Why does everyone hate Arco gasoline

[chriscreags]

Originally Posted By: Durango

chriscreags,

Was that wheh Arco was run by Arco OR later on when BP took over.

Once upon a time too I thought Arco was the worst but that was when Arco produced their own gas BUT not that BP runs the operation it been a fine gas in my opinion as I never witness any hesitation in my truck/car engine. That's regular for my truck and supreme for my car.

Durago


Durango:

This happened before and after the BP take over of Arco. But like I said, she has never had any fuel system failures or breakdowns from it.

I never said that I thought Arco was the worst. Personally, I'm indifferent to them.

 

[Chris142]

My mom keeps carefull records of her MPG. Arco gives her 3mpg less than 76 gas does. She has checked the mpg with Arco gas several times so it's not a fluke.
I've heard other people say that there MPG dropped with Arco gas too.

 

[Durango]

I have heard from others too that using Arco gas has resulted in less MPG but I've never seen that from my gas guage per say.

I've also tried Union 76 fuel and it appeared only it doesn't last as long so it's only in appearances.

Regardless of the poking of Arco gas I've found it to be a decent gas even though it's just around the block form my house.
Don't ask me what my local Shell is asking for (price)!!! If I told you it will make you gag!

Durnago

 

[Tdbo]

When it was available in this area, I used it quite a bit because of the price point and it was close to my house and I personally never had any issues with it. My parents had a 1975 Pontiac Lemans that whenever my dad filled it up with Arco would eminate the most malodorous smell like rotten eggs that would gag a maggot. Never did that with any other brand of fuel.

 

[Durango]

Tdbo,

Yeah it's price that's so attractive in my book but I still wish they brought back their credit cards again. Now a days I have to save my pocket cash to get hrough the work week.

The rotten egg issue goes way back to when Arco was operated by Arco and not BP. Now that a new boss is in town the rotten egg problen has dissapeared.

Still though considering the many opinions about the quality I still like the fuel and the price for sure.

Durango

 

[Tdbo]

Durango,

I never had any real gripes with the brand. The issue that I mentioned involved a car built during the first year of catalytic converters and there were issues associated with that. Arco Unleaded (referred to as Arco Clear) tended to have quite a bit of sulfur in it. Put those two together and I still can smell that putrid smell 35 years later.
Arco left the east coast at least 25 years ago and the only time I have been in an Arco station since was during the mid 90's when I was on vacation. Rented a car and had to return it to the Vegas airport. Pulled into a ARCO station next to the airport and filled up prior to returning the car.
Like I said, never had any problems with it. I had 2 cars at that time: a Mercury and a Chevrolet (neither had cats) and both ran fine on their regular leaded. However get the Pontiac that my Dad had near it and PHEW! Some cars don't care about brands of fuel some are sensitive. I would probably burn Arco fuel if they returned to this area. Doesn't seem to be any better or worse than anything else around here.

 

[Durango]

tdbo,

Sorry I stand corrected. :

Durango

 

[Tdbo]

Durango: Nothing to stand corrected for. I can't see where there would be (or is) any difference between BP and Arco (evidently ARCO is their western subsidiary and they are trying to position it as a value brand.) Got on their website and it sounds like they have an interesting deal on their own debit card. That might help you with carrying the cash.

Tdbo

 

[Ken2]

ARCO is the only brand of gas where I can see the gas gauge drop faster on the same daily run.

For anyone using ARCO (I don't, nor presently have a local station), it would be interesting for you to calculate your fuel cost per mile with ARCO and with another brand of gas. Of course, it would take several tankfuls of gas on repeatable runs to get good numbers. I suspect that the ARCO will not yield lower cost per mile.

Back in the pre-BP days of ARCO I was told this story by a fuel surveyor. I was fueling my ship every five weeks, and we hired a surveyor to gauge the barge and ship tanks to confirm the quantity and to do lab tests to confirm the quality of the $100k per week of fuel we burned. He was also hired by local refineries when they bought or traded product between refineries when one had a shortage, was down for maintenance, etc. He told me that ARCO was always below spec, and that the other refiners adjusted the price paid to ARCO and reblended the fuel before they sold it.

 

[EricF]

I was told years ago that Arco gas was cheapest in price because they put less cleaning detergents in that regular fuel companies.
It was like the bare minimum requirement.

I goto Costco for my gas.. but I season it up with an additive every so often, usually MMO or Lucas.. whatever's lying around.

 

[Durango]

EricF,

That's what I do basically. But the bare minimun is the required Federal Government standard most likely.

Sometimes I too get me gas from Cosco so for that brand gas I always wondering who they contract through??? I heard it really Conoco-Phillips 76. Is that right??

Durango

 

[jetblacknismo]

There is no reason to hate Arco. It is not top tier because it doesnt have the good aditives like Chevron and Shell do. Someone mentioned that a community will have gas from the same source. This is not entirely true, but a lot of it will be.

Its the practices at the fuel terminals in the area that you want to look at. Arco is pretty lazy when it comes to certain things. Only one company filters its gas before it leaves their terminal, Chevron. They also have the strictest water drawing practices of anyone else. And not all terminals have the newest and most sophisticated equipment to ensure the best quality gets to the customer. There are quite a few things that contribute to the maintaining the quality of gasoline.

Chevron was the last company to start using subgrade gasoline like the rest of them do. They use sub octane because ethanol is required all year round(in my area) now instead of just summer. Ethanol raises the octane of gas slightly depending on the amount, we have 10% here. All the companies started to sell sub octane because its cheaper to make, but the ethanol gives you the octane thats required at the pump. But dont think the companies are rakng in the money because they make cheaper gas. They have to buy the ethanol, ship it, store it, comply with all sorts of regulation required with ethanol. All that cost money.


You can probably guess who i work for by now, but a lot of the times i myself buy Arco gasoline cause i know the guys there and the reputation of the local terminal. And its usually cheaper. Not always, but most of the time it is. You should buy what is cheaper, but also what your engine likes.

 

[LS2JSTS]

jetblack,


If you work for who I think you do......Then tell them we want some Chevron stations here in Michigan. Why is Kentucky the closest market for Chevron, are there protected territories between companies or something?

We want Chevron here in Michigan!!!!

 

[jetblacknismo]

Yea, the market for Chev just wasnt good for em. Exxon pretty much dominates back there, and recently they pulled out of the eastern side of the states altogether. Sold off a bunch of terminals...Chevron that is...

Think about this, for years car makers were using Chevron in their vehicles for testing and EPA standards. They were trucking it in because, as you said, there are no Chevrons back there. Must be good stuff!!

 

[severach]

I always buy Chevron when I'm in Chevron territory unless there is a competing station that sells E0.

Is there any reference material that shows car makers trucked in Chevron? All I've ever seen it on is station ad boards.

 

[jetblacknismo]

Originally Posted By: severach
I always buy Chevron when I'm in Chevron territory unless there is a competing station that sells E0.

Is there any reference material that shows car makers trucked in Chevron? All I've ever seen it on is station ad boards.


Its common knowledge here at work that they did, but its on the website as well...

http://www.chevron.com/products/techron/bigthree.aspx

http://www.chevron.com/products/techron/toptier.aspx

It deffinately not just marketing hype. Although i didnt really search that hard, I think a while back i saw it on the EPA site as well.

 

[LS2JSTS]

It's true, I've personally seen the Chevron tanker at the APTL. That was back in the late 90's, not sure if they still truck it in, but they used to for sure.

 

[paulo57509]

I used to buy ARCO gasoline all the time and had no issues. This was years ago.

I don't buy ARCO anymore since they started charging more for card users. I could use cash, but I'm too lazy to want to stand in line at the counter.....twice. Once to pre-pay and again to get my change.

The lines at the pump islands are insane too. It's about as dangerous as an aircraft carrier deck.

 

[Durango]

paulo57509,

I don't know where Tracy California is but my neighborhood in Los Angeles has the most insane Arco stations. It's small and during the business time of the day fights has almost broken out.

Arco has one of the most inexpensive prices around next to COSTCO brand. I still wish they had there old CC back even though the price will be higher. It's more convient for me and no matter what people say about it. It just simply works fine in both my car/truck.

Durango

 

[nthach]

I wouldn't use Arco either unless it's a beater. To me, while Arco does move a lot of fuel daily it's dirty and diluted with more ethanol - I'm thinking it's E20. Also, I used to hang around an Arco station with a repair shop and while I was talking to the head tech, I saw the station owner take a drift and hammer to a set of pump filters to allow gas to flow quicker but dirtier.

I would run Safeway or Costco gas with no hesitation - of course spiked with a PEA/PBA additive. From my observations, the local Costcos get their gas off KAG/Beneto or Redwood Coast Petroleum trucks - I've also seen Golden Gate Petroleum and Fuel Delivery Systems trucks - and the latter 3 do a fair bit of business with Chevron and Shell.