Gas Stations that have BAD Fuel

[Jammer]

Okey dokey, is everyone already good and pissed at me yet?
I am speaking of fuel but I will say GAS.


This boils down to two types of thinking.

#1) Many people fully believe that ALL GAS delivered in a large area from a refinery or pipeline is the same. Thus no matter what gas station you go to brand loyalty is not there because the product is the same all around. EH?

#2) Many people also believe that certain brands of gas/fuel add things to the gas to make it bur better, or maybe even clean the valves of a motor. Others believe that even Independent gas station owners add things to their gas after it is pumped into the tank.

I lean to #1 being likely to be correct but.....

I drive a 2009 Cobalt XFE. Last year my car insurance fully paid for it after a wreck from brakes failing me. I got as high as 45.7 MPG last year by using some of the techniques on this site. So for 2010 WHY was my car getting 30,31 MPG??? I was driving the same and I realize the airconditioner hurts it, but 15 mpg?? My air conditioner is not that hungry, it eats more like3 to 4 mog on the hottest day. With less than ten thousand miles where did my mileage go? Oil changes good. Tire Pressure good- high side.

It turns out my own father started advising me to get gasoline at Kroger because of all the discounts he gets due to all the food they buy. By using his CC# it saves 15 cents off what is normally the going rate posted. This year all cars got less mileage. I found it interesting that not only were all the cars and pickups on Kroger gas getting less MPGS this year, but in each case the mileage was down almost the exact same percentage! Even the lawn mower and weed eater were burning more gas!!!!!!!

So I paid more for another brand and filled up. I reset the gas gauge too. From that day forward my mpg has gone up. I got a second fill up and a Speedway. Today my car is parked and it last had 40.2 MPG AVG -- FINALLY I am getting back to being close to what I got last year!

I may speak to somebody in charge at Kroger gas and I'm telling them. Like what is going on, do they use 90% Ethanol or what?

Any other stories about not so good fuel?

[brucey]

I've also had bad luck with Kroger and (certain) Sheetz gas. Not 15 mpg, but maybe 10% on worse case scenarios. What sucks is its' hard to determine gas as a culprit because it's nearly impossible (very difficult) to do A-B-A-B tests with it.

I try to stick with Shell/BP/Sunoco/Chevron for that reason, even if it's not working, all the gas in my town is within 1 cent of each other anyway, so there is no point in driving up to the grocery store to get watered down gas anywho. (:

[bestclimb]

How long has the fuel sat in the station's tank? Those VOCs don't just sit around and wait to be burned.

[cfg83]

Jammer -

My friend hated (pre-BP-owned) Arco gas here in Los Angeles. He bought Arco regular 87 octane and said it hurt his 2nd gen Dodge Neon. I used Arco in the early 1990's in my 2nd gen CRX, but I used 89 or 91 octane without problems.

CarloSW2

[Phantom]

The reason is that Kroger gas is e10.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Phantom

The reason is that Kroger gas is e10.

Thank you. You may of won the prize. I need to now go and google what that means.

Thanks for the replies. I admit my car does sit a lot, it may take me over 2 weeks to burn a ten gallon tank. That is when I top 40mpg. However it's important to note that my father's pickup and Cadillac were also BOTH off the same percentage, AND the lawn mowers and weed eaters were using way more gas than last year. I keep thinking there must be more ethanol in their gas. For now I'll look up exactly what "e10" is made of.

Cheers!

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Phantom

The reason is that Kroger gas is e10.

Okey dokey I have the info: Common ethanol fuel mixtures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I see you live in Kentucky as well as me. Is e10 not mandated in this place? I honestly thought there was some kind of law here that claimed e10 (glad I double checked the definition) had to be sold at all stations. Honestly I do not believe e10 is the problem, as every pump I see here is 10% alcohol. I think I need to move the thinking on to another level. Like, maybe the pumps that do not say anything about the 50% water.

Peace.

[bhazard]

I occasionally run kroger's gas with the 20 cent discount. I have to run premium though, so hopefully no ethanol. Their pumps don't mention e10 anywhere here though.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

How long has the fuel sat in the station's tank? Those VOCs don't just sit around and wait to be burned.

Sorry for the chain of replies, as I overlooked this one.

To answer your question the fuel seems to be pumped at the station at issue at least twice a week, maybe more- it is one of the most popular gas stations of this area because it is in the city and many get a 3 to 15 cents off discount depending on how much they spend on groceries.

Opps, as the previous poster has pointed out, it may be 20 cents a discount. It's either 15 or 20 cents off the market fuel price of this area, either way it's enough to motivate people to fill up when they drive into town to get food.

[Weather Spotter]

My local walmat gas has this same issue. I normally use Speedway. Both pumps say 10% ethanol (most stations use it). The walmart gas gives me 5-10% worse gas mileage. the difference is very pronounced with smaller engines like the chain saw or my old scooter. These smaller engines would run very rough & not want to start with walmart gas.

They must add something or buy the old cheaper stuff.