This Will Be Interesting...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
1,137
Location
Florida
A TV news station in Michigan decided to see if there are any differences in the gasoling additives used by eight major brands.

The results will be reported Monday night, and should be posted on their website Tuesday:

Just what is in the gasoline you buy? We're getting proof at the pump!

Quote:
Working with our partners at the Scripps Howard News Service, we collected one-gallon samples of regular unleaded and premium fuel from eight national brands across three states.

We took our samples to Paragon Laboratories, an independent, certified testing facility in Livonia to find out if all brands are created equal when it comes to detergent.
 
Yes it will be interesting to know what the differences are, if any. If there are differences in detergent levels, the next question is "does it matter after a certain level is reached?" Is more always better? How much does the detergent additive cost per gallon?
 
Originally Posted By: LTVibe
A TV news station in Michigan decided to see if there are any differences in the gasoling additives used by eight major brands.

The results will be reported Monday night, and should be posted on their website Tuesday:

Just what is in the gasoline you buy? We're getting proof at the pump!


Well, dang! The article was "Posted: 05/20/2011" and said the results would be tomorrow, but after looking up Paragon Laboratories online I found this link with the test results:

There's more than fuel that you're pumping into your tank

Quote:
In our test of regular unleaded gas, Exxon had the highest level of additives, with 20 milligrams of residue per 100 milliliters. BP and Shell followed close behind, while Marathon, Citgo, Pilot and Speedway samples each had less than half the amount of detergent found in the top three brands.

Here's another test done last month, but apparently this test was done on Detroit area gas only:

How much detergent additive does your gasoline have?
 
I fill up my wifes vehicle with stop n shop gas and my work van with hess or gulf usually. I'm guessing they probably just meet epa minimum. though I do add a bottle of some type of 3k mile cleaner at every oil change. I am surprised by the articles claim that mobils premium is on the minimum side along with Speedway, Citgo, Marathon and Pilot. Considering they are exxon/mobil.
 
that test wouldn't do to well in the Bay Area.. there's 3 gas plants, chevron, shell and tosco, and primarily.. tosco makes the gas for everyone, they put the specific additives per manufacturer.. otherwise.. the gas is the same.

You can even goto a non-brand gas store and get chevron with techron! Just depends on where the owner's buying from and which tank it's coming out of.

I usually buy costco gas because I have to shop by price. However I dope the gas with Redline SI-1 every so often.
 
Originally Posted By: EricF


You can even goto a non-brand gas store and get chevron with techron!


Wrong...
 
They ended up with the same numbers as those other links: Detergent in gas helps the engine run cleaner and smoother; so just how much is in there?

Does anyone agree with what that guy says towards the end of the video?

"The most important thing for consumers to do is to use the same or consistent brand of gasoline when they fuel their cars up. One of the worst things you can do is to go from brand to brand to brand getting the cheapest stuff you can find. That will accelerate the buildup of deposits because you're dealing with a vast difference in the types of detergents."

The way he worded that makes it sound like he actually believes that one brands detergent could clash with anothers.
 
Originally Posted By: Digital2k2
The way he worded that makes it sound like he actually believes that one brands detergent could clash with anothers.

If that were true every major oil company would say so on their websites. What they usually do warn against is the possibility of other brands not having enough additives, but they never mention anything about additive 'clash' or incompatability with competing brands.
 
He just chose a weird way of saying that most non top tier stations will have less detergents resulting in more carbon buildup.

Thanks for posting about this. It's nice to get an idea of what each major brand is putting in there.

I was thinking shell had about the most in all grades, but their 87 octane is even beat by bp.
Maybe they'll do a test on all three eventually. I'd like to see what 89 octane has in it since it's a blend of premium and regular.
 
I wonder why Mobil was not included in the regular unleaded results? They were listed in the premuim unleaded tests.
 
Link is no longer working? I wanted to see the results
frown.gif
 
I have a Marathon right next to my house... Great prices, and after tracking my fuel econ, I'd say this Gas is as good as anything else I've put in it. I bet there's a regional thing going on.

Smiling Richard Petty and his stupid STP adds at Marathon are a joke.

There's so much to be said for the station operator, as opposed to the brand. There's a few stations in our area that you just DON'T fuel at since they don't maintain their tanks and get water in them.

One of my clients is a Lawnmower repair guy. When he gets a call from someone who recently had their mower tuned up, and it now won't start... he asks WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR FUEL? Most of the time, it's one of 3 stations in the neighboring city.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom