From what I understand, Chevron adds Techron to its Premium Gasoline. Does anyone know if they add Techron to their mid-grade and regular-grade gasoline as well?

Thank you

 

as far as i know its just to the high octane. not mid and low grade. i think thats pretty much standard across the board with fuel companies. (ie shells 'V-Power')

 

Out here in southern California, Chevron fuel contains Techron in all their grades. 87/89/91

 

i could see that, but in the south, doesn't seem as though they would care

 

From a little further research, it sounds like Techron is added to all Chevron gasoline grades.

In addition, someone mentioned that Techron is also added to all grades of Texaco gasoline. Anyone know if this is true?

 

mid = low + high grades. Ever seen a tanker semi w/3 tanks?
Jae

 

It appears to be marketed that way. Over at Shell and the V-Power, I got a sense that the low grade didn't have it.
Jae

 

Here techron is in all the grades.

 

Cool, I didn't know that. So does this mean if you mix a gallon of 93 octane and a gallone of 87, you end up with two gallons of 90 octane?

 

I dunno the ratios. This might help:
http://stason.org/TULARC/vehicles/ga...el-grades.html
If it was 50/50, then the mid-grade gas price should be the avg of high and low, but I've seen cases where it wasn't. So I dunno what the proper ratio is.
Jae

 

Is there really a difference between any gas other than additives like Techron? When Arizona had a gas pipeline break a couple of years ago, they talked about how all of the gas that comes into AZ comes from either the Texas pipeline or the California pipeline. Since each of the oil companies don't have their own pipeline, I assume all the gas comes to one central facility where it's then pumped into trucks to deliver to the stations. Since it's all coming together, how can each brand claim to have better/different gas, unless they're only talking about the additives?

 

The companies add their own additives.

 

But other than that, the gas is all the same, right?

 

No. Along with the additives, some companies choose specific refineries where to buy from and then after that individual stations can buy from different suppliers.

And if the company is top tier then they need to meet that standard as well, along with all of their retailers.

 

Which is great if you are in a market where the trucks can actually choose which refinery to get their gas from, but in a market with no refineries where all the gas comes in a single pipeline, the individual stations/retailers have no choice of which refinery made their gas.

 

Agree with you. Sometimes I have noticed that my car does not like a particular brand in city A but accepts it happily in city B.

I have not tried Chevron but Shell su_ks big time in Chicago. Mileage on my cars drops if I use Shell gas.

 

Here's too much information on gasoline distribution (PDF).

http://www.pipeline101.com/reports/Notes.pdf

In short, it's almost like the electrical grid. Different regions are supplied from different refining centers. Like most of the southeast is supplied from New Orleans. Refineries will formulate gasoline depending on region and season, like winter blends and lower rated octane for high altitudes, but the difference between, Shell, BP, Exxon, and Costco gasoline is the additives that are put in before retail delivery.

All gasoline is mandated by the EPA to have detergent and and other additives, so don't buy into the propaganda that "premium" gasoline is better than "regular." Who do you think came up with those names in the first place?

 

Thanks for the links, good reads.

 

If you buy gas from a "top tier" retailer, they have the same additives across all the grades. The top tier retailers are listed at this link:

http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

 

Very good. I would just make a slight correction to your statement. The "top tier" retailers have slightly different detergent formulations that achieve the same result in order to meet certain advertising legalities.

 

one question. at SUNOCO, they have "Racing Fuel" which is 100 octane, but the price is astronomical. i believe its almost six dollars a gallon. what is up with that? why is 93 only 2.50 and 100 two and a half times more? is it really that much different?

 

It's a low volume product that costs more to produce because of small production runs and it costs much more to distribute and retail since it really can't be piped like other grades usually are. Then there's always the markup that can be charged because if your engine really needs it to run properly, the fuel cost is well worth it.

 

Considering Chevron owns Texaco, their stations have the same gas and all grades have Techron in them

 

Techron is a registered brand name detergent that is added to Chevron retailed gasoline. Texaco puts the same ingrediants that is in Techron brand detergent in their retailed product just like other retailers do with their gasoline.

 

Chevron and Techron are both "Top Tier".. can't go wrong w/them. 76 is also Top Tier, and they have their marketing strategy too... maybe same stuff?
Jae

 

Top Tier is just a standard for gas. Different companies use different detergents and additives to meet the requirements to be considered Top Tier gas. So while Chevron and Shell are both sell Top Tier gas at their stations, it doesnt mean that their detergents/gas are the same