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Gas... Which to use?

strange

Full Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2011
Messages
247
I have had this wonderful new 2012 Avalanche since early February, and I'm very happy with it.  And that is really thanks to this site and the members who share their knowledge and skills. 

When I first picked up the truck, it had about a quarter tank of fuel.  That's another story, but regardless, I went to my local station and filled it up.  Without much thought, I filled the tank with premium - I was kind of thinking 5.3 litre motor, V8 - must be premium.  So I go about my merry way and don't really think about this again. 

After a few more fillups, I'm starting to think that I don't need premium - mid-grade or regular will do just fine.  So I start to use the mid-grade.

Last week, I'm doing some reading about lawn tractors, and this one company says use only premium - nothing less - because premium has no ethanol content, and ethanol is hard on the engine.  Mind you, the engines in question here are only 22hp and 2 cylinder, but I'm starting to wonder about the Chevy's motor now.

Premium contains no ethanol, mid-grade can up to 5%, and regular can go as high as 10%.  I don't know about other places.  I believe this is provincial law (I'm in Ontario), so different states and provinces could have more or less ethanol present.

So my long-winded question is, what kind of fuel are people using and why?

Michael
 
Cheapest possible gas there is. Here in the U.S., i believe all fuel grades have the same percent content which is 10% , reeks havoc on some engines especially boats because they have a vented system. they are trying to push for 15% in the near future, which any car over 10 years will start failing when using this fuel.

my last AV ran great for 10 years, no engine problems...only reason i traded it was interior water leaks galore
 
I live in Ohio where there are different blends for summer and winter. Winter blends give me a little over 20 mpg highway while summer blends give me about 18 mpg. I run regular gas and only avoid enthanol blends when towing my travel trailer (5500 lbs). Some enthanol blends actually give me better gas milage. When towing the enthanol blends just kill power especially on hills. When I'm towing in the mountains in hot weather I run a mid grade gas. I have towed up to 6800 lbs with my 5.3 for over 6 years. I did add a bigger radiator this spring along with a 180 thermostat due to high engine temps when towing up mountains. Current miles on AVY is 197000, plan on going for 350000. I have had very few issues. Avy is a 2002 Z-66.
 
Regular gas with 10% ethanol is fine in your Av. It's tuned for standard/regular 87 octane. If I had your option, I'd run the no ethanol content premium fuel if the price spread wasn't too great if for no other reason than the fuel mileage is better. 
 
ltxi said:
Regular gas with 10% ethanol is fine in your Av. It's tuned for standard/regular 87 octane. If I had your option, I'd run the no ethanol content premium fuel if the price spread wasn't too great if for no other reason than the fuel mileage is better. 

X2 mine runs better with no corn
 
Strange; Most of the gas you buy now has at least 5 % ethanol. Thank the EPA and Obama. There are some stations that sell gas with no ethanol but are few and far between. 87 ocatane is fine for your truck. I use 89 when towing my boat.

Avalon
 
strange said:
I have had this wonderful new 2012 Avalanche since early February, and I'm very happy with it.  And that is really thanks to this site and the members who share their knowledge and skills. 

When I first picked up the truck, it had about a quarter tank of fuel.  That's another story, but regardless, I went to my local station and filled it up.  Without much thought, I filled the tank with premium - I was kind of thinking 5.3 litre motor, V8 - must be premium.  So I go about my merry way and don't really think about this again. 

After a few more fillups, I'm starting to think that I don't need premium - mid-grade or regular will do just fine.  So I start to use the mid-grade.

Last week, I'm doing some reading about lawn tractors, and this one company says use only premium - nothing less - because premium has no ethanol content, and ethanol is hard on the engine.  Mind you, the engines in question here are only 22hp and 2 cylinder, but I'm starting to wonder about the Chevy's motor now.

Premium contains no ethanol, mid-grade can up to 5%, and regular can go as high as 10%.  I don't know about other places.  I believe this is provincial law (I'm in Ontario), so different states and provinces could have more or less ethanol present.

So my long-winded question is, what kind of fuel are people using and why?

Michael

Use 87. The biggest difference if you use premium is the price. It's not worth it.

A lot of it is perception. When I bought my snowmobile, the salesman told me that I need to use premium. I told him no, look again in the manual. The sleds are tuned for 87 and run like crap on anything else. They thought since it was a 1000CC 2-stroke it must need premium. Higher octane fuel doesn't mean higher performance, it all depends how the engine was tuned and what parts it was assembled with, regardless of the engine size.
 
Ohio still has several companies that sell non enthanol gas. When I travel out west most have enthanol.
 
... and I guess it's best to stick with the 87 and not drop in the odd tank of 91?

Another question would be, is it possible or worthwell to have the engine tuned to run on 89 or 91? 

much thanks...

Michael
 
Strange,
There are a lot of plug and play tunes and a lot of Tuners out there.
What is nice about these computer controlled vehicles you can have them tuned how you want with out a Dino a Dino would be nice or use the plug and play with different settings. If you add Bolton?s like Headers, air, or exhaust the tune will add to it.
Search tunes and the read will be endless.
I?m old school the only thing about the AVY I could not handle is the SISSIE shift settings from GM. I researched and decided on an HP Premium Tune (91) from a member on here. Adjusting air, fuel, shift firmness, shift points; down and raised RPM shift point. There is also torque management and abuse mode he played with. Supperwagon the member that tuned my AVY then did a follow up tune. The things he did while I was driving all I could do was smile.  
I can drive like the old man that I?m and you would not know my AVY has been tuned, when I put my foot  >:D.
I was looking for the performance side of tuning but I got a byproduct. If I put the seat all the way back extend the foot pedals all the way down, HyBred mode. But that is not me I drive it like I Stoll It and I still get better MPG?s. I did not buy a 6k+ TRUCK for MPG?s!
So I have been told if you take your AVY to the dealer under warranty or not they set it back to factory spec. But like Supperwagon keeps a file and I believe most Tuners do also, they just flash it back and off you go. With plug and play you just re-flash with the plug in.
If you can get to a local GTG take a ride with someone that has a tune you will be supersized.
The sweet thing about the tunes it is not like putting a big old lumpy cam in spending hours tuning the carbs. If you decide you do not like it in a flash it is gone back to Little SISSIE.
This is long but I take every chance I can to talk up the ATTITUDE SUPPERWAGON put in my AVY.
 
low grade gas to high will not be processed properly by your engine and will cause gunk to build up quicker and kill your engine faster. go low grade thats what the engine was designed for.
 
Erodie02 said:
low grade gas to high will not be processed properly by your engine and will cause gunk to build up quicker and kill your engine faster. go low grade thats what the engine was designed for.
I didn't want to resurrect an older thread; however, since it's already resurrected......

The owner of a well-known company specializing in custom tunes gave me some advice, last November.  I admitted I ran 87 in the tank.  He knew I wanted something conservative. You know, turn off AFM, firm-up the shift points, "maybe" a little improvement in gas mileage.

Anyways, he said  "Nick, the first thing you need to do is to "never" run 87 in that 5.3, again."  He went on to say that this particular engine will "never" run efficiently on '87, and recommended I switch to 89 octane, before I did anything else.

Well, with the threat of layoffs at Caterpillar, I decided to forgo the tune, for now.  I did, however, switch to 89 octane.  He said I would probably see a small improvement in MPG after the switch, but that's hard for me to determine in the Winter.

What I will say, is that the engine seems to run happier, in my opinion.  Engine idles better.  I get a little better response to my throttle input.  I know there will be many who disagree, but that's what makes life interesting.

Nick
 
Nick@Night said:
... Well, with the threat of layoffs at Caterpillar ...

What you know that you aren't sharing?
 
Rolling layoffs in East Peoria's TTT (track-type tractor) & TBU (transmission) units have been going on since last Fall.

At the Tech Center campus, there are still some UAW experimental mechanics left in two of the buildings.  All of the remaining machining technologists (me) for prototype work have been consolidated into one building.  The remaining skilled trades have already been permanently replaced by outside agencies.

The Tech Center is undergoing a face lift, to help attract & keep the younger engineers.  That means rolling and, perhaps, indefinite layoffs for us.  If they can find a way, there will be no more UAW skilled trades at the Tech Center.
 
Thanks for those comments about the 87/89 octane thing...  appreciate it!  Funny thing, too.  I've been messing around with a few different tanks of gas for the past few months, and I've settled on 89 - with 5% ethanol - as my "standard/go to" fuel.  I too, think it runs a little better...

And very sorry to hear about the problems at your work...  Caterpillar made a lot of news here in Southern Ontario last year with the removal of a lot of jobs.  I hope you're ok.

Michael
 
strange said:
And very sorry to hear about the problems at your work.
Michael:  Thanks for the words.  By the way, were you ever able to get an AlphaTherm rigged up in your '12?

Nick
 
Stock market at all time high today, U.S. building up and running again? With what's going on with the overall economy, Cat should be hiring! ???
 
Nick - no, I haven't done anything yet with AlphaTherm, but I would like to!  When the weather gets a bit warmer, I'll start to look under the hood again and see what's what.  I guess I'm really looking for the wiring harness to see if the hook up is going to be an easy one.

One way or another, I'll let you know.  It seems like a great idea for northern climates!

Michael
 
recomended octane is a requirement of compression only. If your vehicle compression is <9 to 1 you should be good to run 87 octane. My motorcycle is 12 to 1 compression and premium fuel is recomended in the manual, but it also states it will run on 87 if 91 isn't available, like in Mexico or somewhere. So don't let anyone tell you anything about you vehicle, read the owners manual. They spend millions of $$ on research and development, because the expense of a recall get into there profits real fast. So quit believing all these so called mechanics that didn't graduate the 3 grade and read you manual. Then if you decide to run premium it your vehicle do what you want, but i'm telling you there is no advantage. I graduated the 3rd grade.
 
In Colorado I run Midgrade whcih has 10% ethonal. But ethonal rating very based on what state you are in I sound out. Midgreade here is 87 octane. Where other places 87 is regular.
 
little foot said:
recomended octane is a requirement of compression only. If your vehicle compression is <9 to 1 you should be good to run 87 octane. My motorcycle is 12 to 1 compression and premium fuel is recomended in the manual, but it also states it will run on 87 if 91 isn't available, like in Mexico or somewhere. So don't let anyone tell you anything about you vehicle, read the owners manual. They spend millions of $$ on research and development, because the expense of a recall get into there profits real fast. So quit believing all these so called mechanics that didn't graduate the 3 grade and read you manual. Then if you decide to run premium it your vehicle do what you want, but i'm telling you there is no advantage. I graduated the 3rd grade.
What was that Kurt Vonnegut line?  "Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail."  

Anyways, the times, they are a changin'.

I don't pretend to know whether the manual, or my eyes & ears are correct.  I'm only interested in the science.
Once emotion is introduced into the equation, I usually check-out, very quickly.

Been a member since 2004.  Always understood that CAFCNA is a club.

I'm just a simple Catholic boy from Peoria County.  After all, what do I know?

Thanks for listening, and have a nice day.

Nick



 
dcn427 said:
In Colorado I run Midgrade whcih has 10% ethonal. But ethonal rating very based on what state you are in I sound out. Midgreade here is 87 octane. Where other places 87 is regular.

Altitude...85 = 87 (so to speak) at 6k+ ft. You don't need 87 here, but I'll always top off the tank with 91 before heading east into the low country.
 
ltxi said:
but I'll always top off the tank with 91 before heading east into the low country.
Very well thought out.

So many variables to consider.  If the published compression ratio rating was the only one, life would be simpler.

As you become one with your vehicle, it will let you know what is preferred.

Nick
 
As unscientific as that last statement of yours may be Nick, I think it's very much true.  Our truck seems to work (as in a smoother idle) a little better on mid-grade over regular.

We have a credit card that if we spend a certain amount per month, we can get up to 10 cents off per liter.  That kind of puts the price of 89 at the same level of 87.  So, if price was not an issue, what would feed your truck?  As the big (and smaller...) oil companies get more competitive with each other, there may be other incentive programmes like this out there for other too.  (the programme I'm talking about is with MasterCard and Canadian Tire in southern Ontario)

Michael
 
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