BP, Chevron, and Amoco...

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Jan 31, 2010 | 09:45 PM

Shade

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From: southeat Ga.

BP, Chevron, and Amoco...

Is there a difference in the diesel fuel these guys carry and the fuel that 'El Cheapo's' carry? I learned that filling up at the 'better' stations made my gas trucks run better but is the same true for diesel? I know not to stop at a small or out-of-the-way place to get diesel but other than that does it make any difference?

Jan 31, 2010 | 09:55 PM

2cylguy

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From: Mount Airy, Md

My personal experience in the area where I live is that I get les fuel mileage with the No Name brands than I do with the national retailers. It ends up working out to be the same since the name brans is only a few cents more expensive than the No Names. But I started to wonder, if i get less mileage what else is missing?

Jan 31, 2010 | 10:23 PM

rjmay

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From: St Lawrence PA

I used to work as a marketing engineer for the biggest oil company.

The general marketing plan was to refine and provide a superior product, but to charge a premium also. That said, the Esso diesel for WV was Ashland Oil's diesel because there was no pipeline from the Gulf coast refineries nor NJ.

But the industry is changing where the majors do not own the stations anymore, but the stations are supplied by flagged distributors. The majors used to manage the inventory at the stations, but that is no more. Profit margins have been squeezed, so simple things like the fuel filters that block water are no longer being maintained in the dispensers.

Jan 31, 2010 | 11:15 PM

mueckster

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From: Damon (South East Texas)

I can't say I've seen that the cheaper "no name brands" got worse fuel mpg's than the "name brands", but I have seen better results with some stations over others. I switched between a Buccee's and a Chevron recently because of fuel availabilty and got slightly better mpg's with the Chevron.

Jan 31, 2010 | 11:24 PM

schlepprock250

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From: Archdale,N.C.

I would say stay away from small stores that don't sell much diesel,i would rather get fuel from a store that sells alot of diesel so that it's always fresh,not been in the tank a long time.

Jan 31, 2010 | 11:59 PM

Izzy351

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From: Dallas-Ft. Worth

I *seem* to get better mileage on Shell diesel. I ran theirs for about a month straight, then switched back to Murphy (Wal-Mart) or RaceTrac and I'm not getting the same mileage. It's really hard to tell though since the mileage is so sensitive to driving conditions/style. My best run of 22.1 was on Shell.

Feb 1, 2010 | 05:22 AM

Talyn

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From: Ashland City, TN

As far as I understand, which helps cause I grew up near a pump house, is that all the fuels now days come from the same place, its just the additives that the "brand" has in their fuel.

So, if the fuel is pumped to point A, the distribution plant, everyone that plant services has the same fuel + different additives.

I would believe the same goes for diesel as well.

Diesel is so poorly taken care of and refined, that you will see differences in mileage no matter where you go. Generally from what I'm told, the further south you go, the better the diesel fuel gets though.

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Feb 4, 2010 | 02:32 PM

Shade

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From: southeat Ga.

Quote:

Originally Posted by schlepprock250

I would say stay away from small stores that don't sell much diesel,i would rather get fuel from a store that sells alot of diesel so that it's always fresh,not been in the tank a long time.

Yeah I learned that several years ago when a buddy's brand new Durajunk left us stranded in the middle of Texas because we had to stop at a little 'mom and pop' place to fuel up. It was late and we were running low so even though he didn't want to we had to get some fuel, about 4 hours later we made a pit stop and found fuel pouring out from under the truck. Turns out the fuel had algae in it that clogged the fuel filter which backed up/over pressurized something between the pump and filter which ruptured an $1800 part at the back of the motor. It was a warranty job but we were stuck in Texas for an extra day and I learned to never get fuel at any out-of-the-way fuel station that doesn't run alot of fuel through the tank regularly. (my truck ain't seen 'warranty' for almost 200,000 miles!)