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You may have noticed this seal on the gas pump the last time you bought gas.
In a certain sense the fuel that you buy at the gas station is all pretty much the same. Whether it comes from Chevron, Shell, or 7-11, the fuel all originates from the same refineries. What is different between gasoline brands is not the gasoline, but the "additive package." Every gasoline is required to have additives. Among these additives are chemicals which help the gasoline burn cleaner to meet Federal and State emissions standards (e.g., Ethanol), and detergents which help reduce carbon deposits from your engine's fuel injectors and valves. This additive package changes from one season to another, and from one region of the country to another, because weather significantly affects how completely gasoline burns.
The type and amount of additives added to a particular mixture of gasoline varies significantly from one brand to another. And in that sense, the fuel you buy at the gas station is very different from one brand to another. In fact, in 2004, several major automakers decided that the minimum Federal detergency standards for gasoline were insufficient. They had noticed that fuel system warranty problems were clustered in certain regions and during certain times of the year, and they traced the problem back to fuel quality. You see, insufficient amounts of detergent in gasoline leads to carbon build-up on fuel injectors and valves, which in turn results in poor fuel economy and emissions. But too much detergent or poor quality additives lead to those chemicals sticking to the valves and injectors. So GM, BMW, Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota got together to define a new standard for gasoline detergency and additive quality. The standard they came up with is called TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline. They believe this standard for higher quality fuel will contribute to greater longevity and reliability. Unlike Federal and State standards for gasoline detergency, however, the TOP TIER standard is a voluntary one. Gas companies are free to conform to the standard or not. But those which do are required to certify all grades of gas that they sell (not just Premium) as meeting the standard.
Some gas stations which meet the standard will display the TOP TIER seal (above) on their gas pumps. Others may not. So how do you know which stations meet the TOP TIER standard? There is a list of certified retailers that is kept up to date on the TOP TIER Gas website. Here is the list as it stands today:QuikTrip
Chevron
Texaco
MFA Oil Co.
Conoco
Phillips 66
Union 76
Entec Stations
Shell
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Co.
Turkey Hill Minit Markets
Mileage Stations There are some Canadian counterparts to some of the brands that are also on the list. It's interesting that several small-name brands that you would not expect to be on the list, actually are. And several big-name brands, like Exxon and Mobil, which you would expect to be on the list actually are not. In the four years that I've been tracking this list, the list has grown significantly. But interestingly enough, some stations will be on the list for a while and then disappear. So check back every now and then. The most consistent brands have been Chevron, Texaco, Conoco, Phillips 66, Union 76, and Shell. Maybe it's coincidental, but those brands also happen to be the ones that stand-out in my mind as heavily advertising the detergency of their gasolines—Techron (Chevron-Texaco), PROclean (Conoco-Phillips), and V-Power (Royal Dutch Shell).
*Conoco-Phillips owns the Phillips 66 and Union 76 brands; and although Shell only labels its Premium and Diesel fuels as "V-Power," the detergency of all grades of Shell gasoline are the same.
For more information about TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline, check out the following articles:Car and Driver
CarTalk Column
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| | Posted 8/2/2008 6:45 PM - 170 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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