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Interesting article - this one sentence identifies the obvious, major problem:
"The Southeast, the only region of the nation that has no oil refining or major gasoline storage capacity, pumps all of its gasoline in by pipeline, he said."
Wow. I didn't know that factoid. There's your problem.
That's like not having extra snowplows in case of a blizzard. Well it'll melt eventually.
Interesting article - this one sentence identifies the obvious, major problem:
"The Southeast, the only region of the nation that has no oil refining or major gasoline storage capacity, pumps all of its gasoline in by pipeline, he said."
Interesting. I had no idea. One advantage Jersey has over NC. Which is why I guess gas is always less expensive back home.
Not all cars can run regular if it asks for premium. You risk detonation. Any car with a turbo or supercharger would need premium. As far as Octane boosters you need to figure out how many gallons of gas and the octane and then figure out what the octane of the booster is and do the math. Meaning 1 octane booster will increase the octane of a gallon of gas more than it would to say 20 gallons.
If you need to do a bunch of gas, you might need to use toluene.
Here's to publicizing my ignorance ...
The car my DH drives is a Buick Regal with a turbocharged engine. We're at 140K+ miles, car has never had any repairs — just typical maintenance. Older than I care to mention but it gets him where he needs to go daily and is a beautiful (aesthetically) vehicle! More power too than the Mercury Montego (the engine was very sluggish) I sold a couple of months back. We only use Regular. Well, until last week when I could only find mid-grade.
Well. It's complicated but I'll try to make it simple.
In gasoline cars, the gas is sprayed into a fine mist in the engine, the piston compresses the gas and the air and the spark plug sparks and blows up the mixture causing the piston to go in the other direction and makes your engine turn.
Detonation happens when the piston compresses the gas and the air and the mixture explodes (from the heat and the pressure) before the spark plug sparks. Essential throwing off the timing. It usually happens more when you try and accelerate harder and makes the engine feel choppy.
--More advanced tech info coming up--
The reason you should use the lower grade if you don't need the higher grade is 1 to save money and 2 because the lower grade actually burns at a lower temp and pressure and more efficiently and completely than the higher grade.
The higher grades are designed not to burn prematurely for use in higher performance engines. These engines don't gain horsepower by the gas they use, they gain it by other means (turbos, supercharger, type of engine etc) and need a gas that won't burn before it's supposed to.
In closing, if your car is a regular common person non modified car not from the 60s or 70s and needs 89 octane, you can most likely use 87 and drive easy on it. When you find gas, mix in 91 or 93 to get your average octane back up.
Well. It's complicated but I'll try to make it simple.
In gasoline cars, the gas is sprayed into a fine mist in the engine, the piston compresses the gas and the air and the spark plug sparks and blows up the mixture causing the piston to go in the other direction and makes your engine turn.
Detonation happens when the piston compresses the gas and the air and the mixture explodes (from the heat and the pressure) before the spark plug sparks. Essential throwing off the timing. It usually happens more when you try and accelerate harder and makes the engine feel choppy.
--More advanced tech info coming up--
The reason you should use the lower grade if you don't need the higher grade is 1 to save money and 2 because the lower grade actually burns at a lower temp and pressure and more efficiently and completely than the higher grade.
The higher grades are designed not to burn prematurely for use in higher performance engines. These engines don't gain horsepower by the gas they use, they gain it by other means (turbos, supercharger, type of engine etc) and need a gas that won't burn before it's supposed to.
In closing, if your car is a regular common person non modified car not from the 60s or 70s and needs 89 octane, you can most likely use 87 and drive easy on it. When you find gas, mix in 91 or 93 to get your average octane back up.
Oh goodness! You know I wasn't expecting that.
Seriously, I appreciate the detailed reply. Hope everyone is paying attention. I may have to read three, four or 30 times.
Yep, it is a big problem. Walking along 51 is only part of the problem . . . trying to cross at intersections is hell. I know b/c I have tried to do it, Hee Hee.
The only time we have successfully used mass transit here in CLT was when we lived at Strawberry Hill and DS had to catch CATS on several occasions to get to CP. Now that worked for him okay as long as he planned very carefully around bus arrival times and his class schedule. It was a hassle to figure all that out but there were times when he had his car in the shop that this was a really good back up plan for him. You can waste a lot of time depending on a bus to get you where you need to go in this city.
I am presently in Boston experiencing absolutely no gas shortages and paying $3.39 per gallon. Seems like everything went to hell since I left with gas shortages and the sell out of Wichovia. I am flattered that I have such an influrence.
I am presently in Boston experiencing absolutely no gas shortages and paying $3.39 per gallon. Seems like everything went to hell since I left with gas shortages and the sell out of Wichovia. I am flattered that I have such an influrence.
I bet you filled up on your way out of town didn't you??
Bandibadji started this problem and then ran off to Boston where there is plenty of gas (and presumably bread and milk too!).
What they won't tell you in the media, is that the gasoline producers/wholesalers like BP, Shell, Texaco can get fuel delivered in rail cars from the north east and midwest refineries to the SE terminals but they won't do it because obviously pipeline shipping is much cheaper then rail shipping.
So in the mean time the quest for gasoline has turned the SE into a replay of the 1979 Mad Max movie.
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