What additives are in Costco's gas?

basic fuel mix (gasoline+alcohol) comes from the tankers, detergent additives are added at the individual gas station level (very small amounts).

 

I read somewhere where it only costs $.01 per gallon to increase the EPA mandated additives to the top tier standard.

Galaxy Nexus ? 2

 

I am thinking MikeDee has it right to say that the EPA requires a certain detergent additive level. Also in reference another post above, the sulfur level is an EPA requirement too. I usually use Top Tier name brand due to various credit card discounts (grocery store etc) but I am not thinking Costco is worse quality. We do not have a Costco's selling gas but we have a BJ's that is lowest gaso in the area, but I go to name brand next to the BJ's that is forced to match the BJ price.

 

i wouldn't add seafoam to the car. i don't think there's a need. you see all these miracle stories about how the car's smoother, burns cleaner, gets better mpg, etc. Sure, that may be the case, but there are also cases where it messes up your seals. I used to seafoam my prelude and my integra. There were no adverse affects, but there were no noticeable gains either. I wouldn't seafoam my accord, even though I have two unopened bottles at home. My friend seafoamed his S4. Shortly after, the turbo seals went out as a direct result of the seafoam. So it may either help you marginally, or be detrimental in a larger way. Pros vs Cons.

 

It's very simple. EPA requirement for detergents is a bare minimum. Enough for beater cars for sure. Now, Toyota thinks it's too low for it's cars and hence the Top Tier endorsement.

As for the sulfur. The smelly incidents I had with Sams Club gas was before 2006. At that time EPA allowed up to 300 ppm sulfur in individual batches of gas while refinery average was capped at 90 ppm. Now, all batches are capped under 80 ppm, except for small refineries that fall under hardship exemption. So, yes, if you are outside CA, significant sulfur in gas is possible. The controversial EPA's tier 3 project is supposed to eliminate it entirely.

 

Are you trying to fix a problem or avoid one? Either way, Chevron Techron is a safe approach. But, if you don't have problem, and you shouldn't at 40k miles, then you are likely wasting your time and money.

 

we use ralph's gas (local grocery) - i think kroger in some states? i doubt we'll have problems. we get gas at costco also if it's cheaper and we're nearby.

 

One actual fact is that your dealership is lying con-artist. A can of Techron every 40k miles or so will do no harm and it sounds like it will be worth it for your piece of mind.

Modern cars on just decent quality gas usually go well over 200k miles with no injector treatment or cleaning required at all.
AGCO Automotive Repair Service - Baton Rouge, LA - Detailed Auto Topics - Fuel Injectors and Wallet Flushing

 

Concur.

This is just another case of an attempted dealer rip-off.
How the %@! can they tell that your injectors are partially or fully dirty without looking at them????

More importantly....if your car is running OK and getting its typical great fuel efficiency....how can the injectors be dirty? Or if they are---why clean them???

I usually use top-tier gas only because I'm not enough of a tightwad to plan my life around finding the nearest el-cheapo station, and usually the bigs have cleaner restrooms and better gedunk inside.
YMMV

My CFO uses cheap gas whenever/wherever possible, and so I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to get to dismount and clean my throttle body and associated plumbing about every 90,000 miles or when the fuel efficiency starts to drop.Non Prius drivers might also notice a hesitation upon accelerating.
It takes an hour or two and costs about three bucks for the TB (carb) cleaner.
I'll also throw a bottle of Seafoam or Techron at the vehicle every 30,000 miles or so just for the placebo effect.


Seriously....
Stay AWAY from that sealership!!!

 

Another thing is that fuel injector inspection/cleaning is NOT mentioned in the Toyota service schedule. These guys might be nice, but they're nicely fleecing you.

 

Costco uses the Kirkland Signature additive package.


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

If you have enough loot to buy a Mercedes, you should be buying the good gas the car needs.....

 

The one way every gas company can claim " No gasoline out performs our gas" and none of them be lieing, is if they are all the same.

 

237k on my Prius, using Chevron 95% of the time, seems to run fine, virtually the same MPGs since day one. I guess if my fuel injectors were dirty, it wouldn't continue to return the same MPGs.

 

The only thing is not every gas company claims that.

The fact that some car makers teamed up and produced a gasoline standard is very telling. Straight from TopTier website:

How exactly is this confusing?

 

I've been using Arco gas. While not officially a top tier gas, they are claiming their gas keeps intake valves clean (from a pamphlet at the pump).

Anyone notice a difference in gas mileage between gasoline? Do they all have the same amount of alcohol? The more the alcohol, the less the gas mileage.

Galaxy Nexus ? 2

 

Aside from marketing (Top tier gas, Techron, nitrogen enhanced) they are all the same. In theory, E10 is 3% less powerful than E0, but virtually all gas is required to have some oxygenates, so even if it is not E10, it is not 'pure gas' and has not been since the 1920s.

Tetraethyllead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia