Ingram4868

I was watching Motor Week on TV the other day and in the Pat Goss segment they discussed sludge and carbon buildup from cheap gasolines. They had a Shell rep showing valve stems from two engines with 5,000 miles and the set of stems from a car using cheaper gas without additives were pretty nasty with a lot of carbon buildup. Of course the Shell stems were clean.

The Shell rep. said that "top tier" fuels (Chevron, Shell, BP) use additives in all octane grades to keep the internal combustion chamber parts cleaner, while cheaper companies or independant stations do not have additives in their fuels.

For the past couple of years I've bought all my gas from Costco so I'm wondering if the claims made on the Pat Goss show are accurate. Has anyone else heard this info from other sources?

LexBob2

I saw that Motorweek episode too, and have done some reading on the subject of Top Tier gas. IMO it's a combination of assuring a good quality of gas to consumers, as well as marketing by the participating companies. It certainly can't hurt to use TT gas, but on the other hand, I've never had any problem over the years using gas from non TT stations. I don't remember seeing anything in the owners manual recommending Top Tier gas. I would think Costco is a reputable gas supplier and you shouldn't have any worries about their gas.

Vette2

Gasoline formulations of ALL grades are required to meet EPA requirements that require additive packages to control intake valve deposits, detergency, stability etc. Although companies may choose to exceed mimimum requirements, the intent of the EPA standards is to assure that all gasoline sold in the US will keep an engines fuel system clean so that emmisions are controlled. Much of the hype concerning additives used by the various fuel companies is just that, hype, born in the marketing department not the engineering department. If you are interested in reading more about the subject, the following link might be helpful.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels.htm

It is also true that the exact same fuel is sold under various brands at different stations. For instance, The Massachusetts Turnpike gas stations are branded Exxon, but are owned and operated by Gulf Oil. Gulf Oil is in turn owned by the convenience store chain Cumberland Farms which carries exactly the same gasoline as the 105 other New England Exxon stations at a much lower price. This is just one example. The practice is widespread.

onsknht

I don't know about you fellas, but really.... I see maybe a dime ($0.10)difference between the 'local' and 'global' brands. The reality is that all gasoline comes from a limited number of refineries (part of the reason why gas $$ is so high) and there isn't really a "bottom of the barrel" grade so to speak.

Where I worry is dealing with the independent proprietor... I'm confident that good gas goes in the tanks, but not always confident about what comes out. Somehow they're undercutting the Big Names, be it their "loss leader" or whatever, there's a fat guy and a nasty cigar that's still making money.

So... Back to the dime ($0.10) difference.

You buy nearly a $40K car and are going to sqaubble over an extra $1.85 (figuring you could run it dry) per tank of gasoline?

Sorry... But for piece of mind, I'll skip a second cup at Strabuck's once every two weeks.

MD350

As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for".

LexFather

Yup. If you use cheap gas, my suggestion is make sure you buy some concentrated fuel injection cleaner or gas additive to clean out your fuel system.

OAKPLANK

Are we getting confused between cheap (as in quality) and different (as in % of octane) ??
I would think that different octane levels from the same supplier would have the same quality.
oakplank

dreyfus

Your post is the first one in this thread that mentions "octane".

I agree with you and would expect that a given brand's additives would be the same for all octane grades.

The gasoline sold in this country is not separated by brand as it travels through the national gas pipeline network. That is, stock gasoline of any octane level produced by Shell, Exxon/Mobil, BP, etc. is all sent through the same pipeline to the various distribution points and there is no telling where the base gasoline you're getting originally came from.

The difference is that each retailer will add their own blend of additives at the end of the line, the wholesale distribution point. This is where Chevron versus Shell, etc. differences are first (and finally) seen. These jealously-guarded additive formulations are mixed with the generic stock feed from the national pipeline and then trucked to the various retail outlets.

Non-gasoline companies (ie. Costco) will simply contract with one of the national refiners to produce the product they sell.

Rebranding, as Vette2 stated earlier, is very common.

Ingram4868

About a year ago I asked a gasoline delivery driver how the fuel got to Reno, NV when there are no refineries for 350 miles. Your information is just as he described it. It is mixed and sent from all the refineries to Reno through the same pipelines. And that the biggest companies like Shell, Chevron put their additives in the fuel after it arrives locally. He also said the the octane grades use to be separated by a physical plug called a pig but that they are not used anymore. They have someway to identify the octanes and that the fuels that are mixed are sold off to speciality users. It would be interesting to tour the facility where all this stuff comes into town.

BillP

I saw a show on how the refineries work. It may have been Modern Marvels on the History Channel. Pretty impressive process from pulling oil out of the ground/sea floor to putting gasoline in your fuel tank.

dreyfus

Yes, different grades of gasoline are simply poured into the pipeline and sent downstream under pressure. It's been demonstrated that the different batches mix far less than you'd think. They can pull the different grades out of the pipeline based on travel time and they can also test for octane level.

There's a pipeline terminus about two miles from my house.