My new truck seems to be really picky about what kind of gas I put in it. I have filled up at a Moto-Mart and a Mobil gas station, I noticed it idling really low when I pull up to a stop light or go to back it in to a spot.

I filled up at a Shell station today next to the interstate and the truck runs totally different.

I am wondering if the quality of gas varies from gas station to gas station and if it does, Where do you buy it from?

Look for the Top Tier rating. I forget the web address, you can Google it. It is surprising what brands make the grade and what ones don't.

aside from the occasional bad tank of gas that you can get from ANY station, I've never had any issues with where I buy gas from.

I've heard people make claims like "I only buy BP because I had leaking fuel injectors and my mechanic told me BP gas is the only gas that won't eat the seals up" or "the salesman at the dealership told me that I could only run Shell premium through my cadillac engine, or it would break down on me, so that's the only place I go!"

those folks always sound like total idiots to me when I hear them make claims like that. but then again, these are the same people who pay $75 for an oil change because the dealership is the only place that has techs trained on how to work on their particular car

if I'm in my daily driver I drive until my tank is empty, then I stop at the first gas station that comes along, unless it's price is higher and I know of a station that has it for less and I can make it there. out on the freeway/road trips, I get off at the exit, and I go to whoever has the cheapest gas, unless I'm needing more "service" during my stop, then I'll pick the station that has the best looking convenience store attached so I can use the facilities, get some snacks/drinks, etc. walk around and stretch my legs, etc.

if I'm in my big block dakota, I stop at whatever station comes along and fill it up with premium.

been doing that for the 15 years that I've been driving, and so far, I've not had a car leave me stranded on the side of the road due to bad gas.

heck, it probably all comes from the same regional distribution center anyway!

We don't have gas here in Ca.
So I use this 91oct premium stuff @ Union76

While the base of the gasoline we buy may start from the same place, there are some very real differences in the packages that the different companies add. All gasolines are not the same. Many vehicles seemingly run the same no matter the brand of gas they ingest. But that is not true for all vehicles. This is not to advocate for any particular brand of gas, this is to simply say that there is a difference in brands and that there is a standard that can be referred to. Look up the Top Tiered info and see if you still believe that all gas from all gas companies is the same.

Oh wow!

I had no idea that even existed.
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

Quote:

---

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:

QuikTrip
Chevron
Texaco
MFA Oil Co.
Conoco
Phillips 66
76
Entec Stations
Shell
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Co.
Turkey Hill Minit Markets
Mileage Stations
Chevron Canada
Shell Canada
Petro-Canada
Sunoco Canada

---

I know I put Fred meyer gas in my explorer one time and it would barely start. Put some shell in it, problem fixed. The girlfriends ranger and our neon runs on anything.

top tier detergent gasolines according to that website, but it lists nothing other than "companies must meet stringent standards to be ranked in the top tier detergent gasolines"

so aside from having detergents in the gas to keep fuel injectors clean, what makes it better?

aside from the one bad batch every now and then i do see a difference in milage in my Nitro. I get the best milage using Mutual. I get the worst using Mobil. Same driving no matter which i use as there are 8 or 9 different brands right around my house. Seems to run fine on any of them but i do get more miles from a tank burning Mutual. I use the regular 87 octane.

I try to buy non AAAARAb gazoleeen. Phillips66 from the Hindi country market. FlyingJ deeeezel from Conoco. Give my $$$ to the Mormon oil company.


I seldom buy Shell, too expensive and it is Arab. No Sunoco here. I do buy gasoline from Pilot, don't know where they get theirs. I won't buy their diesel as every trucker I know says their mileage drops burning it, plus I have yo fuel with the big rigs. No card reader on the pump.

no top tier stuff sold in upstate ny.

All gas is not created equal. Like has been said, some cars are picky, some aren't.

Flying J was in a stink a couple years ago about HEATING their diesel fuel. It was noted to be about 40 degrees higher than others. The handles would even be hot when you pumped it. A truckers association was doing the investigating after getting complaints from truckers about the hot fuel.

I fill my Satellite up at Citgo currently for two reasons. Firstly, there is a Citgo station with very old pumps and anyone with a '66 or '67 B body knows you have to pump REALLY slow. The old pump goes slow naturally so I can almost pull it all the way which is much easier than holding it 1/4 way at other stations, have it still keep clicking off or overflowing onto my 1/4 panel. The other reason is its one of the cheapest stations in town. I notice I get much worse mileage on shell(all the additives). I dont know how my 440 will fare with Citgo.

I do know that when I had my GTX I would only run Sunoco in it (they had 94 available also). One really cold day I tried to start it and it wouldnt start. Battery died after about 20 cranks or so. My old man insisted for a day or so that I start it to recharge the battery instead of it sitting dead in 10 degree weather. (he was right). The gas he had in his can though was some crap from a "fast freddies" that is fine in our DD. I woke up the next night (napping on the couch) to the roar of my 440, albeit running really really crappy. It would NOT run right. I drained the gas, filled it with Sunoco, still NOT running right. It would backfire and bog everytime you hit the gas and kept missing at idle. I cleaned the plugs, no luck. I changed the points, condensor, and coil and cleaned the plugs again. No luck. Fresh plugs and it ran good again. Not sure why, but the gas seemed to have screwed my plugs up. Doesnt make sense, maybe it was just time for a full tune up, but the plugs were only about 2 months old.

ARCO for me here in WA and down in CA. Its cheaper; considerably cheaper. ARCO is now part of Britis Petroleum BP. Used to just ARCO, before that ir was Atlantic Richfield, before that Richfield Oil Co. Major oil company with their own stations. Doubt they could provide substandard product for long.

Additive...how much is enough? Enough. Believe the Top Tier gimmick is mostly a marketing deal. This from a pdf at the GM website:

"Why was TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline developed?
TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline was developed to increase the level of detergent additive
in gasoline. The EPA requires that all gasoline sold in the U.S. contain a detergent
additive. However, the requirement is minimal and in many cases, is not sufficient to
keep engines clean. In order to meet TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline standards, a higher
level of detergent is needed than what is required by the EPA. Also, TOP TIER was
developed to give fuel marketers the opportunity to differentiate their product."

Read the last sentence carefully; why do they need to differentiate their product? So they can charge you more for it. Fuel is a commodity like laundry detergent. Sure you can get some stuff at "Dollar Store" that isn't very high quality, but the major brands are all Ok.

As far "the requirement is minimal" well, so what.
If the minimum wasn't good enough it wouldn't be the minimum, and the car companies and consumers would be squawking.

"a higher level of detergent is needed than what is required by the EPA." Yeah, and that's to meet THEIR standard not necessarily what is required to run your car just fine. Where are all of these cars that have sticky valves and preignition due to not using the hyped product of some oil companies. Lot of guys here work in the business; do they see engines with service life reduced because of not running Chevron, Shell, 76, Conoco, etc. etc. Bought a new Toyota last year. I don't recall seeing in the owners manual any recommendations to use only "top tier" fuel.

As was stated, it goes to what your machine will tolerate. I've owned some Honda products that I swear would run on 3.2 Beer! My higher mileage Dakota, I can tell within 50-100 miles from filling an empty tank what gas is in there. Arco is NEVER, causes a noticable surge! Shell is slightly better The 3.9 prefers Chevron... Just how this vehicle runs and what it prefers...for 5-7 cents/gal (a BUCK to a $1.50 on a fill) I don't sweat it

In North Carolina the State Agriculture Department runs the lab that tests gasoline for Octane, and they routinely test BTU per gallon and specific gravity too. When I visited there years ago they said they would do one test per year for a concerned citizen.

I bet other states have similar procedures at their labs.

Perhaps Moparts members could put together a campaign to test their local gasolines

One disturbing thing I learned at the NC lab was that they then had a plus or minus 2 AKI 'tolerance', which means that a pump labelled with 87 AKI gasoline could test 85 AKI over and over, and the gas station owners and oil jobber could get away without even a warning.

i normally buy from the regional gas stations - no difference in any vehicle i've ever had.

on a side note, at least GM put out that PSA, i guess you could call it, instead of being like ford and putting BP gas caps on their vehicles (mine's an '05, so i just missed it) - that really bugs me

ever fill it with Starvin' Marvin's schwill ?