I did a search for this and see that brands of gasoline have been discussed before but this particular question hasn’t come up.
This morning on the local news they did the story about not paying for a higher octane than you need and how the state checks the octane. They went on to say that the brand of gasoline you use doesn’t matter. Then, at the very end, they said that even though the brand didn’t matter you should switch brands from time to time, but didn’t give an explanation.
Does anyone know what the reason for not using the same brand all the time might be?
One is that while all gasolines of the same grade have the same hydrocarbons, they do have different cleaners and other additives. So if you change gasolines from time to time, you’re presumably giving your engine something it didn’t get from the other brand.
The other is that it’s not BRANDS, but individual gas stations. It’s entirely possible that a given gas storage tank could get water or some other impurity in it. So if you always stop at the same pump at the same station, you won’t know if the gas might not be 100% up to par.
In the area where I live all gasoline comes from the same refrinery, but it is distributed to different brand stations, what I understand is that brand specific additives are added at the station.
geez i think it is a myth that all gas are the same.
if you check for chemical signatures of these gasolines, you will find that they are different.
one brand is different than the other.
the question is not if one brand is better than the other, which is true. there are gasolines that are better than another, but the question becomes does better gasoline make your car run better?
the answer is no according to consumer reports. i don’t have a cite, but i am sure you can find it as they did do a test on it. they found that other factors play a bigger role than the additives, so determining which brand is better is pointless.
it is like determining if your pancake is sweeter if you add sugar or other sweetener when you are taste testing the pancake by soaking it in maple syrup. any sweetness you can taste is from the syrup and not the sugar or other sweeteners.
any mechanic that works with old car engines can tell you that if you use bad gas that causes your car to knock will mean your engine will get dirty and bad for the car. this is a fact. high octane gas and better additives are good for your car. don’t let myths blind you.
the question that experts ask are not whether the higher octane and better additives are better for the engine, but whether they are the main cause or worth the extra price. in that case, the answer is no. most of the time, it is cheaper to save the money and buy a new car when your engine needs fixing.
but let’s say you got a ferrari where you want it to last forever. you better buy the highest octane with the best additives!
I only use the octane rating that is recommended in my car manual. My car is considered a luxury car but recommends only regular 87 octane.
I worked for a company that had a large refinery that sold to all the local stations selling different company brands. Each customer required certain additives to be added to their blend.
Some major companies like Phillips require more additives than some smaller companies.
the octane rating is basically how fast the gas burns in the cylinders. the lower the octane the quicker the burn. the higher the octane the slower the burn. you only need high octane gas for one reason: high compression.
high compression can be from
having a high compression piston / head combo
having a turbocharger
having a supercharger
running nitrous.
knock is caused when you use too low of an octane for your car… the air/fuel charge explodes before the piston is at TDC (and before the plug fires) because of the extra heat generated by the higher compression, (this by the way is how diesels work without sparkplugs. diesel is very low octane and diesel engines are high compression, so once they are started they are only restricted by the amount of fuel they are fed) the gasoline explodes before it should and “knocks.” Most luxury cars are high compression motors… therefore they need the higher octane. ALL FORCED INDUCTION VEHICLES (excluding diesels) REQUIRE 91 OCTANE OR BETTER.
so there is no question. higher octane gas is not better for your car. everyone out there including your dad and your friend who knows everything about cars is misinformed and spreading myths when they tell you that its better to put 93 octane in your 1996 ford f-150. normal cars do not require higher octane, therefore its not needed.
so… DO NOT use anything other than 87 octane unless your car specifies that you do otherwise.
As I understand it (IIRC), gasoline is often pumped through common pipelines so all of the fuel is the same among the brands. When the fuel is distributed, the various brands put in thier own additives – so while the “raw” fuel is the same, the fuel you put in your car will be different depending on the brand.
I almost always run 87 octane in my vehicles. There’s no sense paying for a higher grade because it makes no difference to the engine. (And yes, my owner’s manual recommends 87 octane.) I used to have a '66 MGB roadster that did not run well on regular gas when it was a hot day. When my “new” '66 MGB is restored I’ll try it out on regular and see how it runs. My Yamaha also pings during the summer months, so I need to run it on mid-grade then.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but I don’t think the gasoline companies advertise their brands as much as they used to! Specifically, I remember Gulf Oil in the 60s with a lot of TV commericals, and the Esso (Exxon) Tiger! What happened?
I think they do advertise quite a bit; it’s just that their commercials are now so unimaginative as to be quickly forgotten.
“Put a tiger in your tank!” When I was a kid I got a tiger sticker about 4" around just because my parents refueled there. Acro gave away pairs of plastic animals (“Ark”-o, get it?). My parents got a lot of free glasses as well. Shell gave away commemorative Presidential Coins.
The premiums helped to remember the station, but I can’t remember any television advertising as effective as “Put a tiger in your tank”.
okay, i think it is safe to say that we all agree that the difference in gasoline among brands are additives.
i hope no one thinks otherwise.
now, if you analyze the tests done with different additives, you will find that some are better than others.
the reason that news organizations and experts said the different additives have no significant difference is that the tests done were in outdoor or real world situations. they found that depending on the weather and other factors, their results will be different. in conclusion, they found that additives play an insignificant amount.
now, look at the results from experiments done in lab settings. when you control for air quality going into engine in a lab setting, you will see that certain additives are better than others.
so all in all, if you have a car that is a collector item and not a daily commuter, then you better buy the best brand of gas.
on another note, you might be better off buying the additives and adding it to the car. you can buy techroline which is what Chevron uses and claims to be one of the most powerful additives out there that is used by gas companies.
In fact, this is generally held to be completely untrue. There is no proof that I know of that additives are actually added in general. The gas in many areas of the US comes from just one source. (ARCO has a virtual monopoly in the US northwest.) The chances that the right additives in the right amounts are added sometime after the gas is loaded on the truck must be quite remote. I seriously doubt the supplier’s company doesn’t add its additives at it’s tank farm. Do the other brands remove that company’s additives?
Forget brands (deja vu). Individual gas stations can have problems with contaminates.
something clever,
thanks for describing what knock is.
i think i confused you. or maybe not.
i didn’t mean to say that high octane means the gas is less dirty compare to lower octane. what i was trying to say is that if your engine doesn’t burn cleanly, you will get more deposits in your engine, which is what i mean by “dirty”
if you can hear engine knocks, your engine is definitely not burning efficiently, causing increased deposits.
no expert dares to say additives does not reduce deposits. they will argue that there is not enough additives in gas to decrease amount of deposits in the engine, but will agree that having additives will decrease amount of “new” deposits to engine.
they are very tricky with words.
as i said, if you have an engine that is irreplaceable, you better use high octane and best additives. it doesn’t make sense to use anything higher than what ur manual recommends for commuter cars.
Thanks for all of the information but the question is:
*…even though the brand didn’t matter you should switch[\I] brands from time to time
kunilou touched on it but, to clarify my original question, the way the news story was worded it made it sound like using the same brand all the time was a bad thing. Why would it be bad to use the same brand all the time?
each refinery can make any brands of gas.
when they blend the gasoline to each brands specification that is when the different additives are added.
and yes, there are experiments done and tests done to backup what i just said.
i am not talking out of my ass.
as i said, in real world situations, the data is inconclusive on whether additives in gas helps cars.
in labs, they do.
most famous proven experiment is Chevron’s lawsuit. that was upheld in court where expert witnesses testified.
general consenses is that if you blend the gas in your car, you won’t be affected by gas contaminates that will built up in your car. if you use one gas station only, any weird contaminates in that station’s gas tank will slowly built up in your engine and cause trouble.
plus, getting gas from same station does not guarantee same quality of gas, so blending it from others will randomly even out your chances of getting good gas vs bad gas.
there is no experiment proving what i just stated. but it is based on theory.
oh yeah your last line is correct. any gas tank contamination at the station or in your tank will play a bigger role than additives added by refineries. but may be corrected by adding your own additives, the key is “may” cuz it depends on what the contaminate is.
the reason i hijacked your thread is that you are assuming the news stations have properly analyze the test/experiment results when they did NOT.
They are asking experts for their opinions and then jumping to conclusions.
It is a fallacy that better gas is not better for your car.
No one should be saying that. Cuz that is wrong!
Experiment after experiment either could not find conclusive evidence or are able to say YES, it is good for your engine.
In lab experiments have at most times proven that additives are good for your car.
In real world experiments, objective experiments find it in conclusive. the most famous of these is the one done by consumer report.
Gas companies have proven without a doubt that additives in gas is better for the environment and the engine than without. no expert will argue with that point. what you have to realize is that gov’t rules mandate additives be added to all gas, so the question becomes does the minimum amount of additives require by law enough? Does more or more advanced additives help?
Again, in lab experiments said yes! Buying additives at your local store to add to gas tank has proven to help. Even in real world situations.
But the question is whether the small amount over the minimum that the gas brands add is significant enough in real world situations?
That is where inconclusive evidence is found in experiments that i have read.
In labs, they did find it works.
Again, i stress that if you have an engine that cannot be replaced, please do your homework and analyze the research reports!
Don’t let others report to you what the experts said, cuz it is hearsay and they don’t pay attention to the exact statements made by the experts.
For the record, I used to work at a Hess station. The additives were added after the truck delivered the fuel. They came in quart containers identical to those usually holding motor oil.
In my experience, ALL stations will occasionally buy gas from other station’s suppliers. Much of the time the Hess gas came out of the same truck that delivered to Mobil, Exxon & Haffner’s stations.
i never heard of gas being added in the station, but i guess it can happen and they do come in containers similar to oil containers. nothing that i have read say what you saw is illegal. normally, they add it right prior to adding to truck making sure uniform blend, so it can pass tests/inspections.
if you care to read the experimental reports, below are some.
Texaco to introduce clean burning gasoline.
Oil & Gas Journal, 28 February 1994.
Additives to have key role in new gasoline era.
R.J.Peyla
Oil & Gas Journal, 11 February 1991.
Intake Valve Deposits’ Impact on emissions.
Automotive Engineering, February 1993.
Intake Valve Deposits: engines, fuels and additive effects
Automotive Engineering, January 1989.
If you only care about online sources, then you should checkout gas brand websites, they will go into very good details, too.
