What type of gas to use

[SVOboy]

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Your best brands are IMO Exxon, Shell and BP. The reason I say this
is that these companies are much more stringent (more stringent than
the govt requires) on the quality of the gas - i.e. corrosion
testing, particulates, sulphur compounds, etc. Also, they offer
additive packages that include detergents that are particularly
useful in older engines.

Your off-brands sometimes have "good gas" and sometimes do not. They
do not have the same quality requirements (internally - they still
pass govt regs but do not impose as strict internal requirements).
They buy what is on the market at the best price. Probably the reason
you saw the BP truck go across the street is that they had a surplus
and sold it to Racetrack. So at that point in time, you knew it was
good gas. However, they have many suppliers (may include the good
brands and bad brands) so the quality of the gas can vary a great
deal from week to week.

Even big gas companies buy gas from other sources but they still
require that it meet their internal requirements. I always buy Shell
(and now Exxon if I need to) because I know what type of gas we
produce and I feel pretty confident about the quality (I see the
certificates of analysis when we send gas down the pipeline and when
we load tankers).

Your smaller oil companies do not have the same requirements on
sulphur as the big companies (they were excluded from the govt
requirement to produce low sulphur gas).

There are other brands that make good gas but the 3 I listed are your
big players that I know produce quality product. I do not like Texaco
(except when I know that they just bought Shell gas) based on
knowledge of the refinery down the road from me.

- you can own an exxon station and you will use gas that is certified
by exxon (that gas may originate from bp but it must pass exxon's
requirements)

- you can own an off brand station and you may have a variety of
gas's at varying qualities, from week to week. if it comes from
exxon, great. it very well may not.

the difference is the internal requirements at the major companies -
they are more stringent.

also, the government has less strict sulphur requirements on gas from
smaller refineries/companies. if your off-brand store uses gas from
such sites, you are likely putting higher sulphur product in your
tank.

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Based on many years of record keeping now, I have seen that I get
around 1-2% better fuel mileage on Amoco/BP fuels in all my vehicles.
Unfortunately, it also pings like mad in my F150, but not in my Jeep.
I also get about 1.5% better fuel economy than average on Holiday
with no pinging. I also get above 1% better on Shell gasolines in
this market.

My worst performers have been with Sinclair, Mobil, and Kwik Trip.
Each posts numbers 2-3% worse than average.

Mixed bags are Phillips 66, Citgo, Conoco, Superamerica, and
Marathon. One vehicle loves em while another hates em. Note that even
Superamerica and Marathon, sole sourced from one refinery is in this
category.

My conclusions are that I do notice some differences in gas that are
measureable, but not all vehciles react the same.

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I can tell you with many years of record keeping over a small fleet
of vehicles, and knowledge of local gasoline sources, that my
vehicles DO have preferences.

I get 1-2% higher fuel mileage using Holiday and BP/Amoco gasolines
from the Twin Cities market. (Both of which are single source
products at different sources). I get 1 to 3% worse fuel mileage
burning Kwik Trip, Mobil, Citgo and Sinclair fuels, none of which has
a clearly identifable origin.

Some vehicles have different prefernces than others. One vehicle gets
+3% on Superamerica gas (single source product), while another gets -
2. Several brands fall into that category for me - Concoco, Phillips
66, Marathon, and Superamerica.

Also, while I get better than average fuel mileage on BP, I also get
pinging in three of the vehciles I've kept track of, so that isn't
optimum either.

Overall message: Keep good LONG TERM records and learn about who
supplies gasoline in your market (some are simple, others are not!)
and make a decision if there really is a difference or not!

[SVOboy]

<a href=http://www.vettenet.org/octane.html target=_blank>More gas stuff</a>

[GasSavers_davens]

I think sticking with Top Tier Gasoline standards is the best bet. A list of retailers that meet that criteria are seen here:

http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

or

QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada (B.C. only)

[SVOboy]

Of those I only have shell in my area, and I think the only shell in my area closed down about three years ago. Right now I'ma stick with my riggins gas (I know the girl whose dad owns the company, and I don't like her, but the station is nice and close to school) and after I am done finetuning my car I will work about finetuning types of gasoline and additives.

[Matt Timion]

I admit i havn't ready teh article yet you posted, so take that for what it is.

in May when I was in Vegas I was talking to a few people and they told me that all of the gas in Vegas comes through one pipeline. it is then distributed to mulitple companies who will slap their brand name on it and sell it as their own.

In other words, it's all the same gas.

This is much like makeup companies that sell the same product as the knock-offs, but just under a different name. The price difference is huge.

Until I hear otherwise, I'm pretty sure most gas is identical. It would make sense that the more expensive gas is better, but I have yet to read a scientific report comparing gas brands with gas mileage, etc.

[rh77]

I saw this on "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel: Let's say Exxon, for example, is pumping its refined gasoline to New York on a pipeline that's owned by a separate pipeline company. Exxon gets to pump between Noon and Midnight on Monday. Tuesday at 12:01 A.M. Shell starts pumping so, you get a mix of the 2 for a few hours. If pumping takes 3 days, Friday at midnight on the other end, you will get a mix of brands, but Exxon will store the mix anyway and sell it. Where you get into differences in brands is their additives.

All gasoline comes through the pipeline at around 87 octane. Xylene is added to increase Octane numbers. Since every state has different rules on what has to be added, the cocktail is random from that point forward, and placed into the tanker trucks to be hauled to the fueling station.

Long story short, it comes down to the quality and quantity of additives. When I had my '03 Lancer Evo, I would add Xylene to 87 octane fuel to achieve higher octane, more boost, more efficiency, etc. Xylene is basically Octane, and can be bought at Sherwin-Williams stores by the 5-gallon drum. It's 100% pure, and might be a better replacement for Acetone perhaps???

I like Sunoco (not available in my area), Shell, and QuickTrip (Midwest).

RH77

[yo vanilla]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

I admit i havn't ready teh article yet you posted, so take that for what it is.

in May when I was in Vegas I was talking to a few people and they told me that all of the gas in Vegas comes through one pipeline. it is then distributed to mulitple companies who will slap their brand name on it and sell it as their own.

In other words, it's all the same gas.

This is much like makeup companies that sell the same product as the knock-offs, but just under a different name. The price difference is huge.

Until I hear otherwise, I'm pretty sure most gas is identical. It would make sense that the more expensive gas is better, but I have yet to read a scientific report comparing gas brands with gas mileage, etc.

it isnt the gas but the additives in the gas that makes it different. thats almost like saying all the water in the world is the same since it all falls from the same sky

the top tier gas link was posted above, click it

oh and i used mobil for years, but switched to bp since all of the mobil stations around here have 10&#37; ethanol. the only toptier brand around me is shell, but as far as i can tell all of the shells here have ethanol as well

[zpiloto]

I just don't think that you can tell a 1-2% difference and blame it on the gas. if your getting 30MPG that .6 MPG there is just to much tank to tank variance to say that it's the gas. Look at gas logs here there is just to much noise to blame it on a brand unless it's a huge drop. As far as build up and additives I just run the same brand for 10k then run a different brand for 2 or 3 tanks to clean it out.

[yo vanilla]

Originally Posted by zpiloto

I just don't think that you can tell a 1-2% difference and blame it on the gas. if your getting 30MPG that .6 MPG there is just to much tank to tank variance to say that it's the gas. Look at gas logs here there is just to much noise to blame it on a brand unless it's a huge drop. As far as build up and additives I just run the same brand for 10k then run a different brand for 2 or 3 tanks to clean it out.

so if it consistantly happens you still don't think so?

[zpiloto]

No