filters. I’ve heard stories to the contrary, but I think some people with heavy construction machines are pretty sloppy about fuel storage and dispensing. I do buy fuel at high-volume turnover locations whenever possible, but the real positive here is government regulations on LUST (Leaking Underground Storage Tanks). With MTBE and other forever crap showing up in wells more frequently, there was a big push starting in the 90’s to replace single wall steel tanks with double wall fiberglass versions. If gas is leaking out, there’s probably water leaking in.
 

RookieGuy80

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 6, 2023
734
2,716
Maryland, United States
I heard stories of bad gas. I always thought my old man was a bit nuts always going to the same gas station no matter the price. He said it was because those ones never let him down. But so far it's been only a boogeyman from years past.

No, I take that back. There was one bad batch of diesel fuel when I was in the army. We had about a quarter of the fleet go down in that incident. It's amazing what a little bit of water in the fuel can do.
 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,215
11,842
Southwest Louisiana
Built an MTBE UNIT from scratch for Exxon, did 31.5 yrs at Exxon Baton Rouge plant, DONT buy gas when they are offloading gasoline, it does stir the crap in the tanks, buy fuel if you can that doesn’t have Ethonal, MTBE or other crap in it. Buy the highest octane you can afford, your engine will love you. I Garronte!
 

lraisch

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 4, 2011
733
1,529
Granite Falls, Washington state
MTBE production was largely concentrated in the Gulf states but has since been phased out and replaced by ethanol (which gets a tax subsidy). Apparently oxygenates were used to replace some of the octane enhancing effect of tetraethyl lead. I think a lot of people believe lead was removed because it was a pollutant, but I think the main reason was because it was incompatible with catalytic convertors.