Fueling hits, myths
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A couple of weeks ago, I asked the guy who was pumping my gas whether anyone still buys high-octane fuel. With gas prices so high, I figured he probably sold very little of it.
"I still buy it myself," he said. "I'll fill up with four tanks of the 87 octane gas, then the fifth time I'll throw in one 93. It keeps the engine running better if you do that."
I nodded my head in agreement, reasoning that the better gas must flush out all the bad stuff in your fuel lines. But part of me had to wonder: Is that really true? Is high-octane gas that powerful? Or is my attendant's strategy, variations on which I'd heard before, just something people believe without proof?
Urban driving legends seem to crop up all the time. When a rash of local lightning strikes made the news, out came the old adage that the safest place to be during a storm is inside a car. A few weeks ago, someone mentioned to me that putting mothballs in your gas tank improves gas mileage. Then there's the one about red cars getting more speeding tickets because they get more attention.
This week, we attempt to validate (or disprove) some common driving myths, starting with mothballs and high-octane fuel; we'll cover lightning and red cars next time. If you've got more, please send them to me at demarco@ globe.com for future scrutiny.
"There's a chemical reaction. Essentially, you're boosting the octane level of your fuel," the Westwood psychiatrist told me during a recent interview. "Every time you fill your tank, you put two mothballs in it."
John Paul, AAA of Southern New England's "Car Doctor," may be my best source on car mechanics, so I posed the question to him.
"I think it only works if you mix it with kryptonite," he deadpanned.
The mothball myth dates at least to World War II, when people really did add mothballs - and pretty much anything flammable they could find, such as kerosene - to gas tanks because of fuel rationing. Those mixtures were, understandably, far inferior to standard gasoline, Paul said. Yet for some reason, people still think of mothballs as magic pills.
"Mothballs contain naphthalene and acetone, which is basically the same stuff that's in nail-polish remover. In theory, they are supposed to energize gas molecules," Paul said. "About a year ago, there was the rumor that adding 3 ounces of pure acetone to your gas tank was supposed to bump up your fuel economy by 20 percent and make your car run better. There are websites on this. But no one has ever told me that they did this to their cars and it worked."
To the contrary, adding mothballs to your gas tank could harm your car, as the dissolving lumps might get caught in your fuel pump and filter.
Among my questions: Does it help my engine to add a tank of 93 octane once in a while?
"It really is not the way to do it," Buczynsky said, squashing my gas attendant's theory.
Higher-grade fuels often contain extra detergents that do indeed flush out engine dirt and increase your car's performance, he said. It's one of the reasons high-octane gas is marketed at a higher price, even though the detergents cost less than a penny per gallon to add, he said.
But those detergents are like vitamins; they work only if you repeatedly pour them into your tank.
"What you're hoping for is this miracle additive. But you're not going to get the benefit unless you do it consistently from tank to tank to tank. You would need to keep buying it for roughly 3,000 miles" for the detergents to have an effect, he said.
The benefits of cleaning the dirt out of your fuel injectors and intake valves aren't enormous, Buczynsky cautioned. "They will improve your car's performance, in terms of fuel economy, emissions, and drivability . . . by about 1 percent," he said. But if you were to look at the bigger picture, as he said General Motors does, imagine how much gasoline the country could save if every car on the road was just 1 percent more efficient?
Does that mean you should fork over the extra 25 or 30 cents per gallon for 93-octane gas? Not necessarily, Buczynsky said.
First, check your owner's manual to see what type of gas your engine requires. Not many cars "require" premium (93 octane) gasoline. (Most of the cars that do are speedier models with high-compression engines that crave the extra octane because it burns faster.) Most cars will run fine on 87-octane gasoline, with marginal benefits if you fuel up with 89 or 93.
Second, even 87-octane gasoline contains some detergents. It has since 1995, when the Environmental Protection Agency ordered their inclusion. However, there's a debate in the automotive industry about whether the EPA requires enough detergents to really clean out engines.
Six major car manufacturers - Audi, BMW,
The manufacturers took it upon themselves to survey gasoline providers across the country to see which ones add what they consider to be a beneficial amount of detergents to all grades of gas - about 2.5 times as many detergents as the EPA standard.
The list of those who do - Shell is available locally - can be found on the website toptiergas.com. You might pay the same amount for their 87-octane gas, or slightly more, but you'll get what you need to clean your engine if you purchase it faithfully.
"We're trying to get the word out. We don't want our engines dirty, because it affects the running of the vehicles," Buczynsky said. "In Detroit, Shell is the only top-tiered marketer, and they're the same price as your no-name brand. Why wouldn't I pay the same price and get an added benefit?"
What drives you crazy about local drivers? Is there a traffic rule you've always wondered about, or a pet peeve that never fails to annoy you? Send us a message about it: ciweek@globe.com. We'll check it out.
