Featured What octane gas are you really putting in your car

i have selected 87 since 2004. i can't say what actually comes out of the pump, but it's never been a problem

 

I always go to the gas stations at my home and at my work that have the cheapest gas price on a particular day. I use gasbuddy mobile app to check the gas prices. I have always used the cheapest gas, 87 octane, in all my cars that I owned. Never paid much attention to what you are saying. The measurements could vary from gas station to gas station and from pump to pump. You are probably wasting more time than the money you are saving. 2nd Gen Prius owner here.

 

Don't they still sell octane boost for those that feel their pump octane is not high enough?
.

 

Research Octane Number, Motor Octane Number, or Anti-Knock Index (R+M/2)??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Me?
I wouldn't buy a car to "save on gas" and then get duped into buying more expensive gas.
IMHO, E0 (ethanol free) or PUL (premium unleaded) is the automotive equivalent of nursery water, and for a car like a Prius it would be very VERY hard to buy any fuel offered for sale at a reputable gas station that would be any better or any worse FOR a Prius as specified in the manual. (Probably something like AKI > 85 Octane)

Think about it.
Priuses are sold all over the world.
Even the backwards parts that still drive on the wrong (not right) side of the road.

For a PHEV where fuel might stay in the tank for >6 months the issue for some people might be long term storage suitability.
This has nothing to do with octane rating which is an unfortunate vestigial marketing tool that is still (in 2022!!!) allowed to be used to convince people that "premium" gas is somehow better or cleaner than "regular" gas that the commoners put in their work-a-day, middle to bottom shelf vehicles.

If you're concerned that the fuel in your car might "go bad" in 6 months or so in your tank, please do not be!
RTFM.
(Read the ....'factory' manual)
Toyota would not slap even their short warranty on a car that could be affected by irregular fill-ups without enough warnings and cautions to make the manual 9-inches thick.

Trust the manual....
Or?
Go for a nice, relaxing drive about twice a year and then fill back up.

...with RUL (regular unleaded) from any decent station.

Really.
Priuses are not that fragile.
Otherwise they would not be that popular!

 

anyone else ever gone to a large retailer with 4 6 or 8 multi pump bays and get the home heating oil smell around the pumps? pee uuu
I don't mind using regular gas when I'm on the road, but when I'm local I use real gas. regular if available and don't mind paying the extra .20 per gal for it since I use so little anyway. Plus I keep a couple 5 gal cans of it for the other gas motors mover snowblower motorcycles, etc and emergencies. I don't think twice about it anymore.

 

I never worry about gasoline getting old in my Prius. It was a concern in my old Harley Davidsons....during cold weather when I chose not to ride them.

 

A typical multi grade dispenser has a long pipe from each fuel storage tank. The mixing of those fluids is done inside the visible part of the pump. See Blend Valve at How Gas Pumps Work | HowStuffWorks.

A check valve prevents the blended gas from returning to the storage tank.

In essence, the only blended gas that you get is in the hose.

 

Because.......there is absolutely, positively NO good reason to pay for octane that you don't need.
Higher octane is not "better" in an engine that doesn't need it.

And as for the original question, the switching valve is located inside the "pump", very near to the end of the hose that you have in your hand. Or at least that's the way it used to work and the tests indicate that the residual in the line is about a pint.

 

Just note that if you do the math it takes about 25 ft of 1" diameter pipe to hold a gallon.
Even if you have a 5 ft hose that is 1/5th of a gallon, assuming that the internal diameter is really that big.

Mike

 

With the amount only being in the hose, the concern is only for high octane vehicles with small tanks; motorcycles. With car sized tanks, any octane dilution isn't a worry. Besides, with a regular octane car, you will more likely get higher octane when the previous customer didn't get regular.

The bottle label on those usually speak in points of increase to octane per tank.
Point = 0.1 octane
Probably only worth the price when buying a tank full for a motorcycle or power tool.

Where I've seen ethanol free gas, it is usually $1 more.

 

In the US do you have a single nozzle from each pump? These posts seem to suggest that you do. And then, what? Do you press a button to select which fuel type you want? I honestly can't remember filling up in the US: it's been a long time since I was last there.

Here, we have separate nozzles for each fuel type (usually 91RON, which is 10% ethanol, 95RON, and 98RON, plus diesel, but our octane ratings are different to yours), fed by different underground pipes coming from different underground tanks. So there's no mixing of the fuels. So you'll usually see four nozzles, with four hoses, on each pump.

 

Every station is different

some have 1 hose
Some have 2
Some have 3 or more

Always need to choose the right hose and select the right octane

 

It varies by station. Blender pumps allow a station to have less tanks. They mix midgrade from regular and premium as dispensed, insteda having to mix them in a tank.

 

Gosh. I don't think I noticed this when I was in America.

I've never seen such a thing here. You pick the right nozzle - the one for the kind of fuel you want - and you pull the trigger. I assume they could still mix the fuel as you describe within the pump mechanism.

Would I be right in thinking there's a separate nozzle for diesel? Mixing that in the same hose as the gasoline could get messy.

-----

I've seen stuff on Quora feeds that says that in some parts of America you have to pay for fuel before you fill the car. Is that right too? Is it just like a pre-auth on your card, or do you estimate how much fuel you need, pay, say $50, and then stop when the pump gets to that price? What happens if you're paying with cash?

Here you put the fuel into your car and then go into the store and say "It's pump number 3" or "It's the pink Nissan" or whatever, and then pay for what you've taken.

-----

Sorry. These probably seem like stupid questions. But it is all so foreign.

 

In Canada now it’s something like this: when you insert a credit card it asks for an amount of liters you expect to be more than enough. You pick a value and are immediately billed that amount. When you finish pumping it refunds that amount, and bills the charge based on actual pumped liters.

If you tap with a phone, which I’m now doing all the time, it’ll automatically pre-bill you some max amount, $250 IIRC, then refund it and so on. You’ll see on your credit statement, for example:

$250.00
-$250.00
$35.75

 

Right. Thank you!

In Britain, it's kind of similar to that if you're charging an EV using a credit card. It'll pre-authorise (but not bill) an amount - maybe £50. Then it will unlock that pre-auth after you've finished charging, and bill you for whatever amount of electricity you actually used.

I've seen this system (with a £99 pre-auth so you don't need to key in a PIN, which is required for more than £100) for petrol, but only if you're buying from an unmanned petrol station, or from an automated pump at night. (This briefly had to change earlier this year when it cost more than £100 to fill the tank of an average car - I think the pump would just cut off at £99 worth of fuel.) But if it's a manned site, it's the same as Australia - you fill up and then go to the counter to pay.

---

If you're not using a credit card, do you have to pay in advance for your fuel? That's the impression I was getting, for the US at least, from these Quora feeds.

 

We used to have many pumps with 3 or 4 hoses, but it seems that most have been replaced with 2-hose models.

Yes, different hoses. A diesel nozzle shouldn't even fit into an unleaded gasoline filler hole. An off-road diesel (not highway taxed, thus cheaper, and dyed red) nozzle most certainly won't fit. The ones I visit to get agricultural fuel have huge nozzles, and pump at a very high rate, probably because some such equipment has very large tanks.

I remember a time when, in most places, I could fill up first, then go inside to pay with cash. Only places experiencing too many drive-off thefts required payment first. Now, just about everywhere wants payment first. If you pay less than your tank will tank, then the pump shuts off at the predetermined total. If you get filled before reaching the prepayment, then just go the cashier to retrieve the difference.