Charles Vaughan sez:

>I wrote that in Seattle BP blends ethanol in the winter for CO reduction air 
>pollution control.  Our Vanagon stalls and has poor power on this mixture (I 
>think it is 10% ethanol).  We also use Chevron and Texaco and they are 
>blending something and we haven't had a problem...

If I'm not mistaken, all wintertime gas in Seattle -like many major cities - is 
required by law to be an oxygenated ethanol blend. In any case, just to confuse 
matters, I consistently run BP, Arco, Chevron, & Texaco in my bus (whichever 
happens to be nearest/cheapest when the need arises) with no problem.

And to bring up something that was discussed the last time we had a go at this, 
it is supposedly quite common for the gas coming out of Brand X's pump to have 
been manufactured by Brand Y. If you try to envision a system that gets gas 
distributed to all stations in a region on an as needed basis, this seems very 
plausible.

For example, when all the Shell stations in WA switched to BP, do you suppose 
that the gas actually stopped coming from a Shell refinery somewhere and started 
coming from a BP refinery somewhere else? I doubt it.

If anything, I bet the station you patronize has more to do with fuel quality 
than the brand name on the sign. For example, are the pumps new and in good 
working order and dispensing the indicated volume, or are the aging hoses 
dissolving into your gas tank? Are the tanks new, or is rust and dirt and water 
being pumped in your bus (while gas leaks into the groundwater)? Do they buy 
from a reputable supplier or from a cheapo distributor that secretly cuts the 
gas with methanol or runs a haul of gas after a haul of diesel without cleaning 
the tanks? Etc.

Paul
puusital@adobe.com