You know @TexasHardcore is a serious hot rodder “There's some shady ass stations across the country that I wouldn't even want to buy a coffee from, let alone get fuel” when he quotes this! More worried about fuel for his car than fuel for his self. Lol Dan
I hate Chevron and will only stop there if it's the only option. Every effing time there's something wrong with the pump, it doesn't work, it won't read the card and I have to go inside to pay, or it's out of paper making me go inside to get a receipt, and there's usually a line of people buying some crappy food to eat or sugary drinks and I have to wait in line to get my damn gas receipt. Every damned time. And they're usually the dirtiest, filthiest stations, complete lack of maintenance. I don't know why you'd trust their gas. Worst effing gas station chain ever.
I understand that. The fuel quality is the main reason for the preference. The stores themselves will vary depending on what area you're in. For what it's worth, I live in a fairly nice suburban area northwest of Austin. There are 5 Chevron stations within a mile of my house, and only one of them is a little dingy, because it's got a McDonald's attached to it. The other 4 Chevrons are all nice large stations, fairly newly built, well lit, well maintained, and very clean, and never really busy. There's also atleast 15 other brand stations in the area that are all nice, like real nice, the kind you wouldn't mind pooping in. Now, if I lived in the middle of Austin, I'd have to deal with poorly maintained, tiny, busy little gas stations, so it's all relative.
By and large, consumer gasoline is a mass commodity. That is to say, the majority of it can be EXACTLY the same liquid from one station to the other regardless if there's a dinosaur, a yellow diamond with a red arrow in it, or a sea shell. Every grade? No, not really. But plain ol regular and most mid-grades are. Marathon does their stations, all the Speedways and 1 or 2 others, same gas. Some retail franchises do add their own wazoo-blah shit to it but to what end is anyone's guess. The reason sitting is worse is corrosion and accelerated evaporation. What fucks our oldies as to running is the lack of lubricity in the fuel thanks to more "light end" hydrocarbons and the addition of corn squeezins. Nothing slides around and operates like it used to when it was better lubricated by older gas blends. It may take a long time but it's another box to check when asking why. Bacteria? Oh yeah sure but not like diesel. LNG/CNG. That should be the future. Not introducing political or social commentary here but that's the clean answer for transportation. Not only that but the infrastructure is nearly everywhere already and safety is a moot point. In the 90s GM was testing to introduce a consumer model CNG car. The tank's safety was the major concern. The company that did the final tank test? I was told by their CEO the test was empty all 7 rounds from a .45ACP just a couple yards away. They didn't get past the shell at all. The final test was 1 30 06 from the same distance. It got a little deeper but still couldn't pierce the shell. They shelved it anyways but around here a lot of the DTE (gas n electric) vehicles still run CNG. At the end of it all, drive em. It's ok, I promise, I know of cars worth 7 figures been running plain ol 87 for decades. No issues. Granted it's not like they gather 25K miles a year but even in less than optimum operating windows they're all just fine. WTF are we worried about?
Ran an OT Jeep with a 258 on a 50/50 blend drip gas and station purchased gas. Drip gas - talk about an exercise in screwing around and foolishness! We could’ve run the shit I mean drip gas through a chromatograph but we really didn’t want to know. Anyhow that Jeep went almost 300k Dan
Sounds about what I do... Although my grandpa worked for Richfield Oil; there is no way I will go to an Arco, I have had too many issues with bad fuel in the past with the local stations. at Chevron today paid 5.29 per gallon today to fill up my DD E10 is pretty much all you can get around here, I dont even know of any station that has non ethanol fuel. For octane ratings; food for thought... I have an owners manual for a crate 290 HP 350 that came from the local Chevrolet dealer and it states use 87 octane same with the owners manual for my DD. With the DD, I can tell if I am using 87 fuel so I just run 90
There are some interesting stories here. I have no doubt that when our fathers and grandfathers worked at the oil refineries, back in the last century, the gas from each refinery may have been slightly different. I don't believe for a second the current gas being delivered to gas stations is any different from one station to another. The quality of the gas at any specific station can vary a lot, however. The age and conditions of the storage tanks underground have a dramatic effect on the quality of the gas sold at a specific station. I also suspect the management at any specific station can also have an effect on the quality of the gas at the station. Probably one of the biggest things that determines the quality of gas at a specific station may well be the volume of fuel that passes through that station. Given the fact that most gas sold these days contains some level of corn gas, and the already stated side effect of it drawing moisture. It should be expected that a low volume gas station that gets a fresh load of fuel once a month likely has the 10% content fuel that may have a higher moisture content then a station that is getting new fresh fuel every couple of days. With that in mind, I buy me gas at the higher volume gas stations here in town. There was a stated concern about buying gas when the tanker truck is dumping in fuel. I call it dumping because the tanker driver opens the two lids covering the tank fill port, the connects a 6" diameter hose from the tanker to the storage tank and opens a gate valve. 6,000 - 8.000 gallons of fuel are gravity powered from the tanker truck, through the 6" hose into the underground storage tank, for all practical purposes it is a fuel dump. That is a ligament concern. The underground storage tanks are a round tube sealed at both ends. The fuel pickups that the pumps draw the fuel up from to put in your tank have the bottom of the pickup about a foot off the bottom of the tank. That leaves the bottom 12" of the tank a place for any contaminates that may have gotten into the tanks to collect. Those contaminates that sit at the bottom of the storage tank get stirred up and mix with the rest of the fuel in the storage tank when ever the truck dumps the new gas load into the storage tank. The gas stations are supposed to test the level of the contaminates in their storage tanks at least once every week. Are those poorly managed stations doing that? Regardless, that is why you don't want to buy gas while the tanker truck it at the station, the tanker gas dump is mixing the contaminates at the bottom of the tank into all the gas in the storage tank at that time. Now that you have that picture, how long after the fuel dump is it safe to but gas? The process has always been for the tanker truck to park above the storage tank's fill port lids, connect the hoses and dump the fuel (generally one or two of the station's fuel mix options per tanker full), both at the same time. Once the fuel dump has been completed, the tanker fuel compartments have to be verified as to how much fuel was delivered, and they want to be sure the tanker is empty. Then the gate valves are closed, the hosed drained, capped off, and put back on the truck, and the storage tank fill lids are both replaced ans secured. Then the driver has to do the paperwork with the station manager, then he has to do the tanker company paper work. Then he leaves. Generally speaking, if the gas station tanks have been properly maintained, the containment's in the fuel have settled back to the bottom of the storage tank by the time the truck leaves the property. If I happen to see the truck leave the station, I might want to run another errand before I buy gas there (unless it is a very high volume station, and if I need the gas then).
Yep. This guy vvvvvvv Does he really have a dozen tanks buried in the ground? Great selection! One tank more than likely. I took this picture from the HAMB so we all know it is verifiable and not AI.
Last one, I promise (or hope!). I've advised my clients that can't shake the no-lead worry to add 3-5gals of race fuel to their tanks once or twice a year then fill with regular. The benefits being a little real tetraethyl lead, a slight boost in octane, and also a minimal return to some old school fuel lubricity. It's not scientific, maybe sorta like a daily carry. Better to have and not need? Ok, reading only from here forward.
I don't go to chevron because they're always 40-50 cents/gal more expensive than all the other stations in town. And strangely, all that cheaper gas I buy seems to work just fine. Who'da thunk it.
The Sunoco station is routinely 0 cents a gallon higher than the no-name across the street. I don't know how they stay in business? Money laundering? Crazed NASCAR fans with misled brand loyalty? I confess to using GasBuddy for pricing and then the station most likely to have everything working and no card skimmers.
At one time I had a customer that hauled fuel in the So Cal area. I spent several afternoons in one of their yards at a tank farm/fuel depot. I saw trucks with every brand and many (most?) with no branding all pull up to the same tanks and fill up their tankers. I'd like to think that different brands maintain their own unique formulations, but experience tells me that at the very least they share fuel between them. And lot's of fuel brokers buy from wherever they can get the lowest price, and prices fluctuate, sometimes multiple times per day.
And the oil companies ship fuel to the depots like the Port of Albany via pipelines. In Thats why it’s called commingling. Because they are all using the same fuels.
When I worked in a Mobil station in the mid 1980s, there were two types of Mobil franchises; one where you were bound by contract to sell only Mobil gasoline, and another where you could sell whatever you could buy. The two different types of stations had identical appearances.
BB>>Does he really have a dozen tanks buried in the ground?>> Hmmm? Do they really have 20 kegs under those taps?
I really doubt that station Served up all those bands @ same point There has to be more to story , for all the different pumps , If Not , People in that town, Pass threw where Naïve.
That servo (Aussie for service station) is in Australia. Ok guys, here's the scoop direct from the Book of Face archives............. take it or leave it. Ted Fegan's Service Station in Footscray Vic, February 1963. Cnr Kingsville Street and Geelong Road, West Footscray. In the 1960s Ted Fegan (or Fegen) owned 2 service stations - one on Geelong rd at West Footscray and one opposite the Footscray Cemetery. They had multi-brand pumps and sold every know brand of petrol. I believe they were the only multi-brand service station in Australia. Stuck in the window at the Geelong rd Station was a newspaper cutting (from either the Footscray Mail or Advertiser) reporting about a fuel economy trial conducted by Ted to Geelong and back in which he used something like one gallon of petrol. The trial took place possibly in the late 40s or early 50s. Ted had invented and patented a carburettor that gave outstanding fuel economy. The story goes that he sold the patent to the oil companies and one of the conditions was he could sell petrol from every oil company. Apparently if the carburettor was mass produced it would have been bad for the oil companies' bottom line.
@twenty8 Ok that would makes sense ! But not on large Volume , Like now going to a convenient store here in the states now when there's 30 brand different sodas, Even into mid 80s Like 2 of each of 5 brand to choice from
I am just identifying the pic and passing on the myth. It was a cut and paste bit from facebook, however I will say that my 84 year old father has told me that he remembers the story from the time......... You can make of that what you will.
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