Best Diesel Fuel Station Poll

Originally Posted by d geek

I filled up at a Chevron yesterday and they had an "up to 5% biodiesel" label on the pump.

Does your wife know how the Chevron diesel tests for HFRR wear scar?

All diesel pumps down here seem to have a similar biodiesel sticker. I will have to ask my wife but I doubt she will since been a number of years since directly dealt with the fuels.

Other: Rotten Robbie

Originally Posted by Snipe656

All diesel pumps down here seem to have a similar biodiesel sticker. I will have to ask my wife but I doubt she will since been a number of years since directly dealt with the fuels.

The Murphy/Walmart pumps went from the 5% to the 6-20% label a few months ago, but the last time I saw one (Boerne. TX) it had no label and the attendant told me that Murphy wasn't providing the biodiesel mix anymore.

I use Highs Dairy Stores (Shell & Citgo) because they give me the best mpgs. Other Shell stations in my area don't do as well.

Texaco or Shell. Whichever is cheaper. I avoid Pilot due to the service charge for.credit.cards.

Sent from my MB525 using Bimmer App

I really would like to see a quality report for each of the major players. I have been trying to research the issues and do not have the expertise to determine what is true and what is hype.

Is there a real difference between branded and non-branded fuels?

The way it was explained to me was as follows: Tank truck goes to local terminal to be filled up. Depending on what brand of station will dictate which and how much additives are put in along with the straight diesel. A driver explained to me that on a recent run he put in 90 gallons of additives to the straight diesel. Now, I'm unsure if the straight diesel already had the 5% biodiesel content or not. I recall he said that the diesel part was 900 gallons but 1) that sounds like way less than tanker truck holds and 2) 90 gallons of additive sounds like a lot for 900 gallons of base stock (9.09%=90/990).

Thomv, the short answer in the difference between branded and non branded is additives.

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

Thomv, the short answer in the difference between branded and non branded is additives.

This is definitely the case. People can decide for themselves if they think all that R&D that the big companies put into those additives make it worth going out of the way to then fill up their cars with.

So how does one determine what additives are added and what are their benefits?

I cannot find any data about what additives are being used. In my area, Chevron is the major branded fuel source.

I am presently running my fuel tank dry of the unbranded fuel to refill with the Chevron fuel to see if I can tell any difference other than a higher price.

You very likely will not tell any difference. Sometimes people find a blend of fuel that their car is more happy with and results in some better fuel economy, at least one active user on here who could comment about that and their car. A lot of times the additives are there to try and help with long term reliability issues more than anything else. Most of the big fuel companies are not going to comment fully on what their fuels should do because then opens up a can of worms about being liable for their claims.

I switched from "unbranded" fuel to Chevron years ago in my truck. Not because the truck ran any better/different but because I had spent quite some time with a Chevron testing engineer and discovered just how much dirtier the fuel I had been getting combusted at. But to see any negative effects from that more dirty fuel would take a LOT of usage, probably in the upwards of 150k or so miles. Since at the time I planned to keep my truck at least 300k miles it just made more sense to have the added piece of mind but that is all it is because I can't ever know for certain if the switch helps me any or if the "unbranded" stuff ever would have resulted in an issue for me.

Just be careful trying to run the car near dry on fuel. That can introduce air into the system and can cause more heartache than you'd want to experience. If you want to test out different fuels then I say get down to normal fillup levels and fill it up then try a few tanks of that fuel to see if any difference you notice and are happy with.

I was not planning on running totally dry. Just down to a few gallons so the fill up would contain mostly the Chevron fuel. Thks for the comments.

How come no Costco? Good fuel for good price.

Originally Posted by ProRail

How come no Costco? Good fuel for good price.

I wonder what brand fuel Costco is selling or are they just selling fuel bought direct from the depot with nothing added to it? Not to say/imply their fuel is bad, never been to a Costco before so just wondering is all.

Our Costco does not carry diesel. Fred Meyers has been cheapest of the nonbranddd lines

Originally Posted by Snipe656

I wonder what brand fuel Costco is selling or are they just selling fuel bought direct from the depot with nothing added to it? Not to say/imply their fuel is bad, never been to a Costco before so just wondering is all.

As mentioned, Costco doesn't sell diesel AFAIK. FYI, I use Safeway (and Fred Meyer) for my 335d.

As far as Costco gasoline: http://www.costco.com/gasoline-clean-power.html We've used Costco gas in our BMWs for over 10 years.

I have run my own experiment. I am finding that running Chevron vs un-branded that I get about 2 mpg better with the Chevron. My motor also seems to run quieter. (my wife's observation and she did not realize I was changing fuels)