icerunner

Icerunner here,
I spend a little extra $$ for BP or shell gas on my 99' SR5 3.4L with 140,000Miles on it, so far I never had a fuel related problem (other than aged plugs). I here Auto manufactures have rated these companies as "top teir" fuel but I just wondering if this is mostly hype?

I drive 30K a year (my work truck) and maybe i'm being "pump foolish" and spending too much? Or maybe I'm spending a little more for better quality fuel w/ better detergents for a cleaner engine, valves, injectors...etc) ?

BTW FORD now recomends BP fuel on their cars (btw, it says so right their gas caps), WTF...?
How much money did ford make on that bs...?

I run Mobil 1 Oil with a oversized M1-209 filter at a 7500 Oil change interval, and for gas, mostly BP fuel (or shell)

[B]Quick question:
1)What works best for you?
2) What brand of fuel do you typically use?
3) and How many miles are on your engine?

there is no "right or wrong" here, just want to know your preference and why.

Beartracker

94,000 on my 01 Tacoma using mostly cheap "Stop and Go" gas. Never had a problem from the gas and my 2.7 runs as smooth as a kitten purring. Change my plugs at 75,000 and they looked great. Very little carbon if at all. Really good looking PCV valve also. Cleaned the throttle body several times just as preventive task and it wasn't really dirty at all. Nothing but the standard paper air filters used and I do use nothing but Mobile 1 every 8,000 miles. Mike

SEAIRESCUE

Well....the "cheap" gas oftens contains 10% ethanol which is a solvent of sorts. In my opinion, the "bad" gas occurs when the previous transport tank delivered diesel and some of that fuel mixes with the next transport of regular gasoline. I think you pay a base price for generic gasoline and then additional for the additives and higher octane ratings. Personally, I think maintenance or a lack there of has a greater impact on internal fouling and clogged PVC and throttle body than the fuel. Running synthetic oil is the best investment you can make to keep your motor in great shape along with good maintenance.

My $0.02

bratliff

99 4runner with 169,000 miles. I run mostly Kroger gas... my rule is just buy gas where there is a lot of buisness.. it will be fresher and less chance of water or anything from sitting in the tank.

I also run a bottle of SeaFoam every couple oil changes and when I got my truck with 160K on it.. I changed, plugs, fuel filter, oil, trans fluid, etc... been fine..

icerunner

Good Info.
I'm a "synner" too... I'm rough on my rig but my maintence is very good, the only fluids that isn't synthetic on my 4 runner is the trans where I use toyota ATF..... where i "drain and fill" the trans about every oil change. With the drain and fill method (4 to 5 quarts a time) I don't have to drop the pan and eventually the trans fluid runs clean and is not a shocker as with the 100% flush (shocker, i mean only on a aged/older trans).

SEAAIRRESCUE, I never thought of deisel contamination with the fuel trucks.
good advice, how many miles do you have on your rig?

X-AWDriver

http://www.toptiergas.com/


I've always used top tier fuels and it's worth the $.10 diff I usually see. With my turboed Eclipse I was very picky since quality control is better with top tier brands and it wasn't worth the risk to use grocery store gas.

With my Runner I might get the cheap stuff from a grocery store every 5 tankfuls but I still pretty much use Conoco.

LuminoZ

I always had Shell or Chevron Gas in my Audi 2.7 biTurbo. There is definitely a difference in how high performance engine runs based on the gas it's burning. I don't expect my Taco to be as picky...

The gas that City Market(here in co) sells is the same stuff that Conoco gets. I followed the truck one night, so grocery store gas isn't that bad either. I believe that Toyota actually recommends Conoco gas, and it shows up on that page that X-AW linked for 'top tier' gas.

I'd say just stay away from the cheap stuff, and run a bottle of Lucas Oil Upper cylinder Lubricant through your rig, the whole little bottle every 6 thousand miles. That will keep your fuel system in good shape, as well as your valve train.

Use good oil too as it's less friction, I like Mobil1 High mileage synthetic.



QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada

moabite

Gas is gas. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on dozens of vehicles, and I've never done anything other than put in the cheapest thing I could find. Octane is all that matters. I've never had an engine problem caused by bad gas, and that includes three high strung turbo cars, and two Chevy pickups with over 200K miles on them.

In Colorado, it is almost impossible to find gas that is not 10% ethanol, and that includes all of the so called 'top tier' retailers. 'Top tier' is marketing bulls&%t. 10% ethanol has zero negative effects other than reduced gas mileage due to ethanol not having the same energy content per gallon as gasoline. Ethanol is a solvent, but so are most all 'injector cleaners' that some people seem to be addicted to. If you run 10% ethanol, you don't need injector cleaners anyway. ALL gasoline in the US contains detergents to keep injectors clean, on top of the ethanol keeping them clean already.

Most gas in CO has been 10% ethanol for several years, and if there were issues it would be apparent by now.

'Brand' name gas is like 'Brand' name bottled water. Do you drink that?

JDDinWV

My 2.7 is not that picky, but I will always use BP, Exxon, Chevron above others. I drove a 11.7:1 compression small block chevy every day on the street. I had to run 93 oct. The difference between 10% ethanol gas and real gas is amazing. If I had to use the ethanol gas, I carried a timing light and distributor wrench under the seat. I could run 24 deg. timing advance on good gas. It had to be retarded back to 15 deg. on that crap. That would get me to the next decent station. My truck would barely run without adjusting. My 2.7 is not that radical of a CR, but I think it makes a world of difference based on past experience. I plan on getting alot of miles out of my truck! Just my opinion.

Beartracker

If there is a big difference in cheap gas and high priced gas then why aren't there allot of law suits claiming the gas from the XY-station ( Just a name I'm using for this post) ruined my car/truck? Why is you don't read any headlines saying that the XY-station is in trouble for selling gas that will destroy your engine? Why is it that the manuals do not state that you should never use gas that is priced cheaper than Shell or Exon ? Why is it that millions of people pump millions of gallons of the cheap XY-station gas in there cars/trucks, motor Homes, Big rigs every day and have never had a problem due to the gas they use and some have several hundred thousand miles on them and still going strong?
If your vehicle doesn't run good on XY-gas then maybe it needs to be tuned to that gas....that doesn't mean that XY-gas is bad for it. Use your head folks. If it was bad for your vehicle these off brand cheap priced gas stations would not be in business all these years. Mike

Potomacduck

All gasoline comes from the same source. However, Top Tier gasolines have far higher detergent levels by volume than cheap gasoline.

The only difference is the additives. There are independant lab test results which show that these additives reduce engine deposits.

If you don't like them, don't use them.

Reverend

Impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Too many variables.

Thats the only part of your post I can answer to directly.

jct61765

I dont think it matters what brand of gas you use. An old man here in town told me the good gas stations to go to. When he needs gas, he brings a glass jar with him. He fills it half way with gas. He waits til it settles to see how much water settles to the bottom. If its over a certain amount he wont by gas there that day.

bob200587

pretty sure it's illegal to dispense gas into gas containers.