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      11-04-2012, 06:06 PM   #23
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I have ran on zero miles a few times with no issues.
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      11-04-2012, 06:35 PM   #24
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Sorry I couldn't reply guys, the power was out and I shut everything off in case of emergencies. So everything went pretty well and fortunately I didn't have to chance it by putting regular in and I was able to catch a ride with my friend to exit 8A in Jersey (I believe its called Cranbury). They seemed pretty untouched by the storm and they had premium, didn't even have a line. So if anyone is still in search of gas that would be the perfect place its stress free and you don't have to worry about the gas running out. Also I've heard of people being able to snag premium of Pheiffer Blvd which is 5 minutes past the outerbridge but there is a line though if you have a gas canister the wait is only about 5 minutes.

And maybe I was driving the car a little longer than 5 minutes but when that thing goes to E that means its time for some gas haha. I've never been in a car as accurate as this so I wrongfully assumed that I had more than I did. And now the storms over I finally get to enjoy my car and now I can't wait to take a drive to get some gas!

Hoping everyone else is well!! Good luck guys! Oh and if any of the forum members need help with anything do not hesitate to ask.
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      11-04-2012, 06:46 PM   #25
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I have a friend up in Rhinebeck. The storm missed the Hudson River Valley from Poughkeepsie to Albany, looping to the west and hooking back around as it approached Canada. Gas stations are plentiful...angry commuter lines are not.
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      11-04-2012, 08:50 PM   #26
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I don't think it will be an issue. Wife filled up at least 3 times with 87 octane and haven't noticed anything out of ordinary.
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      11-04-2012, 09:12 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Revms1 View Post
I waited for 4 hours on Saturday to get $40 of regular gas and bought 2 bottles of octane booster
+1

It's easy to boost the octane rating. When they do gasoline blending they just mix in higher octane fuel with lesser until they get the correct antiknock number (ie. 91). Higher octane just means that the gasoline has more branched hydrocarbon molecules which burn more efficiently. It's all pretty much C7-C11 hydrocarbons though and blended with branched isomers to act more like pure iso-octane. These cars are now advanced enough to just re-adjust the air/fuel ratio to prevent any knocking (premature ignition due to unbranched molecules).

I'm a chemical engineer who used to work at an oil refinery. Also, just to clear up one last misconception. All the fuel brands are the same, Chevron, 76, Connoco, etc, use the same gasoline from the same refineries. They just dump in their additives (special trade secret detergents) into the stream when they load up the gas into the tanker trucks.

Hope this helps.
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      11-04-2012, 09:16 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrigger View Post
+1

It's easy to boost the octane rating. When they do gasoline blending they just mix in higher octane fuel with lesser until they get the correct antiknock number (ie. 91). Higher octane just means that the gasoline has more branched hydrocarbon molecules which burn more efficiently. It's all pretty much C7-C11 hydrocarbons though and blended with branched isomers to act more like pure iso-octane. These cars are now advanced enough to just re-adjust the air/fuel ratio to prevent any knocking (premature ignition due to unbranched molecules).

I'm a chemical engineer who used to work at an oil refinery. Also, just to clear up one last misconception. All the fuel brands are the same, Chevron, 76, Connoco, etc, use the same gasoline from the same refineries. They just dump in their additives (special trade secret detergents) into the stream when they load up the gas into the tanker trucks.

Hope this helps.
you mean shell, exxon and bp aren't better than the rest?
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      11-04-2012, 09:26 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AWF30 View Post
you mean shell, exxon and bp aren't better than the rest?
If you're talking about gasoline, they all come from the same refineries. Chevron trucks can pull up to ExxonMobil refineries and vice versa.

The detergents, aka additives, they put in it are trade secrets for each company. The rumor is among the refiners though is that Chevron Techron is the best performing detergent. They all are pretty much the same though. I must say that they're pretty stingy on how much additive they actually put in which is why you should always just buy the fuel injector cleaner every once in awhile.
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      11-04-2012, 09:53 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrigger View Post
If you're talking about gasoline, they all come from the same refineries. Chevron trucks can pull up to ExxonMobil refineries and vice versa.

The detergents, aka additives, they put in it are trade secrets for each company. The rumor is among the refiners though is that Chevron Techron is the best performing detergent. They all are pretty much the same though. I must say that they're pretty stingy on how much additive they actually put in which is why you should always just buy the fuel injector cleaner every once in awhile.
Oops, you just let the cat out of the bag! It's amazing how few people understand this.
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      11-04-2012, 09:57 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic View Post
Oops, you just let the cat out of the bag! It's amazing how few people understand this.
Great, I bet they're going to put a bounty on my head now.

I don't know why more people who work at refineries don't just talk about it. I mean we understand the whole process and business. Shouldn't be such a big mystery.
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      11-04-2012, 10:14 PM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrigger



It's easy to boost the octane rating. When they do gasoline blending they just mix in higher octane fuel with lesser until they get the correct antiknock number (ie. 91). Higher octane just means that the gasoline has more branched hydrocarbon molecules which burn more efficiently. It's all pretty much C7-C11 hydrocarbons though and blended with branched isomers to act more like pure iso-octane. These cars are now advanced enough to just re-adjust the air/fuel ratio to prevent any knocking (premature ignition due to unbranched molecules).

I'm a chemical engineer who used to work at an oil refinery. Also, just to clear up one last misconception. All the fuel brands are the same, Chevron, 76, Connoco, etc, use the same gasoline from the same refineries. They just dump in their additives (special trade secret detergents) into the stream when they load up the gas into the tanker trucks.

Hope this helps.
Uhm, Mr Chemist. What would happen if you place octane booster in your tank with 93 octane gas in it?
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      11-04-2012, 10:26 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Teemo Panda View Post
Uhm, Mr Chemist. What would happen if you place octane booster in your tank with 93 octane gas in it?
I don't know what the octane booster has in it exactly but my guess is it most likely would boost the 93 octane gas in your tank (probably has 100 octane rating). My guess is it's aklylate from the Alky unit (which uses a very nasty chemical known as Hydrofluoric Acid to produce a ton of branched chain hydrocarbons i.e the really good stuff).

But remember, law of diminishing returns. The closer you get to 100, you need to add more and more of the stuff.
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      11-04-2012, 10:31 PM   #34
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A lesson in chemistry and refining...

The alkylation unit using short chain hydrocarbons to produce longer chain branched hydrocarbons (stuff with like 100+ octane rating).

The isomerization unit breaks down long chain hydrocarbons to produce shorter chain branched hydrocarbons (also stuff with 100+ octane rating).

When you just distill the crude, you don't normally get a lot of good branched molecules that'll give you an high antiknock rating (mostly get straight chained hydrocarbons with nasty sulfur compounds), therefore, refineries gotta use really energy/chemically intensive processes to produce it (hence the premium price for the fuel).
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      11-04-2012, 10:45 PM   #35
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I bet the call will tell on you when you bring it in for service
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      11-04-2012, 10:46 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrigger View Post
A lesson in chemistry and refining...

The alkylation unit using short chain hydrocarbons to produce longer chain branched hydrocarbons (stuff with like 100+ octane rating).

The isomerization unit breaks down long chain hydrocarbons to produce shorter chain branched hydrocarbons (also stuff with 100+ octane rating).

When you just distill the crude, you don't normally get a lot of good branched molecules that'll give you an high antiknock rating (mostly get straight chained hydrocarbons with nasty sulfur compounds), therefore, refineries gotta use really energy/chemically intensive processes to produce it (hence the premium price for the fuel).
you lost me after chemistry...
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      11-04-2012, 11:39 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by justinnum1 View Post
you lost me after chemistry...
Don't worry, just a buncha mumbo jumbo.

I think the 87 is fine for the car in the short term. I did a quick calc, and you'd have to put in quite a bit of the octane booster to get to 91. Going from 87 to 91 u gotta put in over 3 gallons of 105 octane per tank.

Heptane (Straight chain molecule) = 0 antiknock/preignition
Iso-octane (Branched molecule) = 100 antiknock/preignition

Hope you guys on the east coast get access to more gas.
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      11-05-2012, 12:36 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NGuyadeen View Post
+1000000

You should always have a full tank of gas in anticipation for a major storm
most of us did, well I did, but it has been a long week my tank is running low, but apparently this is going to go on for another week

Quote:
Originally Posted by shivaswrath View Post
this hurricane has seriously sucked...the lines in CT are absurd, I can't even imagine the lines in NY/NYC/LI/Burroughs...

Be safe and hang in there...
you don't even want to know, horrible, disorganized, fights, 10 block long lines, and the Asshat NYPD letting friends and family skip the lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by bcl0328 View Post
will it be ok? i heard running out of fuel in turbo-ed engines is bad.
not sure how much it has to do with the turbos, BUT, it is not nice for your fuel pump to go below a quarter tank, the fuel pump is inside the tank and is liquid cooled, by what liquid? the gasoline! so as your gas runs low, the fuel pump becomes exposed and heats up, and as anything on a car, overheating is bad and it can fail.. rare I guess, but possible.
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      11-05-2012, 01:20 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwforme View Post
not sure how much it has to do with the turbos, BUT, it is not nice for your fuel pump to go below a quarter tank, the fuel pump is inside the tank and is liquid cooled, by what liquid? the gasoline! so as your gas runs low, the fuel pump becomes exposed and heats up, and as anything on a car, overheating is bad and it can fail.. rare I guess, but possible.
I used to always let my first E90's tank get to empty before I would fill it up and within two years I had killed the fuel pump, and this was on a 328i which isn't known for fuel pump issues! The pump died on me while I was cruising, I wasn't even accelerating. The pump was covered under warranty and the dealer told me to be careful about running really low on gas.

I try not to let it go below 1/8 tank now, and my N55 and N54 powered cars have been free from fuel pump issues so far. Obviously my sample size of one failed fuel pump is small, but it's true that these fuel pumps are lubricated and cooled by the fuel itself and emptying out the tank is not a great idea.
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      11-05-2012, 02:47 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrigger View Post
A lesson in chemistry and refining...

The alkylation unit using short chain hydrocarbons to produce longer chain branched hydrocarbons (stuff with like 100+ octane rating).

The isomerization unit breaks down long chain hydrocarbons to produce shorter chain branched hydrocarbons (also stuff with 100+ octane rating).

When you just distill the crude, you don't normally get a lot of good branched molecules that'll give you an high antiknock rating (mostly get straight chained hydrocarbons with nasty sulfur compounds), therefore, refineries gotta use really energy/chemically intensive processes to produce it (hence the premium price for the fuel).
Lol Mr.Chemist, bth i suck at chem, i barely passed, liked anatomy better.

I was hopping that you mention that it would add more horse-powers
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      11-05-2012, 03:05 PM   #41
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It's weird, the Philadelphia area was exactly in the path of the storm and we have no lines and plenty of gas... Outside of the shore obviously, I don't see what could be different in NJ in terms of ability to deliver gas to stations.
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      11-05-2012, 03:13 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ft1337 View Post
It's weird, the Philadelphia area was exactly in the path of the storm and we have no lines and plenty of gas... Outside of the shore obviously, I don't see what could be different in NJ in terms of ability to deliver gas to stations.
I believe it has nothing to do with delivering gas to the stations. It is about stations not having power to pump to gas. At least that's what I heard.
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      11-05-2012, 04:49 PM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juddholland View Post
I have a friend up in Rhinebeck. The storm missed the Hudson River Valley from Poughkeepsie to Albany, looping to the west and hooking back around as it approached Canada. Gas stations are plentiful...angry commuter lines are not.
yeh, we had depleted stations and long lines at the ones with gas on Friday night. i guess the media got to everyone so they all panicked at once.

the next day everything was fine though; must have gotten deliveries overnight.
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      11-05-2012, 05:06 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ft1337 View Post
It's weird, the Philadelphia area was exactly in the path of the storm and we have no lines and plenty of gas... Outside of the shore obviously, I don't see what could be different in NJ in terms of ability to deliver gas to stations.
At one point HALF of the state was without power. There are/were also TWO refineries down in North Jersey. There just isn't infrastructure in place to get gas from other regions into the area (without causing issues elsewhere). The number one issue is a lack of power to pump the gas out of the tanks.

North Jersey got nailed with the storm surge just as NYC did. It just doesn't get as much press coverage.
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