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This from the Top Tier site describes their testing procedures Top Tier Gasoline which is pretty much a duplicate of several old papers on the subject I have.
Santa Fe,
I appreciate the comments regarding Top Tier gasoline, which is based purely on the additives that each company puts in its gasoline. But I have yet to see any data regarding the effects of using non Top Tier products. Have you ever seen a case of "Sorry mister, your cars engine needs an overhaul, you failed to use top tier gasoline in your car" ?
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RobMason
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Rob, I do have some old (90's) copyrighted tests from an independent lab. I'll try to reach them and see if they will release them if you like. However they pretty much say the same thing as the Top Tier tests. i.e. tests for identical things and failed where the Top Tier gas tests show it passed in order to get the certification. I do not have any documentation of individual cars with gunked up internals that an individual mechanic put down to gas but it sure makes sense to me.
GM has stated that they, and the other manufacturers, were experiencing isolated area's of issues related to fuel systems, that they were tracing back to inadequate levels of detergency in the fuels (Top Tier mandates a higher level of detergency than that of the EPA). Couldn't find info directly related to the specifics other than that (could be injector fouling, for instance). TT was instituted in 2005 and gasoline spec's can be very regional, as well as having been changing through time, so I'm not sure to what degree 1990's data will be of use as a direct comparison...... Engines, of course, have been advancing rapidly in terms of fuel delivery systems over the last several years and what may be apparent to a mechanic may not be widespread yet. ie. the most time that a car could have been using TT fuel is three years and there may not be many (any?) mechanics who could draw the conclusions between vehicles using different fuels. And TT fuel is supposed to address potential deposit issues with new and upcoming technologies. There appears to be an dollop of marketing push behind this all too, which is not that surprising.
One other factor recommended by fuel engineers (can't find the reference right now), after using one brand of fuel for a while (in my case, one of the top tier gases), switch to another. Each one's detergents affect different deposits. So by switching every 5000 miles or so, you keep all the deposits down.
I remember a test that was done years ago to see if any of the gasoline additives being marketed on TV were any good. They were all rated as useless. Except for Techron from Chevron.
I also remember the post cited by rrosen (Robert) above. A petroleum engineer listed several of the major brands of gas, each with its own distinct additive. He recommended (and followed) a periodic rotation among about three of the brands, using several tanks of one before switching to another. He was convinced that such a rotation would minimize the various engine deposits over the long run.
I remember a test that was done years ago to see if any of the gasoline additives being marketed on TV were any good. They were all rated as useless. Except for Techron from Chevron.
Dave, thanks. I think I will continue filling up at the station where I have filled for the last 20 years, and never had a problem. It just so happens it is not only the closest one but one of the least expensive stations near my house. They also let me fill up my propane tanks there.
FYI, it is not a Top Tier brand
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RobMason
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