Problems with different brands of gas?

[USN_Lifer]

As I washed my MM today, I noticed for the first time that the carbon build-up on my exhaust tips wasn't coming off. Normally it washes right off so I'm wondering if the brand of gas that I use has anything to do with it? I normally use Shell but recently I filled up at a Wal Mart/Murphy station so I'm thinking that had something to do with it? I also noticed a residue on my back bumper cover that was evident even AFTER I washed and dried the car! ZOIKS! Any thoughts?

[MarauderMark]

As I washed my MM today, I noticed for the first time that the carbon build-up on my exhaust tips wasn't coming off. Normally it washes right off so I'm wondering if the brand of gas that I use has anything to do with it? I normally use Shell but recently I filled up at a Wal Mart/Murphy station so I'm thinking that had something to do with it? I also noticed a residue on my back bumper cover that was evident even AFTER I washed and dried the car! ZOIKS! Any thoughts?


I started getting that at about 15k miles on the clock.then when i got s/ced it discolored my tip to allmost gold.with no way of using any cleaners to get it back they way it was.so now the only thing for me to do is buy new tips and i allways used 94 sunoco.

[dwasson]

Wal-mart and many of the off-brand stations buy their gas on the spot market. The gas comes from different refiners each batch. Sometimes it can be good stuff but it doesn't have to be.

[King Fubar]

I mostly use Citgo or Mobil

[Bluerauder]

I normally use Shell but recently I filled up at a Wal Mart/Murphy station so I'm thinking that had something to do with it?
I only use brand name 93 Octane from Sunoco, Mobil or Exxon. :D

[Bigdogjim]

I know people that will only use one brand?

I have never had a problem with any brand.

Unless you count the last time I filled up and the guy put regular in when I turned my back:mad:

[Rider90]

I only use Mobil, Amoco, or Shell. The other brands can kiss my butt. I've had detonation problems in previous cars with Clark, Marathon, Citgo, and the other places in that level. I suppose if I was driving along a desert road and there was a Clark and no gas station for another 75 miles, I would do the math and add just enough gas to get me 76 miles...thats how picky I am about what I feed my baby.

[Marauderjack]

Use "Flitz", "Brasso", Silver Polish or any non-abrasive metal cleaner and the stains come right off the exhaust tips!! :bows:

Marauderjack :)

[ckadiddle]

I tend to stick with the major name brands. Mostly Texaco, occaisionally Shell or Hess seem to all be good. Have had knock/ping problems with oddball brands from time to time. Used to operate a business running several Chevy Caprice Classic station wagons and a Chevy van back in the eighties. Burned a lotta gas every month. Used a Shell dealer for local fillups, the cars needed premium every few tanks to keep the valve rattle away. Always had trouble with buying Gulf gas when on the road. (Are they even still in business?)

[2003 MIB]

Marauder drinks Texaco, Shell or Chevon 93. I'll burn Racetrack 87 in the truck.

[purelux]

Normally I stick with sunoco usualy 93 or 94 ultra. Espically since citgo (c-fair) with excess sulfer that was knowingly allowed to go to market since it "only" damaged the fuel sensor and not the engine except that sulfer craps up everything. And kwik fill had red sand in their gas in my area a few years back and 2 cars in my family were screwed up by brothers 00 moutaineer with sulfer and my dads lesabre at the time with the sand or clay whatever it was. I stick with sunoco or shell sometimes mobil 92. Neaver had a problem relating to the gas, though when i tried mobil about 2 years ago i noticed a sulfer smell that wasnt there before and wasnt there when i filled up with 94 after trying 2 different mobils.

[merc406]

As I washed my MM today, I noticed for the first time that the carbon build-up on my exhaust tips wasn't coming off. Normally it washes right off so I'm wondering if the brand of gas that I use has anything to do with it? I normally use Shell but recently I filled up at a Wal Mart/Murphy station so I'm thinking that had something to do with it? I also noticed a residue on my back bumper cover that was evident even AFTER I washed and dried the car! ZOIKS! Any thoughts?



Nope, 'cept that you've been doggin it and then jumped on it a few times.....

[JACook]

Wal-mart and many of the off-brand stations buy their gas on the spot market. The gas comes from different refiners each batch. Sometimes it can be good stuff but it doesn't have to be. I would also add that what the refiners sell to the Wal-Marts and independents, is not necessarily the
same formulation they sell through their own channels.

OK, first, let me state that I have no affiliation with anyone in the petroleum industry. Whatever I know
about fuel quality comes from the school of hard knocks. So to speak. :-)

Back when I used to wrench for a living, I developed a pretty good sense for which customers tended to buy the
off-brand gasoline. It was pretty easy to tell, really. They were the ones that had premature failure of things
like choke pull-off diaphragms, (this was back in the Pleistocine, when carburetors freely roamed the earth)
and vacuum hoses that turned soft and gooey. What I learned back then, and what is still true today, is that
gasoline is a complex cocktail of many different compounds, and there's more ways than one to achieve a
given octane rating. Some of those compounds are not so friendly to fuel system components as others.

And then there's the question of detergents. I still turn wrenches on the side, and I still come across telltale
signs of cheap gas. While no one uses carburetors any more, they do have fuel pressure regulators and other
vacuum-operated devices, and still lots of vacuum hoses going gooey. These days, I still see a lot of driveability
complaints that I can trace to fuel quality. A few tanks full of good gas, along with an extra shot of Techron,
often cures these problems. Once it does, I suggest to my client they might want to think about using gasoline
that already has Techron in it.

My own fleet has some pretty old iron in it. My '81 Futura has 56K original miles. The carburetor has never been off,
and all the fuel and vacuum hoses are original. At the other end of the scale, my '85 GT has ~180K miles. I did
rebuild the carburetor a while back, but like the Futura, it still has all it's original vacuum hoses.

IMO, the money you save on cheap gas isn't worth the potential problems.