Texas gas sucks!

[Maverix]

Well I'm not the only one who got a bad batch of gas from the gas station. Apparently some of the other bimmer guys in Austin are now receiving the same problems. 1 guys car started acting funny, and then just nearly cut out all together. Drained the tank, put gas from a different gas station, with a fuel additive, and it was back to normal. So far the gas stations to stay away from is Diamond Shamrock, and Speedy. And as far as I know, this is only happening to e36's.



Nothing but Shell with 91/93 octane for the next few days for me.

[tiFreak]

I've noticed large cities seem to have budget gas stations selling cheap gas, in Vermont every gas station is one of the nation-wide companies (Shell, Mobil, Citgo) and we never have problems with bad gas unless it goes bad from sitting

if I were you I'd just avoid all gas stations not run by a nation-wide franchise

[cooljess76]

You need to find out which stations are selling ethanol and stay away from it. Most of the newer and American vehicles are whats called "flex-fuel" vehicles and can run off it. Our Bimmers IIRC are not, maybe the newer ones, but I don't think our cars run well off it.

[tiFreak]

isn't there a cut-off date where ethanol gas will be required nation wide? I was talking with someone who works at the only ethanol free gas station in my town and they were saying something about being ethanol free as long as they could

[cooljess76]

Hmm, I can't remember what the deal was. I might have ethanol confused with something else, so don't quote me on the whole flex-fuel thing.

[CirrusSR22]

10% Ethanol gas is not the problem. And up to 10% ethanol is just fine for almost every car on the road. The owner's manual in most car built in the past 5-7 years even say up to 10% ethanol is safe to use. Minnesota was the first state to require ethanol blended gas and every drop sold in the state has had it since 1997. Many other midwestern states have had it just as long. That's billions of miles in millions of cars over more than a decade, and the "issue" people say it causes, just are not true.

That being said, I'm not a fan since it uses our food as fuel.

What ethanol does do is break down gasoline faster, so it's bad for seasonal equipment like mowers, boats and car that sit over long periods. Even then, it'll take six months or more to take any effect.

Your problem is most likely just bad gas; it happens occasionally.

[hotmilk400]

cooljess is right.

yeah, ethanol sucks major. u get lower gas millage with it, but most gasstaions use it now, probally because its cheaper, i am not sure if they HAVE to use it tho.

btw, ethanol is one of the many reasons we went into a ressecion in america. most people dont know that unless u are a farmer or know a few. basicly, the cost of food for feeding animals went up ALOT. the people trying to raise animals had to pay more for food, but were not getting much more back from selling the animals. then they had to rasie the price of meat, which hurt other companys and us.. also, since so many farmers switched to energy crops, we were growing LESS of other things. brazil stole our soybean crops because no one else was producing enough soybeans , and it was easy money for them. now we lost soybeans and a few other foods and all we produce is energy crops. the biggest downside is that the energy crops are HARD on the land and soil, and u cant grow the same thing every year, but because the market for most of the other food is dead, if they grow something else to help the soil, it wont get them any money..

damn SUVS and there 15mpg ... if everyone had cars that got alteast 25 mpg, we wouldnt be thinking about saving money on gas and global warming for atleast another 20 years.. haha

[b.u.ti-ful]

Re-stating what others have already said:

10% ethanol is perfectly fine in our cars. (aside from reduced gas mileage, wasted farmland, pre-ignition pinging in 1975 BMW motorcycles...)
Shelf life is reduced.
Use a major chain when buying gas.

[tiFreak]

some companies have started making fuel stabilizer for ethanol gas now, so storing cars over the winter isn't so bad now if you have to use ethanol gas

[b.u.ti-ful]

Any recommendations?

[tiFreak]

I use the Sta-Bil brand, that's only with the regular stuff in non-ethanol gas but I know it's pretty good

[briansol]

Ethanol is an oxygenate. Gallon for gallon, pure ethanol contains one-third less energy than gasoline, and the ethanol industry acknowledges that E10 reduces mileage by about 2 percent.

It's being used because America is full of socialistic government retards also known as "Democrats".

Ethanol used here in the states is mostly American made, and thus American jobs, so lobbyists have enforced a 10% blend in our fuel to make sure they have work.

It's garbage. It's a disaster.

Vote correctly in 2012.

[Maverix]

Could've sworn it helps use 10% less gas, since we like driving gas guzzling lifted chevy's.

[briansol]

Because of ethanol gas, epa has re-rated old cars. here's some examples of ours:

95 ti
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calcu...umn=1&id=11802

98 ti
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calcu...umn=1&id=14175


Because ethanol makes less power, you end up putting your foot into the throttle more to move at the same old rate, and thus, you use more fuel and lower your mpg.

Our fuel crisis is self-imposed. And, Obama is just going to (you guessed it...) make things worse.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/8242..._editors_picks


Congrats!

[Maverix]

Wtf? I thought I was on your ignore list.