Different Gas stations affects MPG?

[suprapsu]

I notice that some different gas stations have different quality gasoline. I know for a fact that with Shell they add a techron additive to premium gasoline. Anyone notice the difference in MPG when using different gas stations?

I own a Supra and I know for a fact that different gasoline affects its performance but I'm not sure about MPG?

[KU40]

one of the things I've noticed is that gas stations seem to all fill the tank to a different level. I only fill until it clicks off, I don't top it off. So that would affect your mileage if you do the trip odometer/gallons mpg method.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by suprapsu

I notice that some different gas stations have different quality gasoline. I know for a fact that with Shell they add a techron additive to premium gasoline. Anyone notice the difference in MPG when using different gas stations?

I own a Supra and I know for a fact that different gasoline affects its performance but I'm not sure about MPG?

In my '88 Escort, Texaco seems to give better FE than BP. Those are the only two brands that I have used in about the last year in that car so I don't know whether other brands would effect mileage or not.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by KU40

one of the things I've noticed is that gas stations seem to all fill the tank to a different level. I only fill until it clicks off, I don't top it off. So that would affect your mileage if you do the trip odometer/gallons mpg method.

As long as you are not doing short fills that should not make much of a difference, and the average of a few tanks in a row will even it out. I think the biggest difference would be if some stations in your area sell ethanol blends, and others do not. Mostly the additives in the gasoline are detergents to clean your fuel system. Over the long term keeping a clean fuel system may enhance mileage, but straight out one tank to the next detergents should not make a noticeable difference.

Years ago my old Bonneville wagon would run like a bat of hell on Chevron, and poke along on 7-11 gas. At the time ethanol fuels were not mandated in my area. 7-11 was an ethanol blend, and Chevron was not. I'm sure this was the difference I experienced in my performance.

[bowtieguy]

before ethanol was recently, fully integrated into local gas stations here, i believe chevron and shell yielded the best FE(for our cars).

there are many variables including additives(quality of fuel), shut off point, inclined/declined pavement, and pump accuracy to name a few.

some believe performance and economy are directly related.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Over 30+ years of driving many cars and motorcycles...I've never noticed significant differences between brands of gasoline. On my gaslog here I have been noting the stations where I buy gas just to see if there is a difference...so far I do not see any.

Back in the '60s, in our Corvair station wagon, Shell regular would run fine, other brands would ping. Any gasoline purchased outside California seemed to work OK, also.

[1cheap1]

Used a discount independent to fill my tank on my last entry on the log. It sputtered at the 590 mile mark. I then filled up at a shell station am getting 10 more miles at the first hash mark. I fill up to the top of the filler tube every time so i know it is filled up. Later on i may go back to just putting 5 gallons only.

[spazzer]

I fill up at one station no matter what the price is. The topography is such that on one side of the pumps the ground slopes downward from them. If I park the Honda on that slope and fill it up, I can put more fuel in it than I can if its sitting on flat land. I sometimes sit on the hood to get the left rear up in the air higher too.

[8307c4]

There are many things that can and do affect gasoline quality, such as time of day per instance... When the tanker truck last left, this usually stirs up sediments for up to two hours, how much traffic the station has (more is usually better in the sense the fuel doesn't sit in the tank too long then again the tanker has to come by more often).

And so on...

[groar]

I started eco-driving only since a few weeks on my manual 11 years old diesel, so I don't have a lot of data to backup my saying. As I have a diesel I tried to change gears before 2000rpm, but then I was under 1500rpm and the ICE wasn't happy...

Before eco-driving I was using half low-grade and half mid-grade diesel. I changed to high-grade diesel and felt a noticeable change after half a tank : the ICE wasn't so unhappy to be under 1500rpm. After 1.5 tank, now the ICE can accelerate from 1200rpm

High-grade diesel contains different additives than mid-grade and this is certainly a better cleaning additive that is permitting my ICE to run better at lower rotation. Even if high-grade is 6% more expensive, I calculated on the first tank each km cost me 9% less

Currently these two high-grade tanks are permitting me to have a better mileage, but these are in fact doing a better/complementary maintenance than my mechanic is doing.

In a few tanks I will come back to low/mid-grade diesel and monitor how the ICE runs at 1200rpm to know when to have a couple of high-grade tanks.

Have fun,

Denis.