Pay Premium but get Lo Grade gas

[Red Eye]

Not a biggie, but when you "top up" with premium, say half a gallon or so.

What you get out of the hose is Lo Grade from the last customer.... until your Premium selection goes through the pump, meter, hose and out the nozzle.

The next guy gets the Premium that you paid for.

In the good old days, there was a separate hose for premium, and you got what you paid for.

When I'm climbing a long grade and my Softail starts to ping, I sometimes wonder if it was that mix of Lo grade that i just bought.

 

[Red Eye]

I'm still not convinced about the tiny volumes involved.

If that were the case, they would only have one hose for both diesel and gasoline.

I know out on my ranch here, I put the pump into the gas barrel, then into the diesel barrel, and neither my dump truck, nor excavator seems to notice the difference.

 

[glazier]

Not a biggie, but when you "top up" with premium, say half a gallon or so.

Just curious, but how many of us stop at the gas station to fill up if we're only a half a gallon less than full??? I wouldn't. If I'm a half gallon down, it means I just filled up on the way home from the last ride and won't fill up again until another 150-175 miles have gone by. And if you're only getting a half gallon, by the time whatever low grade gas came out of the pump mixes with the premium that should already be in your tank, there would be a very minimal decrease in octane rating, if any at all. jmho.

 

[glazier]

I'm still not convinced about the tiny volumes involved.
If that were the case, they would only have one hose for both diesel and gasoline.
I know out on my ranch here, I put the pump into the gas barrel, then into the diesel barrel, and neither my dump truck, nor excavator seems to notice the difference.

Diesel is way too oily and nasty for todays cars. Hence two different hoses at the pump. Even if you would get no diesel at all if there were only one hose, some of the oil residue would still mix with the gas. Now if you had a 2 stroke motor in your car, that might not hurt anything

 

[Mainah]

Or just look for stations with separate hoses for each grade. In my area Shell stations are set up like that. It's more difficult on a trip so you could always carry a tube of octane booster.

 

[Red Eye]

I agree. The small amount won't amount to anything.

And I now realize that I've not looked behind the cover of a modern gas pump, I am only familiar with the old ones when I worked as a pump jockey some 50 years ago. At that time you would see a large centrifugal pump, large gas meter, and filter for each grade which amounted to probably about a gallon of fuel.

I don't doubt nowadays, If one were to look inside, there is than one pump and likely they are miniaturized "demand" capable, complex metering systems, and I wouldn't doubt that they are capable of blending a multitude of octane ratings at the blink of an eye.

 

[turnerbend]

The only person that really know what fuel you get is the tanker driver.

 

[Jack Klarich]

I'm still not convinced about the tiny volumes involved.

If that were the case, they would only have one hose for both diesel and gasoline.

I know out on my ranch here, I put the pump into the gas barrel, then into the diesel barrel, and neither my dump truck, nor excavator seems to notice the difference.

Way back we would throw a few gallons of gas in with the diesels to get them to fire in below zero weather, never hurt em at all

 

[BOWHIKER]

That's why here in Iowa I only fill at stations that do have 3 seperate hoses , they are normally the same price as the cut rate places also . I may not have to worry about it but it puts my mind at ease and to me it's worh it .

 

[Desert Dog]

I'm about 30 miles from the nearest Premium fuel. I get it from a three hose Texaco pump. I also keep the rear tank on my pickup fueled up with Premium with some stabilizer for top offs.