Your situation could have been caused by any of several issues. Stale gas due to low volume V-Power sales at the station in question. Perhaps the tanker truck had just topped off the V-Power tank prior to your purchase, resulting in some H2O entrainment. As was stated above, unbranded lower octane gas being passed off as V-Power. Could it be that your fuel filter needs to be cleaned or replaced?
V-Power sucks!
- Thread starter G-MAN
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Do they ever check the octane ratings of the gas to know if they are screwwing the customer by putting the 87 in all the tanks? It would be easy enough and with all the gas stations competeing it is possible I guess.
They do here. They caught a BP distributor putting lower than 98 RON BP Ultimate in a bunch of service stations. He's no longer a BP distributor
Our gas stations here in Fl have a STATE sticker stating when the pumps were last calibrated and the octane level checked
I dont see how a gas station owner can really cheat someone. They just order the gas. The driver of the fuel truck is the one that puts the gas in the ground tanks not the owner. And how can the gas refiner sell a lower octane fuel (83) then is required by law? dont they get suspicious? There is only 2 types of gas sold here. the 87 and 91 (RON+MON/2). the 89 is mixed at the pumps from 50% 87 and 50% 91.
I do agree that certain brands of gas seem to run like ---- in certain cars. I had a 69 vette that would run like sh!t on Union 76 92 octane, but ran great on Shell 92
I tried Shell V-power in my 2001 GMC truck and didn't notice any problems
I do agree that certain brands of gas seem to run like ---- in certain cars. I had a 69 vette that would run like sh!t on Union 76 92 octane, but ran great on Shell 92
I tried Shell V-power in my 2001 GMC truck and didn't notice any problems
Some franchised gas stations schedule their own fuel deliveries, which allows them to set up rogue deliveries of unbranded gas. Station owners can pay independent tanker drivers selling unbranded gas to offload into their 93 and 89 octane underground tanks. They simply report fewer sales of 93 and 89 octane gasoline to the company they franchise with, which allows them to schedule fewer deliveries of branded gas in these grades. Other methods include using portable pumps to transfer 87 octane gas into the 93 octane tank, which is probably a more common practice that dealing with independent tanker drivers. There are a lot of ways to scam folks and when you look at how stingy some folks are why would selling gas be any different?
I run V-Power in my Solstice and it easily has more power than on any other except BP.
Shell 87 runs better in my Tahoe than the discount fuels, too. (Although I'm running E85 in it right now.) I really don't feel the power reduction in the E85, except in the fuel economy, which is terrible. The engine seems to love it, though.
Shell is the only top tier rated fuel available here. I'd love to have Chevron.
Shell 87 runs better in my Tahoe than the discount fuels, too. (Although I'm running E85 in it right now.) I really don't feel the power reduction in the E85, except in the fuel economy, which is terrible. The engine seems to love it, though.
Shell is the only top tier rated fuel available here. I'd love to have Chevron.
I question whether or not I'm getting 93 octane every time I fill up. WHat do you do though?
I seldom have good luck with V-Power. The closest station to me is a Shell with an Exxon and Citgo nearby. If I fill up in my hometown,I fill up at the next exit 5 miles away at Valero. I have pretty good luck with their gas.
I prefer BP/Amoco Ultimate,but their stations are few and far between in Arkansas.
I seldom have good luck with V-Power. The closest station to me is a Shell with an Exxon and Citgo nearby. If I fill up in my hometown,I fill up at the next exit 5 miles away at Valero. I have pretty good luck with their gas.
I prefer BP/Amoco Ultimate,but their stations are few and far between in Arkansas.
I tried Shell gas on a recent road trip, didn't notice any real difference.
We don't have many Shell stations around Buffalo, just Delta Sonic (terrible gas, always 2-3 mpg less), Noco, Sunoco, and Mobil (car gets best mpg on Mobil).
We don't have many Shell stations around Buffalo, just Delta Sonic (terrible gas, always 2-3 mpg less), Noco, Sunoco, and Mobil (car gets best mpg on Mobil).
I know up here shell 91 (highest shell has up here) is what my saab likes the best. Seems to run smoother, more power, and better mpg. I wish we had more options though for fuel and octane.
Don't you wish you had the fuel choice Aussies have? Many 98 RON HD fuels and 100 RON HD Shell V-Power Racing. My turbo runs like a scalded cat on it.
I have a relative who used to deliver gas. He says it is EXTREMELY common for privately owned (even if major-branded) stations to put regular in the mid and high grade tanks. They deliberately order more Regular than the Regular tank will hold. Theoretically, the delivery driver is supposed to return the unaccepted fuel to the loading rack, but the reality is that his workload for the evening does not allow for the extra time that would require, so "something" has to give. In his experience something gave about 3-4 times per week.
His advice was to shop at Major-brand-OWNED stores only, as they did not play games with switching. Actual ownership can be determined by watching whose trucks deliver the gas. If the truck does not carry the station's brand logo, the station and the truck are independent, and you have no assurance of what you are actually receiving.
His advice was to shop at Major-brand-OWNED stores only, as they did not play games with switching. Actual ownership can be determined by watching whose trucks deliver the gas. If the truck does not carry the station's brand logo, the station and the truck are independent, and you have no assurance of what you are actually receiving.
The other side of this, is that market supply/demand conditions at the distribution point may mean that Premium is being sold from the Regular tank.
My wife used to work in the Shell trading-processes area and describes the following scenario - Premium is not selling as well as forecasted, and this information has yet to be relayed (and realized) back through the delivery stream. Meanwhile, Premium is still coming through the system at the erroneously high predicted usage.
Something has to give, that gas has to be put somewhere. Therefore Premium becomes Regular. This happens at, or prior to, the distribution rack, where the tanker driver loads. This is most likely invisible to the driver, and definitely invisible to the service station. So the "Regular" on the truck is sometimes actually Premium, therefore confusing the customer who sometimes wonders why his car doesn't run any better on Premium.
And of course, per my previous post, the Regular illicitly going into the Premium tank is sometimes actually Premium.
My wife used to work in the Shell trading-processes area and describes the following scenario - Premium is not selling as well as forecasted, and this information has yet to be relayed (and realized) back through the delivery stream. Meanwhile, Premium is still coming through the system at the erroneously high predicted usage.
Something has to give, that gas has to be put somewhere. Therefore Premium becomes Regular. This happens at, or prior to, the distribution rack, where the tanker driver loads. This is most likely invisible to the driver, and definitely invisible to the service station. So the "Regular" on the truck is sometimes actually Premium, therefore confusing the customer who sometimes wonders why his car doesn't run any better on Premium.
And of course, per my previous post, the Regular illicitly going into the Premium tank is sometimes actually Premium.
I was under the inmpression that all gas at the refiners holding tanks was the same stuff and that the octane and the cleaners were mixed as they went into the delivery truck
My understanding is that the additives are mixed in at loading. But the 87 and 91 fuel grades are different products from the refinery. As someone said before, the 89 grade is a mixing of 87 and 91.
I read this thread just before I took a trip from Ohio to NC where Chevron is available. So I decided to do an experiment. Shell V-power on the way down and Chevron premium with techron on the way back. No difference in MPG in my Passat. No difference in butt dyno or turbo response either.
Conclusion: My local Shell station is not screwing the customer. Either that or the Chevron station in NC is ALSO screwing the customer.
Conclusion: My local Shell station is not screwing the customer. Either that or the Chevron station in NC is ALSO screwing the customer.
G Man - Sounds like plain bad luck.
And I wouldn't use that station again!
No problems here with V-Power. Run it, or BP premimum in my Matrix. No issues noticed with those stations (we use the same pretty much every time). I've gotten Murphy USA's premimum and wasn't super happy with it.
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