Is there any difference between the gas purchesed from big name station (Shell, Sunoco, etc) and the small local stations? A friend told me that ala the gas in our area of Massachusetts comes in from Providence RI and is used at all gas stations.
Any difference between Sunoco, Shell and local gas
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I was enployed by Northeast Petroleum about 20 years ago. The tanker trucks got filled with the same raw gas regardless of the brand. Additives were shot in at the truck scales and each brand had there recipe of about 5 different additives to be shot in. Not much difference between the recipies and the independent stations got whatever recipie the mixing machine was last set for. I buy gas at the cheapest independent station around the corner. By the way at that time NEPCO's offices were in Saugus and they were the largest distributor of branded gas in the northeast, or so we claimed.
That's good to know. Thanks!
no real difference. I would be most concerned about the tanks at the station.
The only bad gas I have ever bought came from the lower tier stations Clark and Speedway. Both had water in them. Now I only use Shell or Marathon.
Lately I bought gas at Sam Clubs whenever possible, because it is cheaper than most, about the same price as Costco gas, and using HSBC cash back Master Card I get another 5% cash back. Whenever it is not convenience to go to Sam Clubs, I would buy gas at any lower price station around.
I did not feel any differences with any brand name gas in all my cars.
I did not feel any differences with any brand name gas in all my cars.
The water in the tanks are normal condensation, the station needs to extract the water whenever the level rises to high. I seen a Sunoco station with 22 inches of water in the underground tank.
MolaKule
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Why discuss fuel in a topical area meant for passegnger car motor oil?
Not to mention that alot could have changed in 20 years. For example mandated additives alone, none the less propritary ones.
Difference is, the add pack when the truck is loaded. I'll take Shell and Chevron over the local "zip in" any day.
Tom T's post is incorrect, according to a recent special on History Channel and fuels. The raw gas is the same, but the add packs are proprietary and the cheapo brand after a Shell fill is NOT lucky enough to get the Shell pack by default.
Tom T's post is incorrect, according to a recent special on History Channel and fuels. The raw gas is the same, but the add packs are proprietary and the cheapo brand after a Shell fill is NOT lucky enough to get the Shell pack by default.
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So true^^
The add packs are even more special now as new technology is being incorporated.
It is correct that the raw gasoline is almost all the same stuff.
I would strongly recommend "top tier" fuel only.
The add packs are even more special now as new technology is being incorporated.
It is correct that the raw gasoline is almost all the same stuff.
I would strongly recommend "top tier" fuel only.
The EPA has established standards all gas must meet.Virtually all gas uses a DuPont additive that keeps valves clean, etc. The difference between the so called top tier brands and what you get at Sam's is insignificant.
Addatives
I thought there were differences in sulfur levels.
Maybe it's just the add pack, but I ran Shell in my van 2 years ago, and it stank like rotten eggs. It still ran fine, it just smelled bad. Called Ford, they said there was a TSB about high sulfur gas, and Cats. They said to try another brand.
So I did some research and found that Shell had 500 PPM sulfur at the time. Sunocco was about 250 ppm, and Irving was 7ppm sulfur.
This info was pulled from their websites.
So I've been running Irving ever since, and no more smell.
However I have also noticed that gas doesn't smell like it use to.
It's not as strong, thats gotta be the ad pack.
What do you guys think ??
Justin
Maybe it's just the add pack, but I ran Shell in my van 2 years ago, and it stank like rotten eggs. It still ran fine, it just smelled bad. Called Ford, they said there was a TSB about high sulfur gas, and Cats. They said to try another brand.
So I did some research and found that Shell had 500 PPM sulfur at the time. Sunocco was about 250 ppm, and Irving was 7ppm sulfur.
This info was pulled from their websites.
So I've been running Irving ever since, and no more smell.
However I have also noticed that gas doesn't smell like it use to.
It's not as strong, thats gotta be the ad pack.
What do you guys think ??
Justin
I remenber reading that too about the sulfer. I thought there was a poster on here that stated bp/amoco supreme or ultimate as they call it went through an extra refining step that the middle and lower didn't and had a signifigantly lower sulfer level as well as higher octane. As to "all gas" having some mandated addatives nothing was mentioned as too how much of them. Also the required testing is only done something like once a year for compliance, basically worthless. Toptier tests much more often as does BP. For example lets say asprin gets rid of a headache at 1000mg dosage. However you are given asprin but only 20mg. Is that going to get rid of the headache, nope.
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