no top tier gas stations near me. what to use?

[ffracer]

I would go with BP and Sunoco. Sunoco has above average additives and BP is basically top tier, but not certified. The other two are minimum additives to meet EPA minimum.

Around here we have Mobil and Sunoco as the only two with beyond EPA min additives.

I used to work for a company that had a fleet of Chevrolet Astros that used Citgo only, and they carboned up a ton. Ridiculous. They would have to run decarbonizer regularly.

 

[CaspianM]

A few years back I read BP did not pass BMW intake valve carbon deposite test. I am not sure if still true.

 

[crw]

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Don't use Citgo. I'll never use their products. Hugo Chavez needs to go away.

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Yup, haven't used any Citgo products for years and never will.

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Funny, I used to think this too, but the same tanker that fills the Exxon gas station tanks drives across the street and fills the Citgo tanks too. The real problem here is that US companies found all of Chavez's oil and our environmental extremists put these areas off-limits to US production, and Chavez said thanks. Now, who's the stupid ones here??

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I think this happens a lot. While it's true that Citgo is tied to PDVSA and Venezuelan oil, it's not necessarily true that you can trace the gas you might choose to buy at a Citgo station directly to Chavez. Every neighborhood might have a different arrangement, as long as the gas wholesaler meets the standards the big name company requires...

 

[Russell]

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Top tier required ethanol. Maybe you will get better gas mileage with the other companies, as long as they have enough detergents. Isn't BP a good brand?

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are you sure? I thought chevron did not have ethanol.

 

[DOHCtor]

Personally, i've tried..

-Shell V-Power... Sucked overall...
-Petro-Canada Super-Clean... Sucked too...
-Sonnic Ethanol blend... good power, Mileage Sucked alot...
-Esso Premium... Better Milleage but injectors clogged... GrrrRRrr... Sucked...
-Ultramar Premium... Milleage sucked but it's 3cents cheaper then others on Thursday...
-Irving Premium... Performance equivalent then everything else but noticeably more MPG... It's the only one i use by now...

Note than i'm in Quebec so it's not the same gaz stations than in the US... But Esso is Exxon if i remember right...

 

[ffracer]

Canadian Sunoco and US Sunoco haven't been the same company for quite awhile. The Canadian arm was spun off a few years ago and licenses the Sunoco name in Canada. The formulations are not the same, nor is there much between two companies anymore.

 

[kkreit01]

My cars run fine on Costco gas -- even though the gas cap reads, "Ford recommends BP fuel". Most of the BPs in our location closed. We do still have QT and Shell -- wich are Top Tier.

 

[obbop]

Is it possible that the condition of the below ground tanks at the gas station is more important than the brand name displayed upon the pumps that may have nothing to do with the gasoline's source?

 

[SFCP]

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Don't use Citgo. I'll never use their products. Hugo Chavez needs to go away.

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Yup, haven't used any Citgo products for years and never will.

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Hugo Chavez could care less if you don't use Citgo branded gas. Because when you buy gas from almost every other vendor, guess where they buy it from? Yep, that's right, South American.

 

[ffracer]

You cannot generalize:

1-Yes, tank condition matters more than anything else. Bad gas is bad gas.
2-Additives matter - A LOT. Not using high detergent gas results in carbon. Not an issue for you if you don't keep a car a long time. Overtime, the valves, intakes, EGR, chamber get crudded up. Trust me, I've seen fleet vehicles and the EPA minimum is not enough.

You need both. It is not a $ issue as often the cheap brand is not any different than the one with additives.

If you want to use cheap gas and put a bottle of Techron in regularly fine, but, removing carbon is harder than preventing it.

 

[Oldwolf]

This should be the right thread for this question.

I have noticed that my 152,000 mile Chevy 2.4L pings under hard acceleration. Since I don’t accelerate hard very often, this isn’t an emergency situation.

If I put premium in it, the ping quits.

So I am assuming that it might be due to carbon buildup since my check engine light is not on.

What is the best way to decarbonize the combustion chambers?

I was considering putting a can of Chevron's ProGuard in the tank for the next 2 or 3 tanks but thought I’d ask here first.

A tank of premium costs $3.00 more per tank fill, and a can of ProGuard is about $10 I think.

So if premium fuel (top tier of course) has cleaning properties, 3 cans of PG ($30) could instead be used to upgrade to 12 sequential tanks of top tier premium fuel.

Which is the best way to go?

Around here, I can find Shell pretty easily, so that would be the premium fuel I’d use.

 

[unDummy]

Proguard is nothing special. Use techron concentrate and make sure fuel filter isn't too old.

State of tune can cause pinging issue. If plugs, filters, thermostat....are all OK, then a few bottles of FI cleaner are worth it.

I myself recommend a bottle of FI cleaner prior to every oil change. If you have extended OCI's, consider a bottle every 3-4 months.
For you per tank dosers, you can't go wrong with the per tank dosing of MMO, UCL, FP60, Redline....... especially if top tier fuel is not available locally.

I also don't have any brand loyalty. Basically I run through the major brands, Regane, Seafoam, 3m, BG44k, Techron, Redline, Amsoil,........

And, toptier or not, I would never consider not running anything. You can't keep an engine clean on just gasoline.

 

[Steve S]

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Don't use Citgo. I'll never use their products. Hugo Chavez needs to go away.

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Yup, haven't used any Citgo products for years and never will.

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The Arab gas is better?

 

[porcupine73]

No top tier stations anywhere near me either. I add an amount of cleaner and UCL every time I add gasoline to the tank. Been using Valero for about a year now, seems to be OK. For ethanol, many areas require 10% ethanol in the gasoline and have outlawed use of MTBE.

 

[rondoggnuts]

Plenty of top tier gas here, but I refuse to pay for overpriced gas. Instead, I use cheap gas and add FP+ to every tank. Top tier is roughly $0.20 to $0.30 more per gallon than cheap gas and that works out to $3.00 to $4.50 per tank for me. FP+ is less than $0.70 per tank when purchased by the gallon.

 

[cowpie1]

Side note to all this from one who has tanked a LOT of fuel...

All gasoline, regardless of brand, has the SAME terminal source! It is all the same. Refined at industry standards for grade. The ONLY difference is the additives (including ethanol) specified at the time the load is put on the tanker. The driver specifies the grade and who it is going to and the computer adds the options specified by that retailer. (fun to watch this!)

Buy the cheapest gas in your area and add any additional additives if you want them yourself. You will probably come out ahead.

 

[Audi Junkie]

FuelTankerMan has stated the exact same procedure, but said it was a special key inserted for the various brand of additives....plus generics.

 

[Buffman]

I thought awhile ago someone commented on the use of ethanol in the top tier fuels and said that the use of ehtanol only conforms to the standards the base fuel has to meet with ethanol added to it? I'm pretty sure in the state of MI pumps have to be labeled if the gas contains ethanol. No shell pumps anywhere in the state of MI that I've visited have signs indicating ethanol. The only place I've seen blended gas (besides e85 at Meijer) is in Niles, MI and it was clearly labeled on the pump; contains 10% ethanol.

 

[ffxfina3]

Originally Posted By: Buffman
I thought awhile ago someone commented on the use of ethanol in the top tier fuels and said that the use of ehtanol only conforms to the standards the base fuel has to meet with ethanol added to it?


You are correct. Ethanol is not required in Top Tier certified gas. And like Michigan, here in Iowa, every grade with ethanol must be labeled as such at the pump. And at 99% of the pumps in Iowa, only the midgrade has ethanol regardless of whether the station is BP, Shell, Phillips 66, or whatever.

Cheers,
Bryan

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Bryan K. Walton
Originally Posted By: Buffman
I thought awhile ago someone commented on the use of ethanol in the top tier fuels and said that the use of ehtanol only conforms to the standards the base fuel has to meet with ethanol added to it?


You are correct. Ethanol is not required in Top Tier certified gas. And like Michigan, here in Iowa, every grade with ethanol must be labeled as such at the pump. And at 99% of the pumps in Iowa, only the midgrade has ethanol regardless of whether the station is BP, Shell, Phillips 66, or whatever.

Cheers,
Bryan


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It's so. Here are one of the requirements to be called a top tier fuel:

1.3.1.2 Base Fuel. The base fuel shall conform to ASTM D 4814 and shall contain commercial fuel grade ethanol conforming to ASTM D 4806.