JasonH
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Good timing. Came here to share that I hit -1 on my octane adjustment while towing for a 4th of July softball tournament. 24 gallons of Costco 93 and the rest was 87. Highest I'd seen was -.6 on 87.
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Top Tier Gas
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Good timing. Came here to share that I hit -1 on my octane adjustment while towing for a 4th of July softball tournament. 24 gallons of Costco 93 and the rest was 87. Highest I'd seen was -.6 on 87.
Going_Going_Gone
Full Access Members
In AZ there are no refineries. In the Phoenix area there is a pipeline terminal and a mega tank farm. The strangest story I was ever told was that the majors separated their product from the others by using a "liquid plug" between batches. Never knew if that was true or not. Back in the 70's-80's we used to have Giant stations. Giant had a refinery in New Mexico and trucked their product in., but they're long gone. Any more we usually buy from Sams, Costco, or our grocery store using fuel points and in a pinch QT. Two of our vehicles had/have over 100K miles on them with zero injector or filter problems.
What I will say about QT compared to the competition is that their stores (in particular their restrooms) are very well maintained which I would assume carries over to the management of their fuel systems as well. I never thought of consuming anything more than their coffee and soft drinks though. After I first retired, I worked as a test driver for JLR when JLR was owned by Ford and the women drivers insisted on making pit stops at a QT whenever possible.
What I will say about QT compared to the competition is that their stores (in particular their restrooms) are very well maintained which I would assume carries over to the management of their fuel systems as well. I never thought of consuming anything more than their coffee and soft drinks though. After I first retired, I worked as a test driver for JLR when JLR was owned by Ford and the women drivers insisted on making pit stops at a QT whenever possible.
Correct, on a stock tune you will never see a -1 on 87. On a good 93 you should see a -1, but not that often.
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Andy B
Full Access Members
In a previous life I worked developing an instrument to measure octane in gasoline. The tech involved an optical cell with windows and mirrors to make the measurement (spectroscopy).
I won't name the brand, but when we ran to low end product the optics would eventually get dirty. When we ran the high end product they would get cleaner.
The explanation was that in many cases the high end product is high end because they use a better additive/detergent package in the mix.
I have no idea if the little but of dirt would hurt performance, but I can testify that a good gas with a good additive package will clean the surfaces and a cheap gas will dirty it.
YMMV, literally.
Michael D Morris
Active Member
Chemical engineer here, I worked at a major refinery for 36 yrs. It is true that the local terminals sell gasoline/diesel to many different wholesalers and retailers. All fuels are required to meet state specifications. The fuel may come from a local refinery or from a common carrier pipeline that transports fuels all over the country.
Most of the Majors blend gasoline to exceed state specifications for their stations but sell the generic blends to everyone else. Some of the additive packages are added to the fuel at the terminal so the name brand stiff does have different additives than the generic. Typically the brand name products have higher dosages and/or better additives. These include detergents, corrosion inhibitors, stabilizers etc. The big players have substantially better quality control and consistent properties in their products. Top Tier fuels have a higher level of detergents than the state requires.
In some areas, there are "blenders" that purchase off-spec fuel, tank bottoms, and pipeline-interface which has some small amount of diesel mixed with the gasoline. They mix these together to meet state specifications and sell the product locally to off-brand retailers. Some of the bad things that can be in gasoline are high endpoint, corrosivity, gums, high or low vapor pressure, and deposit forming contaminates. States do not have many resources or budgets to sample and test very frequently so, to a great extent, keeping fuel on-spec is pretty much on the honor system. Major players have reputations to uphold and deeper pockets to protect than Joe's Excellent Gasoline Blinding Co.
My recommendation: Buy your gasoline from a major brand name station such as Shell, BP, Exxon, Mobil, ARCO, etc. These will be Top Tier fuels and less likely to cause problems with a new sophisticated engine.
Most of the Majors blend gasoline to exceed state specifications for their stations but sell the generic blends to everyone else. Some of the additive packages are added to the fuel at the terminal so the name brand stiff does have different additives than the generic. Typically the brand name products have higher dosages and/or better additives. These include detergents, corrosion inhibitors, stabilizers etc. The big players have substantially better quality control and consistent properties in their products. Top Tier fuels have a higher level of detergents than the state requires.
In some areas, there are "blenders" that purchase off-spec fuel, tank bottoms, and pipeline-interface which has some small amount of diesel mixed with the gasoline. They mix these together to meet state specifications and sell the product locally to off-brand retailers. Some of the bad things that can be in gasoline are high endpoint, corrosivity, gums, high or low vapor pressure, and deposit forming contaminates. States do not have many resources or budgets to sample and test very frequently so, to a great extent, keeping fuel on-spec is pretty much on the honor system. Major players have reputations to uphold and deeper pockets to protect than Joe's Excellent Gasoline Blinding Co.
My recommendation: Buy your gasoline from a major brand name station such as Shell, BP, Exxon, Mobil, ARCO, etc. These will be Top Tier fuels and less likely to cause problems with a new sophisticated engine.
Most stations are top tier. If the pump says detergent additives, generally top tier. Extensive list. https://toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/
Valero is in the top 20 of Fortune 500 companies in the US. They are the 2nd largest refinery in the country just behind Marathon. I use them 80% of the time for all my cars included the 3.5 twin turbo Expi. If not them I use BP.
Flexpedition
Full Access Members
On the East Coast gasoline is pumped from the Houston refinery up(north). I think it's called the patriot pipeline. All gas in my area(western NY) comes through that pipe. Do you really think there is a difference in gas, when they all use the same source.
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