Sunoco no longer selling Ultra 94 Octane in NJ

noticed this the other day, was a little pissed that the "premium" is now 91 octane and "ultra" is 93. What can you do, atleast we still have 93.

 

Does 93 now cost the same as 94 used to? Or did they just kill the 94 product altogether. Any ideas why they axed it?

nlh

 

I posted in tech....

I ran all last year on regular (Hess 89 octane ~5K miles) & got about 15.7 mpg
I ran the whole year before on hi-test (Hess 93? octane ~8K miles) at 15.8mpg.
Sorry, I forget their octane rating at the moment.

Assuming that Hess uses good additives and knowing this is a hi-volume gas station so no stale gas,

There seems to be no difference in grades.
I noticed no difference in performance.

 

Do a search on octane and performance. Bottom line - there IS NO BENEFIT to higher octane gas unless your car was designed for it in the first place. The 355 was designed to run on 91/92 AKI octane gas. Putting in 93 or 94 will have zero performance benefit, and no measurable gas mileage improvement. You're basically throwing money into the wind.

Octane only matters where the engine is tuned for it - if you've got a modified, higher-compression NA motor, or if you've got the boost turned up on a turbo/supercharged motor.

Get premium from any station, save your money, and spend it on new tires.

vty,

--Dennis

 

Thats a bummer to hear; my BMW recommends 91 AKI or higher, so I always use 93.

 

You will only feel a boost in performance if your car has a knock sensor. Some cars, I know Nissan used to, has them and it retards the timing if it feels an engine knock. Higher octane gas isn't as prone to producing engine knock as the low grade stuff so if your car is so equipped with this sensor then you will feel a power loss. If you don't have a knock sensor then there isn't much of a difference.

 

Nope. A stock car will not perform better if you use octane higher than what is specified. The comment about the knock sensor is absolutely correct, but I believe that for most (nearly all) cars, the knock sensor only works with LOWER octane; in other words, it retards timing so that you won't damage your engine if you have to put in 87 octane, but it doesn't boost performance if you put in 94 or 104. 104 is useful only if your car has been modified to take advantage of it (e.g., higher compression or more boost).

vty,

--Dennis

 

When I was at Watkins Glen, they had 100 (or 102) don't remember and it made no difference in my lap time nor my mileage what so ever. This was my 95 355 Spider.


However, I used 89 (cause that's all JERSEY CITY GAS have) in my Land Rover LR3 (which recommend 91+) last year, my MPG went from 16 MPG to 13 MPG...most likely 70% due to JERSEY CITY GAS part and 30% due to the lessor octane.

 

Todd

I got some high octane gas for you

 

Well that's what a knock sensor does. The advantage that high octane fuel has is that it is not as prone to causing an engine knock or backfire (detonation). 93 octane will not cause detonation as much as 87 or 89 octane. This is when the knock sensor kicks in, when it senses that detonation is about to occur. Now if your timing is high enough such as in the case of a race engine or such, the car may still detonate even with 93 octane. Now if the car has a knock sensor it will still kick in regardless of what octane is in there.

 

I started using "regular" gas last year as well, and haven't found any discernable difference. Still get thrown to the back of my seat on the G when the pedal's pushed hard. That's all that matters. -

All of these cars are guzzlers so haven't paid much attention to fuel mileage as it is.

 

Um... that's what I said. I think we're in total agreement - the knock sensor is designed to prevent damage from pre-ignition detonation (or "knocking"). My point is that for STOCK motors, it will NOT suffer from detonation at 93 octane (or 92 or 91, for that matter), because there are zero cars sold in this country that require more than 91 octane. As you and I both said, for "race" motors - MODIFIED ones that run higher compression, or have more boost (either turbor or supercharged), you may have a pre-ignition detonation problem if the octane is not high enough - this might require the use of 94, 100, 104, etc.

Bottom line - unless you've raised the compression on your 355 motor, just use any brand of premium, and you'll be fine.

vty,

--Dennis

 

i used to fill 94 in my motorcycle but in the car 93 always seemed sufficient. honestly not surprised they did away with it I used to work at a sunoco back in high school and i rarely filled anyone up with 94.

 

Lol agreed. i though you were saying that the sensor worked with the actual octane of the gas, which it doesn't really, it just senses detonation. Such as is the case with my car. A trick for more power is to jack up the timing, which I did. Now all i can use is freakin 93 octane or the car will detonate. My wallet is bleeding but i don't wanna knock the timing back either and have the car feeling sluggish. Oh well.

 

Hey Dog,

When I had my 67 Corvette, I used to buy aviation fuel and mix it in with the Sunoco 94. The aviation fuel has a bluissh tint to it and is around 120 Octane. It also has additives in it which eliminate any gumming in the fuel system from not using the car. This is because most small plane owners don't use their aircraft on a regular basis and it costs thousands to rebuild the fuel systems. Your father would know and probably be able to get it for you. I used to use a 50/50 mix......

 

Sometimes I like to mix it up and put diesel in. I noticed my gas milage goes through the roof. Everyone should try it atleast once

 

Was that before of after you blew your engine?

 

I blow my motor everytime I start it up, keeps it happy

 

Rob,

If you were wondering, aviation fuel and jet fuel are two different things. Aviation fuel is used in smaller prop planes and jet fuel is used in the commercial jets. The jet fuel is much lower octane and similiar to kerosene. Probably where your diesel comment came from !!!!

 

Yeah, I was bummed to see they killed 94 also altthough most cars dont really need it. I was going to put a smaller blower pulley on my GT designed for 94. I suppose I'll step down a notch to the 93 version. Careful about mixing in aviation fuel (100LL) as it has lead in it, it will mess up your catalytic converters.