Hey all,

I'm a student at the Ohio State University. I'm gearing up to bring my Mustang to Columbus here in a month, and I'm excited!

If any of you are familiar with the grocery store, Giant Eagle, they are offering gas like many other grocery stores across the country(Jewel in Illinois for example). In addition to being a little cheaper, Giant Eagle offers discounts depending on how much money you pay there for groceries. On our last fill up, my girlfriend and I saved a dollar/per gallon.

Enough of the background story. My question to you guys is, how many of you buy gas from a grocery store? Do you think you are getting a quality gasoline? Any other thoughts?

 

http://www.buckeyestangs.com/vb/show...ighlight=giant

 

Well with them all having to change over to 10% Ethanol, I'd be leary of any distributor that does put in additives. Additives equal build up, and Ethanol eats away at rubber. Its turning into a lose lose situation.
There are only two sure things not to do when/where buying gas.

1: Do NOT buy from CITGO, nor 7-11 Stores (there new brand is still Chavez owned. and

2. Never, Never, get gas while a tanker is unloading at that station. The pressure they use, stirs up any settlement there may be in the tanks.

 

Thanks for the link. That was informative.

 

I wish we had those, Id use it in the jeep

 

Our local "Quicky Mart" type store gets Exxon gas.
The next town over has a station that looks very upscale with a local Brand Name. They have crappy gas from who knows where.
Wherever you buy gas, just asks one of the non-owners who works there and they will probably tell you where the gas comes from.

 

I used to work in a self serve station back in the 80's. We were a Citgo station at the time (later Sunoco), and the manager there used to ask the driver all the time what brand we were getting. Rarely was it ever Citgo gas.

Also, if the driver was heading back to fill up and had some gas to get rid of, they would just deliver it to a station in the same company so they could return empty.

I don't know how common it is for branded stations to get another brands gas, but from past experience it did happen where I worked! So you never really know what is in the ground unless you follow the delivery truck from the terminal to the station!

 

No offense, but what you stated about 10% Ethanol eating away at rubber seals/hoses ect. is absolute B.S.

Perhaps you guys in Florida haven't changed over yet, but here in Pennsylvania. All our fuel is formulated with 10% Ethanol, and has been for years. As a matter of fact, I use nothing but Sunoco 93 Ultra in my 05 GT.

In which every Sunoco station here in PA. is formulated with 10% Ethanol.

That being said, I've been running Sunoco 93 Ultra in my vehicles for well over 7 years, and haven't experienced a single problem whatsoever !

 

A fellow OSU student! What's up?

As far as the Giant Eagle gas thing goes... I've filled up at their Get Go stations several times, and never had any problems whatsoever, no difference in mileage, and no noticable difference in performance.

 

I run Stop & Shop Grocery gas in my 95 Ranger (87oct) and in the 06 GT (93oct).. no issues, the deal is 5cents off reg, and 10 cents off premium for scanning your card. Plus for every $50 you spend in the store, they take 10 cents additional off a gallon. Tonight I filled my truck for 45cents off per gallon! (would have been 50cents in the stang), and before these discounts they are consistently among the lowest cost local suppliers.

 

Oh, and I forgot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2nkD3AeWIw

 

Hey man! Do you live around campus or on?

 

All I use in my car is chevron gas unless Im in a tight spot and not left with much choice.Its all I use in any of my cars, even my beat to crap 91 explorer.

even if the difference between two gas stations is 20 cents your only saving 3 dollars a tank 3 whole dollars, and when your already paying for premium why split hairs, I mean when it costs 80 dollars to fill your tank you really going to feel that 3 bucks just my opinion. the biggest difference I see around here between cheapo gas and chevron is 5-10 cents.

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

 

Two things here. One, we used to buy our gas at the Sam's Club down the street. Our mechanic told us in no uncertain words to stop buying the gas there. he said it was not good for our vehicles, and it also explained why my wife's recently tuned Camry was pinging so much. Well, we stopped buying gas there, and, guess what? Pinging ceased.

2nd point: just what is all this sulp[hur being added in some form to some of the gas stations around here> Not all, but some. Man, that stuff stinks. You can really notice the difference. The Ford techs on here must've been onto something. Why would they add sulphur? Is it an octane booster? Wasn't it outlawed back in the 70s as one of the reasons for acid rain?

 

I've had technicians who worked for me that were former fuel distributer drivers. Here is how they explained it to me. Their tanker fills up from a fuel farm usually containing those floating top tanks which can hold hundreds of thousands of gallons. The tanker doesn't have segregated tanks, it's all the same. There are lock boxes on each tanker which contain octane boosters and proprietary additives for the brands they service. Everything is pre-measured and they add what is necessary for that station.

As far as sulfur is concerned someone please explain why they would add sulfur to gasoline after they just went through that big switchover last year to low sulfur diesel. All 2007 and later diesel engines have to run low sulfur fuel. Since several states including Florida have recently switched to 10% ethanol I believe people are smelling the interaction of the newly formulated fuels with the catalytic converters.

Just my $.02
BB

 

Not so. Our lawn mower gas can doesn't have catalytic converters. This stuff smells strongly of sulphur. If it was just the Stang, I'd think you were probably correct.

 

"....No offense, but what you stated about 10% Ethanol eating away at rubber seals/hoses ect. is absolute B.S." (Quote from Rocky)

Sorry partner, but it is FAR from BS. Just ask any of us, or any mechanic, that have Classic Cars. Maybe it doesn't effect your's and our New Car's. BUT it CERTAINLY does a job on the Needle Points in the Carburators, for one. And it does not last. It has NO shelf live. So having any Classic, that rarely is taken out, this 10% crap, is deteriorating the fuel system. Without aftermarket additives, and only puting in enough of that fuel you need, so it will not sit, does cause damage. Our Classic's, or Dinosaur's, if you prefer, require much more internal protection than ever before. And if not done, they will become museum pieces insted of road classics.

 

As for the 10% Ethanol, I am a Yacht Broker in Long Island, NY and I can tell you that the alcohol in the gas is playing havoc with carburetors, fuel tanks and fuel pumps in boats new or old with gas engines and generators. Also if you get the slightest amount of water in your gas tank is causes the alcohol to separate out of the gas and go to the bottom of the tank, and your done, until you have every drop of the separated alcohol pumped out of the tank.

 

I live near campus... if you're familiar with the Lennox Center Target, I'm right around the corner from there.

 

I buy gas from Costco or Sams club and have not really had any issues except one time when gas gauge was reading zero with a half tank. It went away the next day.