Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

[PiratePast40]

I've been buying gas at Chevron and they advertise Techron as a fuel system cleaner. Is this just hype? Is generic brand the same thing? Are there really special blends and do they perform better or does it all come from the same refinery with just a different brand name on it? I've seen both Marathon and BP tankers pull out of the same terminal near Toledo Ohio so it makes me wonder if they're all really just the same.

 

[JRJ]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Hype or not, I've been running EFI's on Chevron since 1985 without a problem. My EFI Suzuki OB sat for over a year with Chevron gas in it. I turned the key and it fired right up. I don't use other brand additives, so I don't know how they compare. Good luck.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Interesting .......... Techron is the best additive I have found that produced results. That is actually the only one I reach for (not counting Sea Foam)

 

[LMM1967]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Additives are added and octane is set at the refinery when the truck is loaded. My Harley loves Amsoil Quickshot if I get gas with too much ethanol in it. Opinions and real world experiences differ greatly from person to person and motor to motor.

 

[royal0014]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=513988&p=3463626#post3463626


This is the second 'Gas' thread today. Why not combine the two and save some bandwidth?


<<)))(((>>

 

[mscher]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

I've been buying gas at Chevron and they advertise Techron as a fuel system cleaner. Is this just hype? Is generic brand the same thing? Are there really special blends and do they perform better or does it all come from the same refinery with just a different brand name on it? I've seen both Marathon and BP tankers pull out of the same terminal near Toledo Ohio so it makes me wonder if they're all really just the same.

Nearly every oil company, buys and sells products, from each other. A penny a gallon is a penny a gallon.

All automotive gasoline is required to have detergents, by law. If a particular company advertises a special type of additive, that additive is stored in a tank, at the bulk terminal facility and injected in with the gasoline, when the tanker is being loaded.

Some companies use toluene, which is both a octane booster and fuel system cleaner.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

I can't speak for the rest of the country but in Tampa is all the same base. It all comes out of the same tanks. Texaco used to have the facility now it is run by some other company. There are different additives per what label is on the truck. You know what it cost to a gallon of premium versus regular, I was told at one time it was about $.50 per hundred gallons. I have a relative that worked in the Tampa facility for 20 years.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

To me it's more marketing hype than anything. The Ashland refinery produces most of the gasoline in my area, with most of the rest coming in from Canada. Additves are put in post refining, and to me are probably more similar than they are different. I use gas from several retailers, I don't seem to notice one over the other. It's all 87 octane with 10% corn whiskey.

 

[mscher]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

FWIW, ethanol is a solvent, so it should do some enging cleaning on it's own. I don't know if that negates it's negative attributes, in an engine, or not.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

FWIW, ethanol is a solvent, so it should do some enging cleaning on it's own.

That is exactly why I get a kick of the Stabil marine formula. The marine formula is exactly the same as the red except that it has twice as much fuel cleaner in it. Why the heck do you need more fuel cleaner when you have ethanol in the tank?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

FWIIW Costcos in our area just began adding additives to its gas. They have an above ground holding tank for it. They add it manually as their tanks are being refilled. I've been told it is the equivalant of Techron.

 

[DJ]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

I've seen Chevron "Techron II" additiive solve some fuel guage issues that nothing else cured. Those issues caused by ethanol.

Why it resolved them-don't know. Just know it did-on several occasions.

I guess they get the rewards from either side.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Another thing to consider is the blend on the gasoline. Most states, and some cities, mandate specific blends for summer use and winter use. I think there are over 100 unique blends in CA. All it really does is drive up the cost.

V

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

I've been buying gas at Chevron and they advertise Techron as a fuel system cleaner. Is this just hype? Is generic brand the same thing?

A few years ago I was getting gas at an ARCO station and started talking to the fuel truck driver who was dropping fuel there.

I asked him where the Chevron stations in the area got their fuel and he told me the same place he got it: (He was driving the ARCO truck) the Arco refinery!

He said all the trucks around here, loaded there.

When I drove truck in the 70's and 80's I used to haul crude oil from the Mohawk Refinery in Bakersfield, Ca. to the Conoco Marine terminal in Long Beach Ca......... (Mohawk became the Getty, then Texaco, then Chevron-Texaco, then Shell.....I don't know what it is now)

I would watch the trucks loading gasoline on the other side of the yard at the gas loading racks (while I loaded crude oil).

EVERY name you could think of including all the NO-NAME trucks were lined up all the way up the street waiting to load there (incl Chevron)


If it makes you feel better when you put Chevron "Techron" in your tank instead of Arco, Shell "Platformate" , Conoco Phillips, or Mohawk, then by all means buy the stuff that makes you feel good!

I will just stick with whatever is the cheapest! (Like I have for 40 years!)

 

[bigdee]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Yup gas is just a commodity sold on the open market and delivered via pipeline to tank farms. There may be a shipment of kerosene in the same pipeline before and #3 fuel oil after. These shipments are referred to as slugs and there is some mixing of "slugs" at the transition point between shipments. These slugs close to the transition points used to be bided off at a lower price to independents but I don't think that is the case any more.....now everyone shares in some cross-contamination because the volume of good stuff offsets it. The proprietary additives are usually added later at delivery point and are mostly an advertising gimmick. What is in the pipeline has already been blended with seasonal additives.

 

[mscher]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Yup gas is just a commodity sold on the open market and delivered via pipeline to tank farms. There may be a shipment of kerosene in the same pipeline before and #3 fuel oil after. These shipments are referred to as slugs and there is some mixing of "slugs" at the transition point between shipments. These slugs close to the transition points used to be bided off at a lower price to independents but I don't think that is the case any more.....now everyone shares in some cross-contamination because the volume of good stuff offsets it. The proprietary additives are usually added later at delivery point and are mostly an advertising gimmick. What is in the pipeline has already been blended with seasonal additives.

Not entirely correct.

Most oil Companies transport by pipeline and store their "own" products. They may sell some of it, to a competitor at a later time.

The EPA watches fuel blends like a hawk and fines for violations are huge.

The EPA has outlawed diluting mixed fuel, with any good product. Pipleline "interface", where one product is mixed with another, is drawn off, transported elsewhere and re-refined, back into pure products.

Most additives, like Techron, are added at the bulk terminal where, the tanker truck is being loaded. Most seasonal blends are done at the bullk terminal too. Otherwise, large tanks of a particular blend, may have to be drained and product sold at a lower recovery cost, because it is unlawful to sell it on the open market..

 

[bigdee]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Not entirely correct.

Most oil Companies transport by pipeline and store their "own" products. They may sell some of it, to a competitor at a later time.

The EPA watches fuel blends like a hawk and fines for violations are huge.

The EPA has outlawed diluting mixed fuel, with any good product. Pipleline "interface", where one product is mixed with another, is drawn off, transported elsewhere and re-refined, back into pure products.

Most additives, like Techron, are added at the bulk terminal where, the tanker truck is being loaded. Most seasonal blends are done at the bullk terminal too. Otherwise, large tanks of a particular blend, may have to be drained and product sold at a lower recovery cost, because it is unlawful to sell it on the open market..

Thanks for clearing things up....I had gotten this info years ago from an old man that was in the tank farm business,maybe that was the way it used to be or maybe he was just wrong. I research it and you are correct about the transitional stuff being re refined.

 

[mscher]

Re: Gas company additives - do they really do anything worthwhile?

Thanks for clearing things up....I had gotten this info years ago from an old man that was in the tank farm business,maybe that was the way it used to be or maybe he was just wrong. I research it and you are correct about the transitional stuff being re refined.

No problem.

I'll be picking up 7200 gallons of "interface" tomorrow.

That certainly may how it had been done in past. I have heard where interface was just slowly injected back into the pipeline, even if it was into jet fuel.

Ah, the good old days.