has anyone in the alameda/oakland area experience knocking using premium fuel? i have very basic mods (intake, pulley, header, exhaust) and i hear it at wot... until my friend recommended me octane booster which definitly disappeared while i was trying to make the knocking happen again... kinda hard when its night and alameda cops roaming around . so anyone? i wish i was imagining this because the mini's ecu tends to run rich right. so i don't know... thanks

 

What gas stations are you fuelling-up at?

Personally I exclusively use 76 Premium fuel, and can't recommend fuel from any other brand.

 

Since Union sold 76, their gas is the same as multiple other stations including Conoco & Phillips 66.

Prior to selling to Conoco, Union premium had higher octane and no MTBE as an oxygenate. My car prefers Chevron-Texaco Premium and secondly 76 and hates Shell and Arco-BP fuels (at least here in the north bay area). I do use occasional octane booster as well before runs.

 

Ditto on what Peter said.........same here in the Valley...

 

yeah i use cheveron most of the time too and shell once in a while... still heard that knocking no matter what brand i use until i used the octane booster. i fill up in alameda, maybe theres something in the gas stations here...

 

Yes!

Ditto on the 76 Premium Grade. The premium grade appears to run our Mini fine. We try Shell with mixed results, return to 76 again. Hope to try Cheveron more often, but the Chevron station was closed recently

Teddy

 

I fill up in Alameda as well. 76 exclusively and have never had a problem. But I run a standard Cooper with no mods.

 

Same here in the Peninsula. I used mostly 76 (because of no MTBE) from day one, rarely I fill-up with Valero or Chevron (Chevron owns 76 now, I think) and I do notice the milage and performance seem to vary

Is there a preferred octane-boost people use?

Filling up with half 91 and half 100 octane can get pricey, though I am doing it more often these days because I get better milage along with the performance boost..

 

But it was $4.70 a gal last time I bought some. I try to stay with 76, but some times I get so low I don't have a choice. It's cheaper than some of the other gasses on Woodside....

When I'm down in San Jose, I get some real cheap crap on McKey by 101. About 30 cents a gallon cheaper than up in the rest of the Peninsula, and about .45 cents a gallon cheaper than in Woodside west of 280!

Matt

ps, if you're getting knock, anything you can do to cool your IATs will help. Think about a scoop or something. But if you're knocking now, it will get worse in summer! Also, winter fuel might have something to do with it, but I'm not sure when we switch back to summer blend....

 

UniCal was recently purchased by Chevron... UniCal sold 76 to Conoco a few years ago, but it's still part of the Conoco Phillps Corp.

Does 76 sell 100 octane in the Penninsula? We can't get it anywhere up here. I use octane boost about every other tank, cost is about $4.50 per bottle which adds about 0.30 per gallon at fill up.

 

I've seen acouple of 76's sell the 100 octane stuff along the peninsula. Bought some the other day to give it a try, and my engine did seem to run a bit smoother.

 

Just curious, how bad is Costco premium? I live right next to a Costco, and I'm gettin my MCS in a month or so. Prices are a lot better, should I use it?

 

In the Santa Rosa area, I believe Redwood Oil supplies their gas... its as bad or worse then Shell. I easily get 2-3 mpg poorer in both my Jeep and MINI. Try it a couple of times and see. You should get similar mileage as on the sticker. With my MCS with easy freeway driving I can get between 32-34mpg. With a combination of in town and freeway about 28mpg. If I drive crazy things get a lot worse very quickly.