Has anyone ever found an OBJECTIVE fuel study?

[Spiffytexan]

Howdy!

I've long been looking for an objective 3rd party study that tests the performance, cleaning, mpg, and other aspects of the various unleaded fuels available, as well as a pure petroleum "in-house-refined" product with no additives whatsoever as a control.

The information that I've been able to find is completely anecdotal and inconclusive. How hard can it be to throw a few engines up in a shop and run them for a few hundred hours, then break them down and see how clean they look, and how much "power/mpg/emissions" are produced by each fuel?

I have had amazing results with the Techron bottled fuel additive, for example, but have no idea if there's enough of the stuff in their gas to make a difference. It seems fuel companies would have a vested interest in making INEFFICIENT gasolines so as to sell more fuel....but again, only a test could prove this. Has anyone found a good study?

 

[HerrStig]

How expensive can it be and who pays for it?

 

[WANG]

Nope. Every once in a while, you can find a subject that will have you swear that you can't find the answer to anything on the internet.

More times than not, when I was in that position, the subject at hand was fuel.

 

[Benito]

My reading and research suggests top tier has enough to keep clean and that PEA based additives have enough for single tank clean up at the prescribed intervals.

Costco have been pretty transparent and have a picture that shows their additive level goes beyond keep clean. Which is great for all their loyal customers who otherwise don't think about this at all.

So I just use top tier and very occasionally use a fuel system cleaner.

 

[RamFan]

This may lead you in the right direction. Detroit ABC 7 Investigation.

 

[bvance554]

Maybe there isn't enough difference to warrant this expensive testing that you suggest.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Spiffytexan
Howdy!

I've long been looking for an objective 3rd party study that tests the performance, cleaning, mpg, and other aspects of the various unleaded fuels available, as well as a pure petroleum "in-house-refined" product with no additives whatsoever as a control.

From a practical standpoint, testing unadditized fuel doesn't make sense since the law mandates a detergent additive. However, there are indeed tests for basic research that do what you suggest.

http://papers.sae.org/2004-01-2004/
http://www.poas.com.tr/Default_en.aspx?pg=-1000

Refiners are actually required to test unadditized gasoline as a reference for deposits. The Top Tier testing standards include testing of the deposit performance of an unadditized gasoline.

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