Fuel/Gas quality nazis? Fuel additives, best stations, etc...

[guroo270]

So, as many of you probably know, and some of you may have no clue, but the quality of gasoline and the lubrication qualities of diesel fuel are going straight down the drain. There are reports of check engine lights coming on due to bad, dirty, sub par, ethanol filled gas, and other shit. Not just is it bad, but it can form nasty sediment in your gas tank, which is why some people say never to go below a 1/4 tank so you don't suck some of that through. I don't adhere to that, I burn up as much of the gas in my car as I can so I don't end up getting old gas.

What do you do to make the most of the gas you put in your car?

I have to use premium in my car, but I'm sure the quality is still worse than it used to be. Should I be using some of the fuel treatments out there? I used one from a gas pump one time that you could just select to be added and I did notice another 1.5-2 mpg for a while (3-5 months).

Wait, does this belong in tech talk?

[AdironRider]

I think fuel treatments are a waste of money these days.

I think the East coast has pretty much done away with it, but where Im at there are still one or two stations that still carry ethanol free gas. I try to go there when I can.

[guroo270]

Yeah, the one I got at the pump one day was literally the only one I've ever purchased for a car. So far my extent of gas snobbery is that I don't go to gas stations that are being filled because the dumping of gas stirs everything up, I go to upscale looking gas stations in hopes that they treat their tanks the way they should, and I don't buy gas right before the holidays because those tanks have recently been filled.

On road trips I always fill up at TA/Petro stations because their tanks do get proper treatment, and their shops have everything you could possibly want. You might have to stroll on down to a Flying J for hookers and blow, though.

Kinda funny you brought up the East getting away from fuel treatment. The diesel fuel at least, up North, North East, in the colder climates is supposed to be the absolute worst fuel you can buy.

[guroo270]

...however, at $.60 difference per gallon, I'd make my car put up with it for a tank.

[jeffyg]

I add 2cycle ashless outboard oil to my diesel fuel.

[jamal]

Ideally you would buy fuel without ethanol for optimum economy. In some places the 91/93 doesn't have any. Ethanol improves emissions and has a higher anti-knock rating, but has less energy than gasoline. I was on a trip with my family and in north dakota we tried a tank of e85 and took a 3-4mpg hit. If your car doesn't require 91, it might only be worth it during the winter when they add more ethanol. Or it might not be, you'll have to track economy to find out.

Where the gas comes from doesn't really matter. These days tanks and testing are much better plus there are things called fuel filters. In tank pumps have a sock on them to keep crud out and then there is an additional filter somewhere before the injectors. Not a bad idea to change filters occasionally.

[iceman]

The gas is the same, it comes out of the same pipelines. The differences are the additives used for the different companies (each company has their own formulation, it is added to the gas as it is being pumped into the truck) and how the station takes care of its tanks. So you are right, or on the right track at least, by "judging a book by its cover".

But just because it's a reputable brand and the station looks clean is no guarantee. Maybe check out how they keep their bathrooms? I dunno. I also don't know which package of additives is the best, but lots of folks have (varying) opinions about it, you can find them easily by googling.

[Cruiser]

I run opti-lube in my Excursion. So far so good. Never used additives in our gas engines but I have done seafoam treatments on them before.

[PNWbrit]

I always use ESSO after watching this documentary.

[DirkaDirkaJack]

holly conspiracy theory batman..

gas with or without ethenol meets an ASTM standard, and car companies use the minimum standard when designing their engines.

clearly you bought into some gas company marketing, or you have a shitty car that doesnt run correctly.

[warthog]

No, he is right, but for the wrong reasons.

You can get a lot more than 10% ethanol in your fill up, and you can get a lot less too. It depends how they mix at fill up. Some companies mandate a certain procedure to fully blend, and others dump in the ethanol at the end. It may mix on transit, but many times you end up with a weird mix. Check your MPG for a couple months. I have a tracker for my company car. One month I am 21 mpg, next I am 16, then for 2 months I am 20-21. Only explanation is the mix.

In newer cars, E10 will not affect anything. Don't get me started on E15. E10 will not create a residue, just the opposite. It is a cleaner. In older vehicles, the old shellac that has built up over the years will actually get cleaned, and shoot chunks into carbs and needles. I lost a carb that way. I now use an in line glass fuel filter right before the main fuel filter. It lets me see the shit in the lines. It is unreal. Prolly need to change it soon.

Filling the tank at 1/4 full will do nothing in newer vehicles. Cars are a closed system. Boats, on the other hand, have an open system. Ethanol attracts water, and phase separation is a real issue in boats. The theory(bullshit) is that if you always fill your tank after boating, there is no room for the water. Reality is, you just use a good 10 micron fuel/water separator, and you keep an eye on it regularly.

The newer ethanol treatments out there work miracles. If you need to let a vehicle sit, use Stabil, or better, Fuel Medics. Fuel Medics will turn old phase separated gas into useable gas. Truly amazing stuff.

Moral of the story- Ethanol is bad, but it is here to stay. E15, if it ever spreads, will cost people a ton of money, but corn lobbyists will be stoked.

Edit- Check engine light is usually an O2 sensor. O2 sensors are really sensitive to carbon buildup. Use an additive like Ring Free or Startron to keep that from happening.

[ferniebiker]

Winter fuel knocked my mileage down by 100km a tank, usually get around 500, was struggling to get 400. I was pulling my hair out and I decided to give "Eco fuel saver" a try, no word of a lie, it put my mileage right back where it should be. I ran 5 tanks of bad mileage gas from various stations and finally started using the additive, instant results. I'd consider it a fairly well controlled test but take it or leave it, worked for me.

[sidewall]

I try to find ethanol free gas when I can. Have gotten some amazing mileage with it.

[ICEHOCEY77]

I only fill up at the Kum & Go.

[legallyillegal]

Chevron supposedly uses the same amount of Techron detergents per gallon/L across all 3 grades.

[guroo270]

holly conspiracy theory batman..

gas with or without ethenol meets an ASTM standard, and car companies use the minimum standard when designing their engines.

clearly you bought into some gas company marketing, or you have a shitty car that doesnt run correctly.

My car runs fantastically. I just like to treat it as good as I possibly can. Gas has gotten horrible over the years. If you spilled some gas back in the day it would leave a fairly "clean" looking white spot, now it's like a brown, dirty stain.

[iceman]

Chevron supposedly uses the same amount of Techron detergents per gallon/L across all 3 grades.

That wouldn't be too surprising, generally the only thing "premium" about premium gas is that it has higher octane.

[liv2ski]

My mechanic made my promise to only use Chevron or Shell gas in a pinch. He feels it significantly lowers carbon build up compared to other brands. I change the fuel filters in the cars at 75k (which is early) and can not remember ever having a fuel system issue. We will see on the wife's 335, as I have read that direct injection is more pron to carbon build up issues.

[XXX-er]

I religiously ran additive in my 01 TDi and never had a problem so I religiously put nothing in my 02 TDi and never had a probelm either, doesnt matter what brand all the diesel fuel up here comes from the husky refinery in prince george

[Danno]

The problem with this topic is that everyone's response is based entirely on anecdotal experience (and sometimes not even experience, just stories or what they've been told). Not saying we have any better, but it'd be nice if we had some hard facts.

[XXX-er]

I think it all depends on where you live, I trust the fuel around here but I wouldn't trust the fuel from down there, i did get bad fuel down there (north of vegas)come to think of it

[PNWbrit]

I think it all depends on where you live, I trust the fuel around here

Because it's metric?

[MontuckyFried]

[iceman]

The problem with this topic is that everyone's response is based entirely on anecdotal experience (and sometimes not even experience, just stories or what they've been told). Not saying we have any better, but it'd be nice if we had some hard facts.

Well as I said, the gas is the same. It comes out of the same pipeline and gets additive packages mixed in. So the only difference from one brand to another is the additive package. Each company contends that its additives are the best, so that's murky, but there seems to be some consensus that Chevron is better than Shell and Shell is better than everyone else.

Premium gas is simply higher octane. You only need premium gas if your owners manual calls for it, and that would only be because of your engine's compression ratio, higher compression requires higher octane to retard detonation (knocking).

Once you get past the fact that the gas is the same, and decide who you believe about additive packages, the only other difference is the actual physical condition of the tanks and lines and you have no real way of knowing that. A clean up-to-date place is probably more likely to have clean up-to-date tanks. My theory is that id the bathrooms a shithole then the other stuff is probably crappy too.

There is an industry standard called "Top Tier" gas. It basically requires a certain level of detergent that is higher than what the EPA requires. A number of manufacturers strongly recommend Top Tier gas, VW/Audi makes a big deal about it, not sure about others.

Top Tier Gas.

Top Tier Gas Retailers

You'll notice that it's kinda everybody. Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Conoco, Phillips, etc.

[XXX-er]

Because it's metric?

I ran it for 10 yrs with no fuel problems so I trust it, one fill up north of vegas and the car didnt run so good,

also diesel went ULSD all at the same time in canada in I think 2006 whereas it was phased in over a period of time in the U.S. ...just less to trust i guess