Whether the new ‘Premium’ Petrols…

Preamble
With the introduction of BS-II/Mpfi vehicles in the country by the year 2000, the then existing 87 Octane ‘Regular’ Unleaded Petrol was found wanting in more ways than one – especially it’s rather high gum and glue residues upon evaporation, leading to premature ‘arterial blockage’ kind of occurrences in these new generation ‘fuel-injection’ vehicles.

So enter the ‘Detergent-premixed’ Petrol’s with higher Octane ratings, with brand names such as ‘Speed’, ‘Power’ and ‘Premium’ and now – ‘Xtra-Premium’…

The trouble with our regular/unleaded Petrol, besides being highly prone to glue/gum residues, is that it’s hardly ever 87 O/R for whatever reason and the new breed claiming to be 90+ O/R promises to be no better, though it may be at least 87 O/R. Detergent ‘premixed’ Petrol is nothing new and has been around in the West for as long as I can remember. But over there, no body cheats the way they do it here and next to such Dispensers, there’s a ‘Warning’ that this Gasoline contains ‘Detergents’!

Regrettably, our PSU Oil Co’s did not advertise any such ‘Warnings’ at the time of their launch, as some unsuspecting motorists discovered it the hard way upon switching over to them after having used Regular/Unleaded for a few years.

Besides, the 3-Oil Co’s have also not bothered to give them a different PDS Kerosene like colour. So there’s no guarantee that the unscrupulous Retailers won’t make an extra fast buck by dishing out the usual trash in its guise. And by the time one realises this, the damage to one’s engine would have been done.

I have used these ones on my 7-yr/78 kkm old Santro/Mpfi in Delhi and have had no problems. In fact, my other 12+yr/75 kkm old ‘Carb’ type M800 definitely feels perkier with them and I’d attribute their higher Octane part to it. But then, from day one both had been run on Petrol Additives like System-G.

However, it’s true that with these new premium fuels, you don’t have to use PA’s also. However, a word of caution here…

If you have not been using any PA’s with Regular Unleaded Petrol so far but intend switching over to the ‘detergent-premixed’ types now, start with a full tank afresh. If you start it off say only with 5-10 lrs, there’s a strong possibility that all the previously accumulated muck in the System that’ll be dislodged by the detergents in the new petrol’s will find it’s way back into the Tank, choke the in-tank Fuel Pump’s intake filter and thus kill the Fuel Pump - costing > Rs: 5 k or so for most popular vehicles. Infact one Honda-City owner from Bangalore reported that he was charged 18k by the Honda Dealership for a replacement FP!

If the new generation/premium/90-91 Octane petrol’s with additives pre-mixed are available where you’re located, I’d suggest you switch over to them and see the difference. However, when you do that for the first time, please ensure the following:

1) You consume the existing fill upto ‘E’ level.

2) Fill to ‘F’ with the premium 90/91 Octane petrol.

3) Top-up again by the time you’re down to 3/4.

4) Repeat (3) above atleast twice - before reverting to your normal filling-up pattern.

This will ensure that the concentration of gums and glues, which the premium petrol will dislodge from the system, doesn’t go beyond the in-tank electric fuel pump’s capabilities. During some of the next issues, we’ll discuss some more interesting if not confusing issues like the ‘Fuel Efficiency’ vs ‘Fuel Consumption’ of a Car under its different operating conditions.