Call me crazy but I think I got more mileage and the engine sounded quieterand smoother. Is this possible?

 

In my area, Southern Illinois, I have been told that the gasoline is loaded from barges on the Mississippi. Trucks of different brands line up and unload from the same barges. Company additives are dumped into the trucks after loading. So the stock of 87 octane would be the same for all the trucks that loaded from a particular barge. Yet I have heard people swear that one brand is superior to another.

 

Not likely.

Almost all gasoline comes from the same refineries. The only difference is in the additive packages. All gasoline comes with some kind of detergent now, even 87 octane.

Unless you were getting contaminated gasoline before (which is possible) you shouldn't be noticing a difference, but do whatever works for you. I'd just advise that you don't spend extra money on high octane fuel because it's a scientific fact that higher octane does nothing for an engine not designed to take advantage of it. If you go to the oil company websites even THEY admit this.

 

There is a big difference between "Branded" (Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Amoco Etc.) and "Non-Branded" (Hess, Sheetz, Getty Etc.) Branded fuel must meet certin federal guide lines for things like, age of fuel , octane, Microns of contanimates etc. if a fuel can not meet these guide lines, than it must be sold as a Non-Branded product. The biggest reason oil companies sell there fuel off to non-branded companies is age.

 

I always use Shell and have never had a problem. Plus, I like the 5 % discount with their Master Card.

 

It depends on the tanker truck that delivers the gas.
Cool looking truck = good gas.

 

I'm a BP *****.

 

Shell gas made my girlfriends Tiburon, throw a CEL. The weirdest thing ive seen.

 

There was a batch of Shell gas that had a high amount of sulfer or something... I think my dad's gas tank had to be replaced because of it.

 

I've never heard that before. I do know that all of it comes from the same refineries with very few exceptions. I also know that the dept of agriculture and dept of weights and measures is responsible for regulating gasoline quality in each state.

I've never noticed any perceptable difference in how any car I've owned runs on one brand of gas or another. I suppose if you try hard enough you can convince yourself of anything. Otherwise that 10% of people in drug studies who are getting placebos wouldn't swear they are getting relief from their symptoms. A lot of people will swear to you that putting 104+ octane boost in their '94 Civic makes their car faster too.

 

Actually, he's right. A lot of the off brand fuel is from the bigger branded companies. It's the fuel that can't use for one reason or another. . .

 

shell all the way!

lol i dunno if it gives u better mileage
unless u put the highest octane with the extra additives

 

Me = el cheapo. I see gas as gas. It all came from the same place right? If my car runs with it, its good for me. Worest gas milage I have seen sense I got my xB has been this last tank at 31.82mpg. I look at that as the fact with all thise cold weather & needing to let the car warm up more in the morning, Im doing more idleing then driving. So I burn more gas setting around

 

 

Shell is what I go with too, ampm gas seems cheap and cheesy to me. That's just my personal preference.

 

The 5 % discount helps alot too.

 

I used to do only mobile all the time cause RED WHITE & BLUE place are cleaner and represent the US of A

 

I think the myth that the brand of gasoline you use is going to make some kind of perceptable difference may be one of my favorite riceboy theories, right after the idea that an Optima battery and new spark plug wires make your car faster.

 

i'll tell ya what. with 10.5 compression even tho we don't need high octane we probably could benefit from it.

i've only used one tank of premium. off brand as hell premium too . and it did seem to get better performance. not by much. not worth it to pay more than 87 at a better gas place but . it was the same price as 87 at arco so i said shoot. i'll try some 91. lol

 

Supposedly you need to cycle through a complete fill up to start noticing the MPG differences (which equates to HP differences). So that would mean you would need two tanks to notice the difference.

I noticed about a 4MPG increase with off brand premium, and about the same difference using a top tier regular unleaded (76/Chevron/Shell). Normally, I'd just stick with regular unleaded Arco, but for some reasons it's only 3 cents more for 76 where I live, and it's closer to my house. I completely understand the school of thought that we should only feed the engines what the manuals ask for. . . then again, all the HP ratings went down due to the new SAE measurements. . . which reduced the octane rating of the fuel used when making measurements, if I recall correctly? And the high compression (like you said) only confirms that. . .

Arco has just been angering me with their ATM/check card fee increases. . .