Posted by Jeremy Horvath [162.158.69.80] on Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 04:15:12 :
In Reply to: Interesting posted by Sherman in Idaho [108.162.246.24] on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 23:19:30 :
When distributors have an excess of something, or it's particularly cheap, the less-than-scrupulous ones will often (deliberately) spread it around. Then, there are honest mistakes made, typically when additive packages are blended.
Our business was to help make sure that the additive ratio was within a certain range so the big-name guys knew that they were getting what they paid for from the distributors. We were not tasked with verifying octane ratings, or even ethanol presence and concentration.
Octane ratings are checked by "official channels," but I personally don't know where in the system the fuels are sampled. Beat in mind that high octane fuel can be made with crappy gas and a good dose of ethanol! Nowadays, not all that goes into gasoline is gasoline. In addition to additive packages and maybe ethanol, other "stuff" may be in the mix. This is particularly true of off-brand fuel suppliers.
For example, one day we were asked to source E-85 for a sanctioned competition. We obtained samples from multiple local stations and tested it to be sure that it was E-85. What we got was an assortment of concentrations, none of which was E-85. One even had no ethanol! So, we sampled several more local stations. Once again, no E-85. Long story short, we had a distributor mix us up a custom batch of E-85.
However, these things are randomly sampled and tested. What happens when things are routinely altered is up to the brand owner. The big name guys run a relatively tight ship.
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