These questions are a bit off topic, but it is important for us who run "from the pump" gas/ethanol blends in the engines we race when we are not racing. Driving to work, shopping, etc.
It seems there is a lot of inconsistency between tankfuls. Most are OK but occasionally some are bad. The bad gas does not ping like the cheap gas of old. Instead, the idle is rough and power is down. We poured some gas from a particularly bad tank on the driveway and tossed a match on it. It barely burned. What makes this stuff so lousy?
Common wisdom around here is that ethanol blends deteriorate quickly during storage. They say "Buy regular. Its fresher because they sell it quicker." Is this right?
Most Oregon towns have an ARCO, Union 76, Shell, or Chevron station. Does one of these companies have a good quality control program so the gas they sell is consistent from load to load?
I used to carry some octane booster. If I got a bad tank of gas I would put some in to stop the pinging. Now I need some sort of booster to make the gas burn more energetically. Is there such a thing?
Any help on this subject would be great.