Quality of cheap gasoline

I think ARCO is owned by BP and I don't see BP in the top tier list.

I think Toyota, or possibly Honda, recommends Chevron. In any case, there really is a difference, and it lies in the additives added when the tanker fills the station's tanks.

aha

That list looks pretty flaky. Exxon is definitely a "top tier" supplier and BP owns Amoco, long considered to be one of the best refiners in the industry.

Most of the gas resellers like Wal Mart and Costco buy gas from the major oil companies, but since they shop for price, you might get Shell one day, Exxon the next. The differences between the major suppliers is generally in the detergents they add to the gas. Detergents keep your fuel injectors clean, but just about all the major suppliers add excellent detergents to all brands of their gas.

I agree

But what about the 10% ethanol being added ...does that change the assumption of tier 1 or 2?

I've read up more on the "Top Tier" standard. This was put together by several auto manufacturers, but several top gas supplier haven't bothered to seek the designation. BP fuel is recommended by Ford even though it has not sought the "Top Tier" designation.

weve had a problem with marine gas quality in the Cheapeake and Delaware bays. The ethanol can suck up water and this causes lots of problems in outboards of the 2 stroker kind.


My little Ford escape hybrid doesnt like ethanol either.

I travel afar seeking "conventional" gas.

I would not buy 10% ethanol gas if I could avoid it. The BTU rating for ethanol is noticably lower than that for straight gas, so you will get fewer miles per gallon (km per liter for the metrically inclined). Plus there is a lot of evidence that the cost of making and bringing ethanol to market outweighs any environmental benefit. The detergent package should be the same.

For what it's worth, all gas in my area is produced by Western Refining, formerly known as Giant. Shell, Texaco, and Brand X all come from the same truck.

lots of problems with marine gas. So many engines that are missing and breakinng down due to the aziotrope of gas ,ethanol, and water. The only way they know how to fix the gas problem is to put another soluble organic into the tank so itll "sop" up the aziotrope and burn it through.

My brother inlaw has twin 200 hp Mercs on his Grady WHite and the damn thing wont get up and plane without some really bad knocks and pocketa pocketas.

REally sad.
Ours is diesel but Ive heard that in some places they add MTBE or Ethanol into truck diesel. I use a Marina on Campobello Island which only serves it up pure.

E10 is not energy dense as gas, so in marine engines (like my BIL's), he would normally get about 2 mpg while cruising. With E10 he gets less than 1.5. This can be a real problem with a 100 gal tank and your planning a trip out to the BAltimore Canyon to fish for tuna. (That can be a 120 mile round trip)

Ethanol is American idiocy at its finest. full stop.

There is very little difference between top line gas and costco/safeway, a few gallons per tanker load of additives, which you can run yourself with fuel additives. it is much cheaper to put a can of STP fuel system cleaner (or whatever) in your tank every six months than it is to pay top dollar at the gas station.

I've always suspected this, that there is really no substantive difference between brand names whatever, that they all "come from the same truck" even when that phrase is used only metaphorically. The laws which regulate octane rating and the use of additives by petroleum companies are so stringent that there's really no room for deviation. If Ford recommends one brand and Toyota another, it has nothing whatever to do with compatibility of a given fuel brand with a given engine. Ford just happens to have some sort of agreement with BP, apparently, to endorse their product.

They all flow through the same pipelines also.

More importantly they all run through the same pipelines. The story pointed out the to gas becomes "shell" gas with the additives that are poured into the tanker truck as it is being loaded. some or all of the gas did not come from a shell refinery.

EDIT: I see that farmerman beat me..