LOST JEEPS :: View topic - What station has the best diesel?

I put in the cheapest rot-gut I can find.... 86K miles and still going strong.

Some of you should have watched a special 20/20 show on ABC-TV a couple of weeks ago that debunked all the oil myths. Oil is oil, and gasoline is gasoline. Doesn't matter what name is on the station. The same independent gasoline / oil / diesel fuel dealer that sells to "Bud's Service Staiton" also sells to the big Exxon, Mobil, BP Amaco and Shell stations. It all comes out of the same storage tanks and is delivered to whoever buys it - in many cases. And those who claim their gas cleans better than someone else's is lying, but the federal govn't won't do anything about it. To date, they just look the other way.

oddball wrote:

Did that same show look at places which water down their fuel and/or have additives (i.e. cetane)? Some places sell lower cetane than others. This is not a result of the fuel. Like you said, the fuel can come from the same refinery. It is a result of the additives put in after the fuel is purchased by a particular company.

I'm just saying, whatever 20/20 says, that fuel with 40 cetane won't get you the same mileage as fuel with 45-50.

Where I live we don't have Sinclair, Marathon, or Valero branded stations. (Even though we have refineries for Marathon and Valero both in-state) So if you mark "Other", please post to specify what brand you fill up with.

Author:	linewarbr [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:	What station has the best diesel?
Just curious to see what other CRD'ers are filling their tank with. I usually try to get Murphy Oil (Wal-Mart) or Shell, and add 6oz of Powerservice (silver bottle) and 6oz of TC-W3 2-stroke oil per fill-up. I find that I get worse mileage with Exxon (Esso) and Chevron diesel than with even cheap RaceTrac diesel. Haven't tried BP yet, but I plan to. Where I live we don't have Sinclair, Marathon, or Valero branded stations. (Even though we have refineries for Marathon and Valero both in-state) So if you mark "Other", please post to specify what brand you fill up with.

Author:	blake1827 [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:
Seems like I have the best mpg w/ Shell, and Phillips 66; maybe a extra mpg or two on occasion. But still hard to tell w/ traffic, ambient temp/season. I still sometimes get Blue Sun B20, or fill-up at Diamond Shamrock (Valero). Always adding PowerService, and occasionally TC-W3.

Author:	Silverdiesel [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:26 pm ]
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Seem to have better #'s with Valero--but most of the Majors seem weak at least to me- want cheap stuff- go with that truckstop stuff like Flying J - low cetane means no power-- Btw I am on a tank of B99 right now- smooth and quiet but "underpowered" but the VM Bosch CP3 and common rail seem to be accepting it well-- FWIW Roland

Author:	Silverdiesel [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:
Extra reply: It is really tough to gauge mileage and performance when ambient temps and EXTREME demands on the engine like Full A/C ALL the time are throwing off good MPG's and performance--- Working out here in Az with afternoon temps between 114 and 116 degrees!! Roland

Author:	Joe Romas [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:42 pm ]
Post subject:
Quality varies greatly by area In centeral Ohio it's all junk but I use Meijer as it's not as bad as the rest. FLYING-J's cetane varies per area. I stopped at one in Virginia and the pump sticker said "Minium 45 Cetane" and it was late at night so I had to do a double take. Most claim 40 as the mimum in Ohio. From past experience I got the best mileage from fuel in Georgia and northern Florida. I voted for Sarah

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What station has the best diesel? http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45637	Page 1 of 3

Author:	geordi [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:19 pm ]
Post subject:
I voted Sarah because the media and comedy performers have been getting almost unlimited mileage from anything she produces... But for my CRD, it is REALLY hard for me to quantify. I'm getting fuel from the Savannah area mostly, which brings it in by SHIP from who-knows-where. And (get this crap) ALL of the local stations, branded or not, are somehow obligated to buy from that one supplier. The main 'brand' here is an independent called Parkers. The majors don't really have that many stations. Just outside of Savannah, or when I'm traveling anywhere other than here, I gravitate toward Flying J, Pilot, Loves, and lastly TA. Now that TA and Flying J are both owned by Pilot, maybe the quality of the fuel and facilities will be to the same levels as Pilot. I like Flying J's facilities the best usually, and don't really notice a huge difference in mileage. I've never gotten much more than 27mpg on a tank anyway. But since the new engine, I'm getting about 19-22. YUCK, something is still not quite right!

Author:	Pablo [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:
I voted for Sarah. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference around here. Some Shells have good diesel, some have crap. Some of it is hit or miss. Valero: Most around here usually don't have diesel, but when they do it is pretty good. Circle K: Most are hit and miss on fuel quality. Safeway: is hit and miss on fuel quality. QT: I have only seen one QT with diesel. Never used it. Arco: has crap gas, but the diesel seems the same as Shell. Wall-mart: Many of the Wall-marts around here have been getting rid of fuel stations (don't know why). Never used it anyway. Flying-J: There are no major truck stops on the east side of town anywhere near me, so it is a drive to get to a Flying J or Pilot. The few times I have used Flying J, it worked fine. Nothing stellar, but nothing bad. It was cheap. I honestly suspect that they all get the diesel from the same suppliers (one good and one bad?) and that some alternate depending on which is cheaper. I will say that filling with Shell 70% and AZBioDiesel (in Gilbert) 30% is a winning combination. Quiet, smooth, lots of power. Anything more than B40 and the mileage goes south. My motor loves a little Bio.

Author:	JL Rockies [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:
I put in the cheapest rot-gut I can find.... 86K miles and still going strong.

Author:	durangotang [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:
JL Rockies wrote: I put in the cheapest rot-gut I can find.... 86K miles and still going strong. x2

Author:	ATXKJ [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:
whatever station pumps the most volume. on a highway or frontage road probably. I don't care what the name is - if it's isolated with no customers around - it's questionable.

Author:	oddball [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:
Some of you should have watched a special 20/20 show on ABC-TV a couple of weeks ago that debunked all the oil myths. Oil is oil, and gasoline is gasoline. Doesn't matter what name is on the station. The same independent gasoline / oil / diesel fuel dealer that sells to "Bud's Service Staiton" also sells to the big Exxon, Mobil, BP Amaco and Shell stations. It all comes out of the same storage tanks and is delivered to whoever buys it - in many cases. And those who claim their gas cleans better than someone else's is lying, but the federal govn't won't do anything about it. To date, they just look the other way.

Author:	stoutdog [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:07 pm ]
Post subject:
oddball wrote: Some of you should have watched a special 20/20 show on ABC-TV a couple of weeks ago that debunked all the oil myths. Oil is oil, and gasoline is gasoline. Doesn't matter what name is on the station. The same independent gasoline / oil / diesel fuel dealer that sells to "Bud's Service Staiton" also sells to the big Exxon, Mobil, BP Amaco and Shell stations. It all comes out of the same storage tanks and is delivered to whoever buys it - in many cases. And those who claim their gas cleans better than someone else's is lying, but the federal govn't won't do anything about it. To date, they just look the other way. Did that same show look at places which water down their fuel and/or have additives (i.e. cetane)? Some places sell lower cetane than others. This is not a result of the fuel. Like you said, the fuel can come from the same refinery. It is a result of the additives put in after the fuel is purchased by a particular company. I'm just saying, whatever 20/20 says, that fuel with 40 cetane won't get you the same mileage as fuel with 45-50.

Author:	warp2diesel [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Meijer best price around me
We get a $0.05 gallon discount by using the Meijer Card. Meijer Quality is close to BP. I avoid CITGO their junk foams up and has to be burped several times to fill up.

Author:	oddball [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:44 pm ]
Post subject:
stoutdog wrote: oddball wrote: Some of you should have watched a special 20/20 show on ABC-TV a couple of weeks ago that debunked all the oil myths. Oil is oil, and gasoline is gasoline. Doesn't matter what name is on the station. The same independent gasoline / oil / diesel fuel dealer that sells to "Bud's Service Staiton" also sells to the big Exxon, Mobil, BP Amaco and Shell stations. It all comes out of the same storage tanks and is delivered to whoever buys it - in many cases. And those who claim their gas cleans better than someone else's is lying, but the federal govn't won't do anything about it. To date, they just look the other way. Did that same show look at places which water down their fuel and/or have additives (i.e. cetane)? Some places sell lower cetane than others. This is not a result of the fuel. Like you said, the fuel can come from the same refinery. It is a result of the additives put in after the fuel is purchased by a particular company. I'm just saying, whatever 20/20 says, that fuel with 40 cetane won't get you the same mileage as fuel with 45-50. I don't recall them discussing watering down gasoline. The show basically covered the myths regarding everything from finding and drilling it out of the ground to who exactly is to blame regarding many topics on peoples minds today. The part that irk'd me most - I once blamed the Opecker's for our high barrel and pump prices. Man was I and everyone else who ever believed this wrong.

Author:	geordi [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:30 pm ]
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Oddball... When was this aired? I'd like to try and find a copy online. As for who REALLY was controlling the prices... Don't hold back. It was the refineries and the speculation traders, right? The refiners that keep throttling back production (at the orders of their masters, the big oil companies who DO own the entire supply chain) while multiple SHIPS sit off shore unable to offload because there is such a glut of available crude... While the sheeple are told that it's demand in China driving the week-on-week price hikes that ALWAYS seem to happen in the 2nd week of April, June, Sept, and Nov. Hmm.

Author:	Joe Romas [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:49 am ]
Post subject:
Ohio does not regulate fuel quality But be assured when you buy a gallon you'll get a gallon but who knows of what UPDATE: My CRD has had the sniffles for the last several days where when slowly letting off the pedal at about 900 rpms it will shake a little like a miss. After checking various connectors and vacuum lines I realized this started when I recently filled up at my favorite Meijor store. In the future I'll be filling up at Thorntons :wink More on fuel quality. On the West side of Columbus there are 5 or 6 big tank farms with the major's signs posted on them. I talked to a manager of a small startup one that is trying to market Bio in Columbus (there are no stations selling Bio in Columbus) and he told me what I already knew that it ALL fuel comes through ONE PIPE into the area What I didn't realize is that between grades and type of fuel coming down the pipe there is 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of a mixture of "what was and what is" and this is sold off at a lower price to a place that reprocesses this stuff. Here's the kicker He told me at each tank farm there is a little shack that has the valves to that farm's tanks It is equipted with various guages to monitor what is coming down the pipe. The idea is when it's all the expected product the valves are opened to fill the tanks. But with such a large amount of mixed fuel it makes a big difference in profit to the pipeline operator if say the valves are opened at say 90% of the expected product reducing the amount of waste. It takes a villigent tank farm operator to keep this from happening. Just think of all the products coming through the pipe from asphalt to aviation gas and everything in between. Years ago a local gasoline retailer was taken to court and could no longer call their product gasoline and they began calling it a "motor fuel"

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Author:	tcoilburner [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:	diesel fuel
oddball wrote: Some of you should have watched a special 20/20 show on ABC-TV a couple of weeks ago that debunked all the oil myths. Oil is oil, and gasoline is gasoline. Doesn't matter what name is on the station. The same independent gasoline / oil / diesel fuel dealer that sells to "Bud's Service Staiton" also sells to the big Exxon, Mobil, BP Amaco and Shell stations. It all comes out of the same storage tanks and is delivered to whoever buys it - in many cases. And those who claim their gas cleans better than someone else's is lying, but the federal govn't won't do anything about it. To date, they just look the other way. My brother huals fuel for a company in Michigan. Yes, all the gasoline and diesel come from the same storage tank, but when loading the truck that is when the additives that make them different are added. I am not trying to say which one is better, but the additive can make the difference.

Author:	oddball [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:05 pm ]
Post subject:
Yeah, pretty much and no one is more to blame than the lobbyists and U.S Gov't who screw us (American's) every chance they get. I did find it interesting that we as American's demand more oil / gasoline than all of western europe, Canada, Mexico and Australia combined! As for additives, it was proven by non-biased labs that Amaco is lying when they say their one grade (I forget what they call it) cleans fuel systems better than Shell, Mobil or anyone else. And as I eluded to, the U.S Gov't knows this but turns their back on the false advertisement. At one point they claimed the oil industry lobbyists in Wash DC are second to no one, including the NRA. But let's not get too political here. For it is forbidden by the powers that be. As for the airing of this show / topic - I found this via Google The Truth About Oil

Author:	kdlewis1975 [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:39 am ]
Post subject:	Re: What station has the best diesel?
linewarbr wrote: Where I live we don't have Sinclair, Marathon, or Valero branded stations. (Even though we have refineries for Marathon and Valero both in-state) So if you mark "Other", please post to specify what brand you fill up with. I worked as a co-op for Ashland Petroleum right at the time Marathon formed a joint venture (more like a takeover) of them. While there I got to read and have all kinds of access to petroleum related news. At one time, Marathon sold gas/diesel under seven different brands, plus they inherited the three that Ashland had (Rich, Ashland, SuperAmerica). I think the latest rendition of Marathon primarily sells under Marathon, Speedway, Pilot, and maybe Starvin Marvin (never seen one of those anywhere I've lived). They could have some other brand in Louisiana, but I don't remember them all. It's very unusual for a company to have a refinery in a region and not sell gasoline under one of their brands. I never quite understood the pricing model, but retail alliances with station owners carrying their brand somehow equaled extra money though everyone was bound by market pricing. Refineries are regional. When I was at Ashland's Catlettsburg (KY) refinery, they explained to me that Shell, BP, Ashland, Citgo, Gulf, etc. each had their own tap at the loading area where the additves were added at the truck. I was told that the driver pours a bottle in, but it would make sense if they had a tank nearby that metered them in while the tanker was filling up. For gasoline, the additives do matter. Each company has their own blend, but as pointed out, government regulations limit what can be done. I was told that one benefit of buying premium was that it had a better additives package, but it's hard to justify the price differential. For the employees at Ashland, the takeover by Marathon (or the sell-out by Ashland, Inc.) was a sore spot. They did quite a bit of research for the petroleum products and took a lot of pride in being a proactive company. The gasolines (and probably diesel too...only if I had known I was supposed to have an avid interest back then) always surpassed state standards. Marathon, at the time, prided itself on barely squeaking by and counting their millions for doing so. For instance, they figured out they could usually squeak by with an octane of 86.4 and still meet the 87 octane minimum. Even if they had to pay fines, they still came out ahead. I watched a lot of people lose their jobs and I avoided buying Marathon branded stuff the best I could for 10 years after the fact. Ironically, Marathon and Speedway that sell diesel out number other major stations...there's one Shell and one BP...if I want diesel, it pretty much has to come from Marathon or Speedway. Nonbranded stations buy fuel based on market prices. It simply has to meet state minimum in terms of the additives and such. A few years ago when fuel was cheap because of the "relative excess," you generally wanted to avoid places selling well below the prevailing prices of the area. These places were generally selling fuel that was out-of-spec or past (or almost past) its shelf life. I haven't seen a major difference in the quality or performance of diesel from various brands here. However, the diesel I've gotten from KY (when visiting family) seems to be a little better than what I get here in MI. Given all of the factors that dictate fuel economy, I'm not sure many people will be able to discern a major difference empirically unless they get a really bad tank of fuel.

Author:	nursecosmo [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:40 am ]
Post subject:
It all comes out of the same pipes in every region of the country. All additives are pretty much the same. Occasionally premium diesel is available at some stations, which is usually produced in a different batch from the normal stuff, and has a true cetane rating, not just a cetane number, but in order for it to be cost effective the MPG gained would have to offset the increase in price. If I'm traveling and have to buy fuel, I get the cheapest stuff.