ULP rubbish

[Oldfart]

Anybody run ULP? I usually run premium but had no choice on fill up the other day. When I did the sums the ULP did just over 2 K's less per litre plus it ran like a hairy goat down low, missing every now and then round town. ULP is just rubbish fuel, even mowers and whipper snippers won't run properly on it. What rubbish are they passing off as ULP these days? What percentage of ethanol are they running in ULP now? From memory they are not supposed to put more than 10% without labelling. Who would know if they are sneaking more that allowed anyway? Ethanol is supposed to up the octane rating so it should be better. In a Triton ute I have you have to retard the timing to run ULP otherwise it pings it's head off. The 10c a litre extra for premium more than makes up for the at least 20% extra K's done per litre. Soon the extortionist fuel companies will up the price of Premium even further because a lot of people are starting to use it. Another fuel crises bought on by more middle eastern feuds will see the price of Premium at $2 a litre in the next 12 months.

[75wagon]

I only ever buy 98 octane these days.
I've never run my Honda Jazz (I bought new back in march 2012) on anything but 98 octane. My Galant Wagon runs better on it, and so does my 2005 Lancer VRX Wagon, I even run it in my ride on mower and other garden tools.
I done all the experiments with different fuels over the years, and 98 comes up as the best performing and cheapest overall every time.

Dave...

[Superscan811]

Most Petrol companies seem to have also changed their E10 (95) to E10(91). The lower the octane the more likely the engine will ping. Add to the mix a few hot days and you can almost guarantee detonation.

From what I have experienced, if you have a higher compression engine than standard, detonation will abound with all but the premium fuels.

I've swapped the Triton to E85 and power is a lot better, along with greatly reduced detonation. With E85, fuel economy is 15l per 100 on the last trip up from Melbourne, but I'm hoping to get better on the next trip to Brisbane.

Water injection will be the next thing I introduce in my quest for torque. If you are running carbs, a very cheap way to do it is merely to use the vacuum (ported vacuum) connection, a 3L juice container full of water, a small valve and some connecting pipes. This is all that is required to get the engine running with a rough but functional "water injection" system.

The water will help suppress detonation and increase torque with any fuel used.



Cheers.

[Cottees]

I only ever buy from Caltex, but run my GN with TR/TS EFI off ULP and it runs well. The ECU is meant to be able to also run on PULP 95, but have yet to test it out. The only car I have had issues with is the LC, but that is cause the compression is way too high for ULP. I run that off Caltex Vortex PULP 98.

[InsaneTD]

My family only ever run ulp for anything. Though I refuse to use Woolworths ulp unless I have no choice. Then I only put enough in to get me to another servo. I don't know what Woolworths add to their ulp. Always made my pintara run rough as guts and after I got my last sigma, I refused to use the stuff.

[Sigmaproject]

Half the time you do not know what you are getting anyway. I have the timing set just below detonation on max boost when running 98. I took it for a run to Queensland to see my daughter, and was able to buy 98 all along the highway. So all was sweet. On the way back I sort of went bush, and finished up in the quaint little town of Dorrigo. They only had one servo, and they only had ULP and 95. I still had a quarter of a tank of 98, so by my reconning, filling it up with 95 should cause no issues. Headed for Armadale and the fist slight rise I came too, the Sigma pinged it's head off (no not literally). I retarded the timing a couple of degree's (I was looking for a degree symbol on the keyboard, but no luck) which did not help one bit. There was no way that the petrol I got at Dorrigo was 95. I guess 99% of the cars in town are EFI ,so they could rip you off, and you would never know.

[geezer101]

I remember when I recon'd a head and built my first performance modded carby for my LB Lancer hatch. Got it running beautifully and decided one night to go for a drive through 'Chain of Ponds' (you live in Adelaide - you know the stretch of road). I pulled into the Woolworths Express on the way through there and bought some fuel. By the time I was a few k's from the petrol station my Lancer went from running sweet to running like a pig. And I here a lot of guys have had similar experiences with the crap they pass off as fuel...

[ddt]

maybe it's different over here in the west (I think it all comes from the local Kwinana refinery) but I've rarely had trouble with ULP.

(I was looking for a degree symbol on the keyboard,

degree symbol is [alt] + [2],[4],[8]
°

[InsaneTD]

There isn't a refinery here in SA anymore. All our fuel comes from interstate. I think most of it comes from melbourne now.

[Superscan811]

....They only had one servo, and they only had ULP and 95. I still had a quarter of a tank of 98, so by my reconning, filling it up with 95 should cause no issues. Headed for Armadale and the fist slight rise I came too, the Sigma pinged it's head off (no not literally). I retarded the timing a couple of degree's (I was looking for a degree symbol on the keyboard, but no luck) which did not help one bit. There was no way that the petrol I got at Dorrigo was 95...

Actually, it is very possible it was 95..

I have found in a normally aspirated engine, the difference between 98 and 100 to be dramatic when it comes to knock. Running exactly the same timing on 100 with no knock, filling up 3/4 of a tank with 98 caused a lot of detonation down low and mid range (WOT), but only mildly in the upper rpm range.

I couldn't get over 50% throttle without some detonation...


Cheers.

[Sigmaproject]

(I was looking for a degree symbol on the keyboard,

degree symbol is [alt] + [2],[4],[8]
°[/quote]

haha, the things you learn on S/G .

[LukeAussie]

Yep, I've been running 98 on everything I have since I graduated from uni (and could actually afford more than cheap-arse fuel and two minute noodles!). 98 runs well, and anything less does produce a noticeable degradation. Even in EFI cars... the lead additives you can get (which I've only used a couple of times) are pretty nice too :-)