I'm told that Husky/Mohawk has 94 octane gas available in Grande Prairie and are considering wider distribution but are not sure of sufficient interest.

I know I'm interested especially since Esso no longer has 92 available here. I'm also aware of concerns related to the use of Ethanol but few don't use at least some in their mixture. Also I'm a believer than we do notice some difference/benefit from at least a slightly higher octane.

If anyone is interested in this premium gas let them know by contacting customerservice@huskyenergy.ca

Even if they set up one station in Edmonton and Calgary, I think it would be a great step forward - maybe some day Sunoco may arrive!

 

Chevron sells 94 in B.C.

 

Esso was never 92 octane IMO... when I tested fuels on my 944 turbo "ping tester", Shell and Esso were REALLY close, both being better than Petro Canada's 91. Mohawk outperformed both by a huge margin. I wasn't surprised they "downgraded" their rating to 91. From what I heard the other night at Race City, Esso got in trouble with the government with octane testing and were forced to change the stickers on all pumps to 91. The fuel never changed. I've seen no evidence to back this up though.

In any case, stock cars will not take advantage of higher octane fuels, especially at our elevation. Higher octane fuel actually makes LESS power than lower octane fuel... slower burn, but allow for more timing advance/boost etc. IF you can tune it. The lower energy content of higher octane fuel gives horrible fuel economy since you're making less power, you're on the throttle more to maintain the same speed. If the S2K was tuned to the edge of 91 octane knock limits, there should be no reason that a supercharger would work without using higher octane fuels. The 2 S/C S2K's that I know of run fine on 91 octane.

That being said, I wouldn't mind having 94 here (I sent an email) for my cars. I'm currently using 92 Mohawk on both my 944 Turbo, as well as my SLK 32 AMG which the dealer set the ECU to expect 93 octane fuel. I've never had an issue with their ethanol blended fuel. Both cars are tracked extensively.

 

Oh yea, forgot to mention that E85 will be available here shortly. 85% ethanol, 110 octane. It's apparantly really popular in the mid-west US states. The energy content is terrible, so the car sips significantly more fuel, but the fuel is 1/2 the price of 92 octane, so it works out cheaper.

Manufacturers sell tons of E85 vehicles, only changes from standard models are larger injectors (need more fuel flow remember) and ECU tuned to run extreme timing advance to take advantage of the higher octane. E85 cars make ~5-10% more power than the normal models too, and burns extremely clean (ethanol is highly oxygenated).

http://www.iowacorn.org/e85fuel.htm
http://www.kycorn.org/ethanol/ethanolfaq.html

 

sorry i missed something here , when you said you used your 944 ping tester,I assumed you meant your actual car ,right, I was always told to stay away from mohawk fuels with ethanol, You seem comfortable with it, I have 2004 wrx sti that the manual says 93 octane,but will be ok on 91, any concerns at all with mohawk fuels???

 

I don't know, but when I was in Van with my Prelude, I got better mileage with 94 octane.

 

Correct, it's my car . I basically keep all variables the same (timing, etc) and just turn up the boost on the AVC-R slowly until my standalone ecu reports knock. That's how I determine which fuel is better.

I also use an OBD2 scanner on my SLK 32 which is now set to use 93 octane, and I can see the timing numbers improve as I get better fuel. Here's a sample of my timing logs on the SLK 32. Remember, they're from different days, so it's not 100% accurate due to temperature, air pressure, etc., but it's good enough for a rough comparison.

VP MS103 - 21-23 degrees
Mohawk + VPMS103 (~93.5) - 17-20 degrees
Mohawk 92 - 16-17 degrees
Esso 92 - 14-16 degrees
Shell 91 - 13-15 degrees
Petro Canada 91 - 11-13 degrees (!!!)

The lower the timing number, the more the ECU is retarding timing due to the fuel not able to resist knock. Normal timing (ECU set to 91 octane) was 20 degrees at full boost. And of course the higher the timing numbers, the more power you'll make, and the lower your exhaust gas temps would be, increasing life of your exhaust valves.

As for your concerns with ethanol, I've never experienced any problems with using it. I had more problems with Shell, on my SLK 320 it messed up my fuel gauge!

Try it in Calgary... Van's a little different, being at sea level and all . In that case, your car might be able to take advantage of higher octane due to higher air pressure entering your motor.

 

I have been using Mohawk gas off and on for many years. Never a problem. I use it in "every other" tankful throughout the winter months because the ethanol is a great build in gas line antifreeze.
There was a time when I used Shell gas exclusively. Then, about the early '90s, my cars would hesitate and stumble like crazy on it. In particular, my old Viper. I suspected that the Shell gas I was using was either dirty or bad or lower octane than what was advertised. As soon as I put in a tank of Mohawk, the car ran like it should again. I mainly use Esso now but still use Mohawk in winter or if it just happens to be convenient. After all the years of doing this, I believe the fears of ethanol (especially at no more than 10%) is unfounded.

 

Geez, we posted this at about the exact same time. Glad we agreed.
Years ago, Shell had a massive government/consumer investigation due to the fact that their gasoline was ruining the fuel injectors in many, many cars. Once the results were in and Shell was found at fault, they were made to pay. I do not know the specific details.

 

how much ethanol in mohawk gas anyways? ....u said something about no more than 10% doesnt do your car harm?

....geez, ive always been using shell and now maybe i should give mohawk a try.