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I get the distinct feeling that with rising gas costs, gas stations are mixing the gasoline with a bit of water. I bought a Valvoline Water Remover to put into my gas tank to see if my car ran better (it's been having a strange, erratic vibration for the last month or two that has gotten slightly - ever so slightly - worse by the day).

That's not the point though. I checked the ingredients of the damn thing, and it said "Contains: Isopropyl Alcohol" and some numbers separated by hyphens right after that. Is that really all there is to it? Can I buy alcohol at the pharmacy and use it? Has anyone here ever had this problem before?

yes perhaps the gas is "watered down" so-to-speak, but figuratively speaking.... an engine cannot handle ANY amount of water because water does not compress... period... if you had water in your tank, your connecting rods and or pistons would be toast

drinking alcohol is not the same as rubbing alcohol is not the same as alcohol used in funny cars

first of all, water is compressable (every fluid [that includes gases and liquids] is), its just that your rods will snap way before you will compress any water. water would also only be a problem if its voulme exceded that of the voulme of the compressed cylinder.(some boosted cars run "water injection" to cool the intake charge).finally, i highly dought that gas companys are diluting gasoline with anything other then the emmisions stuff (like ethanol). (besides that, i think water is insoluable in gasoline)


edit: gas prices here in the southern US have droped around $0.30USD in the last few weeks. I just paid $2.88/gal for 93.

I have heard of companies diluting the gas with water,,, but after enough complaints they get busted. Ethanol is not used in normal gas unless its specified for a flex fuel vehicle.

Like 03blackrt said, yes water is used in cooling the combustion chambers in boosted cars.

If you have some water in your tank, the car will run like crap. I had a Cavalier that got some water in the tank, it ran like crap. I put the water remover in, and drove it till the tank was empty... then filled up with gas from a different gas station. Werked fine after that.

I doubt that your rods will break if you got a little in the tank. So i would just try running the old stuf out, and get some new stuff. If that doesnt work, you may have different issues with the car, not just the gas. Mybe plug and wires. Just a thought

CA180 wrote: Ethanol is not used in normal gas unless its specified for a flex fuel vehicle.

Many gas companies [some areas are required to] use an "E10" gas [10% ethanol, 90% "regular" gasoline]. look at the gas pump next time you fuel, it MAY say "10% ethanol added". I just thought id point that out.

I put the water remover in I'm gonna try what you said about running it until empty and refilling it... I just don't know which gas stations to trust.

It hurts to read this thread

Matt

fixitmattman wrote:It hurts to read this thread

Matt

Why?

03blackrt wrote: (besides that, i think water is insoluable in gasoline)

I should clarify that i ment that the water will settel at the bottom of the gas tank.

Guys, all gas stations are getting their gas from the same places. That's a myth about watering down their gas, it'd be way too much of a risk to take.

Haha really, they wouldn't risk it, especially with all the cash they're racking up from everyone

*Sigh* I hate seeing ridiculous shit like this. I used to work at a gas station and the ideas people come up with is just ridiculous. Like all the scheming ways people are going to 'get back' at gas stations for raping them on gas prices. Anyone remember the old saying that water & oil won't mix? Yeah. Gasoline is a petroleum product and that's kinda like, you know, oil. So, no, they wouldn't even mix to begin with. In addtion to the fact that most modern gas stations have an advanced system such as 'AutoStik' to monitor every condition of the in-ground tanks. Such as the level of water in the tanks, leakage, fuel gallons, fuel height level, etc. If the 'water level' in the big 5,000 gallon tanks ever gets above a preset level, usually .050 inches, an alarm goes off and it has to be overridden to operate the pumps.

I also really doubt that it's all the local gas stations racking up all the money.

Sheesh.

03blackrt wrote:

CA180 wrote: Ethanol is not used in normal gas unless its specified for a flex fuel vehicle.

Many gas companies [some areas are required to] use an "E10" gas [10% ethanol, 90% "regular" gasoline]. look at the gas pump next time you fuel, it MAY say "10% ethanol added". I just thought id point that out.

I understand if they put a little, i'm saying that they dont "water it down" with large amount of ethanol. It would jack up everyones cars.

the main reason everyone thinks that SOME stations "water" down their gas is cuz their prices are significantly lower than the top tier places like chevron, shell, 76 etc. if someone can come up with a good reason why places like costco, arco, 711, and other "cheapo" gas places have prices that are 5+ cents /gal lower than the others, perhaps people would stop accusing these smaller companies of selling watered down gas. anyone have any idea why the cheapo places sell gas for so cheap... probably not.

orangeblastsxt wrote:the main reason everyone thinks that SOME stations "water" down their gas is cuz their prices are significantly lower than the top tier places like chevron, shell, 76 etc. if someone can come up with a good reason why places like costco, arco, 711, and other "cheapo" gas places have prices that are 5+ cents /gal lower than the others, perhaps people would stop accusing these smaller companies of selling watered down gas. anyone have any idea why the cheapo places sell gas for so cheap... probably not.

Business. Simply as that. Sell the gas at a lower price than any other station, you'll get more people coming in to fill up. Word of mouth spreads, so does business, Etc, Etc.

watch out for hot gasoline!



Huge article in the paper last week about that, and they claim (through research and some figures, blah blahblah) that hot-gas is costing Americans 2.4 billion USD a year. Canadians know about the exact opposite effect that the gas companies felt the hit back in the 90s with Cold-gas.

Sure is nice to know that even through testing and research that gas companies claim hot-gas is hot-air.

SolarYNeon wrote:

orangeblastsxt wrote:the main reason everyone thinks that SOME stations "water" down their gas is cuz their prices are significantly lower than the top tier places like chevron, shell, 76 etc. if someone can come up with a good reason why places like costco, arco, 711, and other "cheapo" gas places have prices that are 5+ cents /gal lower than the others, perhaps people would stop accusing these smaller companies of selling watered down gas. anyone have any idea why the cheapo places sell gas for so cheap... probably not.

Business. Simply as that. Sell the gas at a lower price than any other station, you'll get more people coming in to fill up. Word of mouth spreads, so does business, Etc, Etc.

so you think that all gas, no matter how shitty the place u buy it, is the exact same?