ARCO gas

[Durango]

I use ARCO gas all the time and now that the price has come down allot I can afford tp pay with cash. My local ARCO sells premium at $4.19/gallon who can go wrong with a product that now claims it too cleans intake valves?

Durango

 

[getnpsi]

YDMV...you deposits may vary. As in the oil and oil additive areas the multitude of engine designs, condition of the ignition system, the filtering, the humidity year round all can exaggerate a dirtier or cleaner fuel's results in real life. I drive ~120 miles a day and put in 20 bucks cash at a time. Nothing is sitting long in my fuel tank, it's dry weather all the time, and the temperature sees under 40 degrees F maybe 2 weeks of the year. Again I'm burning 4-6 gallons every day. Someone who drives 125 miles a month may want to address their ethanol content/top teir blends if they have the choice.

 

[Errtt]

Couple things - I don' use ARCO because those around me always have a waiting line. So generally it's Chevron most of the time, then Shell, then once in awhile whatever else.
The Chevron I usually go to has gas cards - give them money and they put it on a gas card and save 5c a gallon. Add to the card whenever.
The worse gas I have used is on base. I don't know what it is but I get less performance, less mpg and it doesn't idle as smoothly, and I have had many others here say the same thing. Sometimes I get slight pinging from it.
Costco... always a line like ARCO and I understand no cash transaction.
Haven't tried the Valero, Tesoro and a few others yet, or other store stations (Safeway ect.).

 

[Ken2]

Oil company BP said Monday that it has agreed to sell its refinery in Carson, California and other West Coast assets to Tesoro Corp.

Tesoro is paying $2.5 billion cash for the refinery, pipelines, storage terminals, marine terminals and about 800 Arco-branded retail outlets in southern California, Arizona and Nevada, the British company said. BP is also selling the Arco brand rights for northern California, Oregon and Washington and will lease them back from Tesoro.http://news.yahoo.com/bp-sells-us-refinery-arco-retail-tesoro-121315587--finance.html

The move would leave most of California's gasoline production in the hands of just two companies: Tesoro and Chevron Corp.

The deal would greatly boost Tesoro's presence in the (California) region. The San Antonio company already has agreements with more than 1,200 stations nationwide that sell its gas under the Shell, USA Gasoline and Tesoro brands.http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/14/business/la-fi-tesoro-bp-20120814

Note that in other parts of the U.S. Shell markets its own gasoline and perhaps that of other refiners.

 

[Durango]

Ken2,

Well I guess that sales in the bag for Tesoro..... Now I understand why all the additional advertising about valve cleaning ability and such. I wonder if this sale will now put ARCO gas in the Top Tier catagory like shell???

Anyway what a great price cuz now in my hood for premium it is now just under $4 bucks and that makes me much happy. Now buying gas is reasonable.

Durango

 

[Dwight_Frye]

Originally Posted By: Durango
Ken2,

Well I guess that sales in the bag for Tesoro..... Now I understand why all the additional advertising about valve cleaning ability and such. I wonder if this sale will now put ARCO gas in the Top Tier catagory like shell???

Anyway what a great price cuz now in my hood for premium it is now just under $4 bucks and that makes me much happy. Now buying gas is reasonable.

Durango


I live in CA too and have to use premium. But I wouldn't call buying gas at under $4 reasonable, it's almost double what it was before Obama was elected and he's doing everything possible to keep it from ever dropping to "reasonable" levels again.

 

[InvalidUserID]

This.

Pulled into an Arco to re-fuel a shop loaner car and was surprised they didn't take credit cards.

Seeing as how I don't carry cash, don't own a debit card and get 5% cash back on fuel, I found a cheap 76 station.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: Durango
At my local ARCO gas station I too have seen the advertising signs regarding it'c cleaning agents and cleaner valves. I'm taking a wild guess that this might be due to their possible sale of ARCO to the same company that manufacturers SHELL. I can't remember that parent company but if my guess is right then ARCO could be considered just as good as SHELL gas.


The fact that they will be owned by the same company that makes Shell gasoline (Tesoro), doesn't mean much. Tesoro also sells USA Gasoline branded gas, which is [censored], if I am to believe what others have reported. The big differences between brands of gasoline is the additives, as there are only a handful of refiners, who supply the "blank" fuel stock for other oil companies to add to and then sell.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: Durango
Well I guess that sales in the bag for Tesoro..... Now I understand why all the additional advertising about valve cleaning ability and such. I wonder if this sale will now put ARCO gas in the Top Tier catagory like shell???


Nothing automatically gives a brand of fuel Top Tier status. Not only does the company have to submit testing results to the Top Tier folks (GM, basically), but, per the Top Tier website, "There is an annual fee based on the number of service stations owned by the fuel marketer." That would require a lot of money on ARCO's part, and being as their (successful) business model has been low cost/high volume sales, I doubt the new owners would shell out (no pun intended) for that designation.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
Originally Posted By: Durango
At my local ARCO gas station I too have seen the advertising signs regarding it'c cleaning agents and cleaner valves. I'm taking a wild guess that this might be due to their possible sale of ARCO to the same company that manufacturers SHELL. I can't remember that parent company but if my guess is right then ARCO could be considered just as good as SHELL gas.


The fact that they will be owned by the same company that makes Shell gasoline (Tesoro), doesn't mean much. Tesoro also sells USA Gasoline branded gas, which is [censored], if I am to believe what others have reported. The
big differences between brands of gasoline is the additives, as there are only a handful of refiners, who supply the "blank" fuel stock for other oil companies to add to and then sell.

It is my understanding that the additives are added to the tankers and the trip to deliver is what mixes it all up. I have a friend who delivers fuel tankers. He says they deliver in unmarked tankers so they can use the same tank to deliver to different stations. I've known him to be very honest so I take his word for it.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
Originally Posted By: Durango
At my local ARCO gas station I too have seen the advertising signs regarding it'c cleaning agents and cleaner valves. I'm taking a wild guess that this might be due to their possible sale of ARCO to the same company that manufacturers SHELL. I can't remember that parent company but if my guess is right then ARCO could be considered just as good as SHELL gas.


The fact that they will be owned by the same company that makes Shell gasoline (Tesoro), doesn't mean much. Tesoro also sells USA Gasoline branded gas, which is [censored], if I am to believe what others have reported. The
big differences between brands of gasoline is the additives, as there are only a handful of refiners, who supply the "blank" fuel stock for other oil companies to add to and then sell.

It is my understanding that the additives are added to the tankers and the trip to deliver is what mixes it all up. I have a friend who delivers fuel tankers. He says they deliver in unmarked tankers so they can use the same tank to deliver to different stations. I've known him to be very honest so I take his word for it.


However, that still means that the difference in the fuel is the result of adding stuff after the refinery is done with it. Some places may share fuel and allow them to be branded differently (I have heard of Costco tanks being filled by tankers marked with name brand fuels), but I doubt Chevron (Techron), Shell ("Nitrogen enriched!"), and other Top Tier fuel brands allow their fuels to be supplied to non-branded stations due to the expenses they incur to keep the Top Tier designation. I know that many manufacturers private label their products in order to sell them at lower price points and do not spend the same (or any) advertising dollars and thereby penetrate different levels of the market while taking advantage of the economies of scale and using up excess capacity, but I doubt those principles holds true for fuel additives.