On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 21:24:49 GMT, Phisherman wrote:

:On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:54:29 GMT, Dan_Musicant
:wrote:
:
:OK, this is off topic for alt.home.repair but I can't resist putting it
:in my crosspost, there's so many canny folks who check out that NG, and
:I know almost all of them drive.
:
:I was chatting with my auto mechanic the other day and I asked him if he
:thought all gas was pretty much the same these days - an idea I'd been
:encountering. He didn't agree at all.
:
:Now I guess I should say that I have no connections with the petroleum
:industry of any kind, none in the auto industry either, or any other
:industry associated in any way with gasoline.
:
:He said his truck was running sluggishly and he put in a tank of 76 high
:octane and could hardly believe the difference it made. Suddenly the
:truck ran smoothly. He said he has a lot of evidence that he and other
:people are getting very significantly better mileage since switching to
:76. I guess that's 76 Union, unless they've changed their name.
:
:I asked him if he had any experience with their regular gas, and he
:couldn't really say, it seemed.
:
:I thought I'd throw this out there and see what other people think.
:
:Myself, I've been using the cheapest regular I can find, usually from
:Costco, or a station I know where they sell pretty cheap if you give
:them cash. I drive less than 2000/year with my two cars, so it isn't a
:giant deal for me, but more mileage and smoother performance would be
:reason enough for me to switch to a recommended brand.
:
:Dan
:
:
:I found that premium BP, Amoco or Shell makes my car run smooth and
:efficiently. If I buy Racetrack or Direct premium gas, my car tends
:to run rough and stalls. My car is a 1983 model and it is very
:sensitive. Some gas stations will have higher water content which
:will cause rough idling, especially during the winter months. I've
:heard truckers say that 76 gas is all they buy.

One of my cars is an '83, too. It doesn't run as smoothly as it used to.
Thing is, I rarely use that car. It's a Chrysler Town and Country
mini-wagon, and I only use it for Home Depot runs for big sheets of
plywood and stuff like that. Since I don't do that too frequently, most
of the time I use it is to give it a spin just to keep it running OK. My
mechanic said I should think about keeping the gas tank topped up to
minimize the effect of water condensing from the air in the tank, so I
try to keep it pretty near full. I guess I'll try the 76 in that car and
see if it runs better. My other car's running better. It's my "every
day" car, although I often go a couple of weeks or more without using
it!

Dan