It's a great marketing ploy. Because of the "nitrogen in tires" and nitrous oxide people have somehow started thinking nitrogen is a miracle element. Air is 80% Nitrogen and in combustion Nitrogen is bonded with oxygen, forming NOx which is the primary contributor to acid rain and one of the main reasons for catalytic converters. I don't see how nitrogen in the gas helps with any kind of cleaning, nor do I see how it doesn't result in increased emissions (which can be offset by the 10% Ethanol blend).

Also, the only reason we can't run more than 10% ethanol blend is due to the ECU programing. Mynes offers E85 tunes which allow you to run up to 85% Ethanol when equipped with larger injectors. The internal components of the MINI engine and fuel system are all resistant to ethanol. Brazil, where the Tritec engine was assembled, uses 100% Ethanol as their fuel.
Ethanol will burn slightly hotter, reduces emissions, will result in a small decrease in economy (in the 10% blend, with E85 you may see as much as a 20% decline in economy) and burns cleaner than pure gasoline.

 

Actually ethanol burns cooler because it increases the octane rating of regular gasoline.

 

The overheating is a problem with ethanol ratios *much* higher than 10%, if you don't get larger fuel injectors to compensate for the lower energy density in ethanol. With large concentrations of ethanol and stock injectors, you'll end up running lean, and lean = hot.

 

Here in Arizona, the highest octane available is 91. We've been doing custom tuning at our shop for almost 4 years and noticed that gasoline brand do have variations.

Shell is one brand that we can count on for CONSISTENCY. Often times, customers would come in on various brands of gasoline in their tanks and the results are instantly apparent on the dyno. Based on our experience, we rank them in the following order:

Top of our list: Shell,76 & Texaco (Pre-Chevron merger Days)
2nd: QT, Safeway, Albertson
3rd: Chevron, mobile
bottom: Arco, flying-j

This is based on the brands that are available to us locally. We don't have Conoco or Sunoco at the pump, but Sunoco is on the top of our list in the Race Fuel category :D

Note on Chevron: cars tend to run smooth on this brand, but it produces less hp. We have drained out many tanks containing Chevron, then fill it up at the Shell station down the street and see add'l power on the dyno. That's our experience here in Phx; your results may vary

cheers.
mike

 

I thought that Texaco and Chevron are the exact same?
On East Coast I'd only put Sunoco 94 or Shell 93, not to many Chevrons/Texaco ovee there.

 

Like i said before i like Shell V-Power but i remember reading on NAM that some people where having problems because their cars would want to stale at street lights. The problem was traced back to Shell gasoline. It happened to me last summer about two times but never again. I still use V-Power everyday but have any of you NAMers , that use Shell, have experienced anything similar to me?

 

In 2007, my 07 MCS averaged 40 mpg, traveling the mountains and twisties in Colorado. That's the highest mpg I have gotten, and it was all Shell 93 octane. I haven't been able to attribute the 40 mpg to anything else. Believe me, I was not going for fuel economy at the time Here in the flatland of Iowa I use other Top Tier and BP gasoline because I can't get Shell 93, and my average is 34 mpg. Other factors? Dunno.

 

Back in 05, Texaco was the station that gave us the best performance... they are virtually all gone and converted to Chevron. Should have made this more clear my bad..

 

Here's The Shell press release on their new nitrogen-enriched gasoline:

http://www.shell.us/home/content/usa...en_030209.html

Sounds like a geniune product improvement to me, but remember it's a press release, so consider the source.

 

I use BP exclusively, partly because I have a BP Chase card that gives 5%, and partly because the local BP station I use doesn't have ethanol, unlike most other places around here. Never had a problem.

I believe if you're blending ethanol, you've got to have a sign on the pump, regardless of the blend, at least in SC. I noticed that during the shortage we had last year, one of the gas stations I frequented had a brand new sticker saying up to 10% ethanol. I asked and the owner said they were getting fuel from just about anyone they could at that time, and they had to put the stickers on the pumps just in case.

 

Washington state requires a certain percentage of ethanol in the gas here. I believe that they require a higher percentage in the winter and lower in the summer. The signs on the pumps claim that more ethanol reduces emissions.

 

Shell VPower also has a huge following among the MINI community in Europe.

 

Some states require pump labeling for *any* amount of ethanol, most only require it if there's more than 1-2% ethanol, and other states don't require pump labeling at all. This site has a list of the various state labeling laws.

 

wbarnhill,

Originally Posted by tgs91
Shell is awesome, also run Mobil/Exxon.
I stay away from Amoco BP mostly because I used to be in the gasoline storage tank testing business and Amoco's were filthy with all sorts of crud they refused to clean.

On the wall of the service dept of my MINI dealer was a list of recommended fuels. All the above plus Phillips/Conoco and QuikTrip (regional brand). Not sure if Amoco was on there
I use BP exclusively, partly because I have a BP Chase card that gives 5%, and partly because the local BP station I use doesn't have ethanol, unlike most other places around here. Never had a problem.


I'll qualify my statement to this was Amoco before the BP merger. At the time we would be testing Amoco tanks and the sludge and sediments were outrageous. Suggested filtering many times and they refused. Better practices since BP took over? My suggestion-Don't fill up when the tanker is making a fuel drop

 

Really?

 

absolutely not true. The MINI would love pure gas. There is a maximum % amount of ethanol you can run before it starts causing problems.

 

I re-read the guide re: above!

 

VASCoop is correct. The base gas is the same regardless of where bought. The only difference is the detergents that are added by each brand, and how much water seeps into the tank :-)

 

I have always used Shell in all my cars over the years, and even in my lawn mower & snow blower. My uncle was a gas station owner in the 60s & 70s, and his motto regarding gas was, "You get what you pay for, better to put in the best gas you can afford as it will hold down engine maintenance costs in the long run."

I am afraid of ethanol, no good reason why, but I just won't put that into my engine(s).

 

No its not a gimmick. I always use shell 93 here. The nitrogen is an amine based additive I believe. Go to an autoparts store or Walmart and you can buy a bottle of shell fuel system cleaner. The label clearly states amines, which do contain nitrogen.

I'm also in alabama and I'm not sure about the ethanol thing, but my shell does have stickers stating it may contain up to 10% ethanol. One good side benefit of ethanol is to keep your tank dry (no water buildup).

Link to Material Safety Data Sheet, quotes 1-5% of an alkyl amine.
http://msds.walmartstores.com/cache/49135_1.pdf

 

I wonder how big of a problem the water seepage is? It could definitely explain some engine issues I've read about.

 

Here're how you tell how much ethanol is in your gas.

Put 9 ounces of gas in a graduated container. Add one ounce of water. Shake. The water will bond with the alcohol and when it settles you will be able to see how much more than an the one ounce of water there now is. That is the alcohol.

Rich

 

I gave myself a crash course in Amine based detergents. They are indeed Nitrogen based (so the gasoline is enriched with Amine, not elemental nitrogen as the ads would suggest) and the nitrogen itself is inert, mostly a bonding agent that will indeed combine with oxygen during combustion. The other interesting thing I found out, Amine based detergents are and have been used in most pump-gas for many, many years so Shell's basically advertising they've got the same additives as the other guys and the nitrogen doesn't do anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they used ethanolamine which would act as a detergent as well as the other benefits of ethanol.

 

I'm a believer!

I had been using Shell V-Power upon purchasing my new Clubby; Well, I decided to try KROGER 93. Wow, what a difference! I have gone back to SHELL. The hesitation with the Kroger gas was remarkable. I have virtually no hesitation with the Shell fuel. Who'd a thunk!

SHELL V-POWER

 

i also put shell v power 90%+ of the time...but unfortunately in CA we only get 91octane