What if no Tier 1 in the area?

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AccordV6MN

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MN
Just moved to the middle of nowhere for job.

The avail brands are:
Mills Fleet Farm
Tesoro
Sam's Club
Don's Car Wash
Kum & Go
M & H
PetroServe USA
Love's
Little Dukes
Flying J
Cenex
Holiday
Loaf 'N Jug
Western Fuel
Stop N Go
Hornbachers
All-Stop
Petro Stopping Center

Please recommend something.

My guess is that I need to use Techron or Regane every now and then. Have been using UCL cocktail lately.
 
I wouldn't worry about it--use a station that offers good pricing, is clean and well run, and sells lots of gas, or the best combination of these things. Use Techron once in awhile for the cleaning.
 
I like the big truck stops. Usually the best price, lots of traffic so you know the gas is fresh, and nice convenience stores. I don't have one nearby, but there is one on a route I frequent and always try to incorporate a fill-up when driving it. So, if you've got a Loves or Flying J close by that would be my choice. Otherwise, out of the other options you listed, I'd pick the one with the most traffic. FF gives you a 4 cent off a gallon coupon when you purchase stuff from the store which is nice, BTW.
 
Find a busy Loves or Flying J.

Wait for Techron or Gumout to go on a good sale and throw in a bottle every 6 months or so. Call it good.
 
All gas in MN is E10, except for some stations that offer non-oxy premium fuel.

Holiday claims its fuel exceeds Top Tier standards. (At least they did a few months ago).

Frankly I wouldn't worry about it. I run whatever and very rarely ever use any fuel additives.

Fleet farm hands out 4 cents off coupons like candy when you buy things in the store and they move a lot of fuel.
 
Actually, you're in luck. Holiday is a Top Tier gasoline.

I disagree with some of the other posters on this thread. I don't think traffic thru a gas station means anything except the station is popular. Fresh 2nd tier gasoline is still 2nd tier. And I've never seen a Holiday station that doesn't have a lot of traffic.

If you're not going to use Holiday, run a bottle of Techron through it every 6 months or 5000 miles.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. Back in the days I found Holiday sold bad gas regardless which Holiday station. Car ran terrible and gas mileage always less than other gas station. Thus, I haven;t used Holiday for more than a decade now. Is their gas better now?

E15 is not for sale yet until Jan 15 as optional/complementary to E10, not mandatory.
 
I've never even heard of, let alone ever have seen a single one of those stations, save for Sam's Club (unless they were around back when I made my cross-country trips to school in Tucson during the mid seventies, and I just plum forgot).
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: cchase
This E15 is going to make for a real mess.


I don't think E 15 is going to become a significant presence ....if anything it will die off, due to professional and consumer concerns about possible damage to fuel systems.
 
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No recent issues to report with Holiday Gas. Reality is its basically the same stuff your going to find at many gas stations in the area - they source from the Flint Hills Refinery in Rosemount, which being one of the larger refineries in the US means a lot of the gas from many brands around here is the same thing.

Don't know that E15 will just die off, but it is not going to be an instant change, like E10 is. Its more like E85 - it can only be used in certain vehicles (2001 and up...) Think about how slowly E85 has expanded. In order to carry E85 (and now E15) a retailer will have to either give up another product (say midgrade) or add another tank and fueling system. Not a cheap outlay and there are tradeoffs if you stop carrying one product for another.

The Flying J here will not be Conoco/Phillips 66 - those brands withdrew from this market several years ago.
 
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
Don't know that E15 will just die off, but it is not going to be an instant change, like E10 is. Its more like E85 - it can only be used in certain vehicles (2001 and up...) Think about how slowly E85 has expanded. In order to carry E85 (and now E15) a retailer will have to either give up another product (say midgrade) or add another tank and fueling system. Not a cheap outlay and there are tradeoffs if you stop carrying one product for another.


From my research, it's only the EPA that thinks it can be used in 2001 and newer vehicles. The automakers disagree. Unfortunately engines don't run on politics.
 
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
No recent issues to report with Holiday Gas. Reality is its basically the same stuff your going to find at many gas stations in the area - they source from the Flint Hills Refinery in Rosemount, which being one of the larger refineries in the US means a lot of the gas from many brands around here is the same thing.


I thought they come from Yocum Oil which is a blender that probably owns Holiday. But, early last decade around 2000-1, I heard Holiday was charged for violating some EPA thing and to make it up, they come up with the 'Blue Planet' program which was to reduce sulfur content in gas. If that were to be the truth, then, FH must go a little further in refining the gas.
 
Holiday is a private company with ownership by the Erickson Family. They have had a long relationship with the folks over at Flint Hills (formerly the Koch Pine Bend Refinery, yes of the politcally connected Koch family).

Yocum is a distributor who owns many Holiday franchise locations. Most of these locations were previously Texaco stations prior to that brand leaving this market.

Flint Hills (not Yocum) did have a major issue with the MPCA/EPA in the late '90's. Since that time they have made many advances, including "Blue Planet" gasoline which did have significantly lower sulphur content than competitors in the market. This was a big deal given the source of most of the crude refined here - which is very heavy in sulhpur content.
 
Originally Posted By: AccordV6MN
Just moved to the middle of nowhere for job.

The avail brands are:
Mills Fleet Farm
Tesoro
Sam's Club
Don's Car Wash
Kum & Go
M & H
PetroServe USA
Love's
Little Dukes
Flying J
Cenex
Holiday
Loaf 'N Jug
Western Fuel
Stop N Go
Hornbachers
All-Stop
Petro Stopping Center

Please recommend something.

My guess is that I need to use Techron or Regane every now and then. Have been using UCL cocktail lately.




AcirdV6MN,

Based on your list Tesoro should be considered Top Tier because they actually produce/make SHELL gasolines. If your not surch then just add techron or Regain to the tank like you already stated.

Durango
 
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