What's in your tank? AAA says gasolines with more detergent save money in the long run

I have read that too that gas is gas - the Only difference is the additive package of detergents they put in. I also read that you can put in the additives your self with the fuel treatments that are available like the Techron fuel additive.

I get my gas at my local Kroger with the grocery rewards. I know a big wig at Kroger and he told me the fuel rewards gift card system is hugely profitable for Kroger. It’s the same gas (except for the additive package) so won’t ruin your engine.

 

Yep, a pain in the ass because self "splash mixing" requires 2 transactions. Example:there are only two choices, 85 and 91. Pump in 10 gallons of each and you end up with 88 midgrade.

 

I buy that Murphy gasoline down at Walmart and HEB. If the truck begins to cough and sneeze, I'll run a tank of Chevron through it or add a bottle of Techron.

 

Not in broad daylight....wait until it gets dark....

 

I can't ever remember having a need for midgrade gasoline that urgent. LOL.

 

I fill up at King Soopers (Kroger) usually once a month to save 20 or 30 cents per gallon. I have a Maverick nearby where I go most of the time locally.

 

I will generally fill up with a $0.80-$1.00 fuel credit - at 21 gallons per fill up that’s real money. I work from home so I may fill the truck up 1-2x a month.

 

I use whatever is most convenient. All the gas stations in my town are fawked whether it's broken card readers, crackheads, priced 25 cents higher, or people camping out at the pumps. The Shell station seems to be the least worst so that's what I use.

I think buying from a newer station vs. one that's dirty, old as hell, or in a ghetto part of town is probably more important than using top tier to avoid getting crappy fuel.

 

Top Tier regular for me, any brand. When I'm home, I go almost exclusively to Costco (20 to 30 cents cheaper). As many have said, there is no "bad" gas unless it sits for a long time. The difference is in the additives. Go to toptiergas.com and educate yourselves. Also, if I could get ethanol free gas where I live I would go with that.

 

Didn't read the article, but gas is so cheap in the US, especially currently, that nobody should be putting in any thought or effort to which brand of gas might net them a little more efficiency. There are better ways to make or save money.

If you plan to keep vehicles for a long time, it might be worth the effort to only run gas from top tier name brand stations. Maybe even a step further and only use high volume stations.

 

Here in S.W. Oregon the quality of fuel often has to do with the local suppliers, I have experience engine knocking from a Shell supplier that's from north of us and on the other hand Hays Oil seems to have the highest quality of fuel, even E-85 runs great and gives good fuel mileage, the only bad experience we've had with E-85 was with our 98 Windstar, the engine computer would cause the engine to go into default and drop the speed to 35 mph, on the freeway, I switched to none ethanol fuel and gained 7 mpg and that put an end to defaults as well. We ended up parking the Windstar when the transmission started giving us problems after a $2,100 rebuild, I have really come to hate Ford AO4D transmission, at least that's what I think it's called. We ended up getting a 2005 Sienna XLE Limited with 174,000 miles, runs and drives like brand new, the only main thing I've had done is a new timing belt after a friend had a belt break on his Highlander with the same type engine. Toyota's, even with high mileage are hard to beat, we're closing in on 190,000 on the van and 260,000 on our 2007 Tundra.

 

Lower octane fuel actually performs the same at higher altitudes. I’ll try and post the science to validate it if I can find it. The difference in additives is small...as in tiny. In some markets, the additive is added by the jobber as he’s pumping the fuel into the underground tank. The amount of additive is about one liter per 9,200 gallons of fuel. If someone is concerned about buying low quality fuel, they actually need to look at the retailer they’re buying it from...and pay attention to the age of the property/equipment of the retailer! New stores have fiberglass storage tanks (that don’t rust) as opposed to steel tanks that could be full of rust and crud. They will also have filters on the pumps. That’s why I buy my fuel from the local Costco and Murphy (brand new stations and low priced fuel). Ethanol free fuel is the best for equipment that will be stationary for long periods of time (boats during the off-season come to mind). We all know ethanol draws in H2O which causes rust...not what you want in your fuel system. If you’re burning through fuel quickly and not having your vehicle stationary for months at a time, I don’t believe non-ethanol is worth the premium. I also don’t believe octane ratings make one bit of difference in modern engines. I’ve run all 3 grades in my Porsche 911 Turbo with zero noticeable difference. I doubt my Tundra will notice it either...picking it up tomorrow!

 

Check out this thread too:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/petroleum-engineers.71063/

 

93 octane which I know is overkill but the truck seems to like it so why the heck not