Fuel Quality

[170C]

This isn't an aviation question, but with the wealth of knowledge we have in this association I am willing to bet someone can cast some light on my question. I purchase gasoline for my Toyota truck at vrs locations (EZ Mart, Texaco, RaceTrack, etc) and have not had any known issues with the fuel. Gas milage doesn't seem to vary regardless of purchase location (may all be the same fuel for all I know). I have had a couple of sources tell me that I should be buying my fuel from Shell or other major's because they supposedly put additives in their fuel, that others don't, that clean fuel injectors. Truth or Fable?

[Harold Holiman]

I'm with you Frank. In my areas it all comes from the same bulk distribution facility or pipeline. As long as I get it from a place that does a lot of business so I know the fuel is fresh, I can't tell the difference. A friend of mine, now retired, was the Exxon distributor. He also had a number of independent stations. All of his stations got the same fuel which he got at the river terminal in Chattanooga. In past times, like the 50's and 60's I believe there was a difference in brands but now it comes from the same pipe or barge. The main thing is modern fuel has a short shelf life so be sure it is fresh.

Harold

[canav8]

Well it is important where you buy your fuel. Fuel is distributed among 4 different distributors. Be really careful about fuels that clean your injectors and such, that is snake oil. One distributor named Shell now distributes fuel that is mixed with Nitrogen. There is a problem with that. Nitrogen is inert and does not burn so the volumetric efficiency may suffer. It is supposed to be cleaner burning. The only way to get better fuel is running E85 which is fuel made with corn(Moonshine). Henry Ford used it and their is an abundence of it but it doesnt have as high of volumetric efficiency. It is kind of like having your tires filled with nitrogen at the car dealership. There is absolutely no benefit but it sure sounds good and better then the others.

[blueldr]

I had a friend that drove for a tank trucking outfit that principally hauled gasoline. He told me that some of the fuel marketing companys installed additives when the tank truck or trailer was being filled at the tank farm, but the base fuel might go to any one of many branded gas stations. He also said that they had to use dedicated tankers to haul 100LL av gas so as to not contaminate automotive fuel tanks with tetra ethyl lead which will wipe out the expensive exhaust catalytic converters on automobiles.
I've been told that they cannot pipeline 100LL av gas for the same reason. That is supposedly one of the reasons av gas costs more.

[canav8]

I had a friend that drove for a tank trucking outfit that principally hauled gasoline. He told me that some of the fuel marketing companys installed additives when the tank truck or trailer was being filled at the tank farm, but the base fuel might go to any one of many branded gas stations. He also said that they had to use dedicated tankers to haul 100LL av gas so as to not contaminate automotive fuel tanks with tetra ethyl lead which will wipe out the expensive exhaust catalytic converters on automobiles.
I've been told that they cannot pipeline 100LL av gas for the same reason. That is supposedly one of the reasons av gas costs more.

Blueldr, Dedicated tankers is part of the expense the other part is AVGAS is only 1% of all fuel production in the US. The processing of this fuel also requires separate containment for storage.

[blueldr]

As most of the regular readers of the association computer site probably know, I am a more than somewhat enthusiastic proponent of that economical second cousin of av gas mostly known among us bootleggers as mogas, the "clean sparkplug fuel".
For all you "Greenees", Just think of how many stinking diesel tankers we've kept off of our highways by using that alternate fuel over the years, in both of our airplanes.