Twice now I've gotten 87 octane yuck fuel from Walmart. There won't ever be a third time. Wife's brand new 2019 Charger 3.6 is the car in question. It runs fine on anything else but "never again" Walmart.
dadto2 said:"The base gas is all a generic commodity. Various refineries pump it into the pipeline, the pipeline dumps it at the tank farm, trucks load at the tank farm... The branded additives are mixed as the trucks are loaded. Walmart base gas is the same as Shell, Mobil, Sunoco, Marathon, Tesoro, or whatever you have in your local market. The additives are the only difference."
Yep. I've seen it with my own eyes. Same refinery. The Chevron delivery truck pauses at a tank and takes on a few extra gallons of detergent. No-name regional just heads for the gate.
No way would I pay that kind of premium. A nickel, or maybe 7 cents per gallon tops.
dadto2 said:"The base gas is all a generic commodity. Various refineries pump it into the pipeline, the pipeline dumps it at the tank farm, trucks load at the tank farm... The branded additives are mixed as the trucks are loaded. Walmart base gas is the same as Shell, Mobil, Sunoco, Marathon, Tesoro, or whatever you have in your local market. The additives are the only difference."
Yep. I've seen it with my own eyes. Same refinery. The Chevron delivery truck pauses at a tank and takes on a few extra gallons of detergent. No-name regional just heads for the gate.
No way would I pay that kind of premium. A nickel, or maybe 7 cents per gallon tops.
The way I understand it, most of that is automated these days. All the piping to meter the "branded" additives are already installed at the racks. Also - the detergent is supposed to be added first in order to "splash blend" via the mechanical action of the fuel sloshing in the tank.
However, in certain areas there are just so many different fuel depots and different sources. In the Los Angeles area there are tons of fuel depots. It may be intermixed to the point where it's impossible to say where the fuel comes from. I keep on hearing people talking about Shell, but they don't have a single refinery any more that make California reformulated gas. Shell stations obviously get their fuel from some other source now..