Shell Gas

Red Monster

Red Monster

Well-Known Member
I noticed Shell sells mid-grade gas that has only 5% ethanol instead of 10%. Maybe I should use the Shell gas? I'm running an inboard boat on a trailer so I can choose where to fill up. Does anyone else use the Shell gas? The mid-grade is 89 octane rating as I recall.
 
I use shell gas in my car and sometimes my boat. Shell regular 87 is 10% ethanol, 89 is 5% and 91 is 0%. The 89 is 5% because it is a 50/50 mix of regular and premium.

I run the regular gas in my boat without issue. If your motor only requires 87 then there is no reason to run anything with a higher octane rating. The ethanol gas is fine as long as you run your boat on a regular basis.
 
Guys... where did you find the information that Shell adds ethanol to BC Shell gasoline? All I could find is a statement that its required in Ontario ( and one that maybe Saskatchewan adds ethanol too )
 
Red Monster said:
I noticed Shell sells mid-grade gas that has only 5% ethanol instead of 10%. Maybe I should use the Shell gas? I'm running an inboard boat on a trailer so I can choose where to fill up. Does anyone else use the Shell gas? The mid-grade is 89 octane rating as I recall.
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10% Ethanol is really only a potential issue for older outboards, not for inboards. Outboards newer than o4/05 are aparently designed to handle E10. I have been told by 2 US Yami mechanics that with older outboards not designed for use with E10, it really is only going to cause a potential problem if boat is sitting unused for much over 3 weeks. I have been shown what it does to inside of older outboard gas lines when sits in there in the lines that are not designed to have E10 sitting in there. It is shocking to see.
Ethanol can also apparently interfere with the proper lubrication of metal parts needed from the oil injected fuel for 2 stroke motors. This could cause excessive engine wear due to parts not getting the proper lubrication.
 
Cuba Libre said:
Guys... where did you find the information that Shell adds ethanol to BC Shell gasoline? All I could find is a statement that its required in Ontario ( and one that maybe Saskatchewan adds ethanol too )
Click to expand...

Look at the pumps and what it says on them, however one warning - apparently pumps have been tested to find over 10% ethanol that say they have only up to 10% . Also I have heard that some company's pumps that say "no ethanol" have apparently been tested to have ethanol in them.
 
ethanol goes after the rubber fuel hoses and gaskets, down south they have even had problems with bigger boats with built in fiberglass tanks. It disolves the rubber parts then the goo starts causing fuel system problems.
 
What about older fuel lines in an older inboard setup? Could they perhaps have ethanol issues? My fuel line from the tank is from the 80's.

And from what folks seem to be saying, fuel with ethanol would not be so great if you're keeping your boat off the water over the winter. So maybe the 5% ethanol fuel at Shell is a better choice.
 
I have asked the gentleman at the Mohawk in Courtenay if they have ethanol in there boat gas and he assures me they don't. Can I rely on that ? eman
 
eaglemaniac said:
I have asked the gentleman at the Mohawk in Courtenay if they have ethanol in there boat gas and he assures me they don't. Can I rely on that ? eman
Click to expand...

In BC you should be fine with boat/marine fuel. I have yet to see or hear of any marine fuel pump that has ethanol in the fuel. Its the street pumps for cars mostly have ethanol in it.... so if you are filing up while towing your boat on a trailer you will get E10 with regular or mid grade car gas. Marked/boat fuel should have no ethanol. Shell's 91 Octane car pumps and Chevrons's 94 Octane car pumps I beleive don't - just look at the front of the pump as most of them say on them. I think Petrocan also has a higher Octane car gas that doesn't have ethanol. I mentioned in earlier post there has been testing that found some pumps did have ethanol that otherwise were stated not to. Safest in my opinion would be to buy the marine mid grade boat fuel.
 
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Talked to Shell today and was told that they are slowly introducing 10% ethanol and 5% to the lower grades in BC. Powell River now has ethanol in Shell gas and in the south Island, but most mid to north island stations do not YET. The midgrade marine is NOT supposed to have any ethanol. I was assure the dealers know this .
 
I was told that the Peninsula Co-Op marked fuels are ethanol free in Victoria. This was last summer when I asked.
 
Marked fuel is mid-grade with dye added. It is sold without any road tax applied to it so its cheaper than regular mid-grade. You can buy it but it is meant to be used off the public road system. So allowed uses would be, boats, power equipment, quads used in the bush etc. The only vehicles that may use it on public roads are farm vehicles.
 
In Vancouver the only way to buy marked gas is at few Marinas as far as I know, which is a pain in the a$$.
 
What CL says makes sense to me as there is a "contains ethanol" on gas pumps wherever I go here in the LML, while on the island I did not see anything like that on the pumps - that was last year.

Marked fuel supposedly is not good for the fuel system either - the dye varnishes the system - this is what I was told by a marine mechanic last year. I read on a Yamaha forum not to use marked fuel at all. Obviously I am just going by what others are saying as I am no expert on this.
 
I have run marked fuel in every boat engine I've owned going back to the early 70's. IMO it is more critical to use good quality oils than worrying about a dye added to the fuel. The only place I've ever seen any trace of the dye inside my engines was in the carb's float bowl while doing a carb kit. I was doing a carb kit because there was grit in one of the jets, blocking it. The little bit of discolouration in the float bowl was doing no harm.
 
I called the comox valley Co-op at the top of Mission Hill. They called back and said in their marked gas the % of ethanol is regulated by the federal government. Their marked fuel is 2% ethanol.

I know the petrocanada in Port Alberni carries Marine fuel but the one in the CV valley does not.
 
Well, I've finally figured out that Chevron's 94 octane or Shell's 91 octane may be the way to go. Both do NOT contain ethanol, and both are probably about the same price or less than the E0 mid-grade (probably 89 octane) being sold on the water. When I called Mosquito Creek Marina the guy said mid-grade was $1.48 something plus tax. And ironically the 94 octane at Chevron was cheaper at $1.54.8 than Shell's 91 octane.
 
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