What additives are in Costco's gas?

Whatever dude. Apparently you know the best.

 

- Top Tier Detergent Gasoline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I dropped My Costco membership many years ago and never looked back. I never understood paying the membership fee $50 or $100 a year for the privilege of shopping there.

Buying food in bulk just leads us to overeat or throw stuff out. If your a smart shopper you can get good deals without Costco.

The gas is cheap, but with the XM low fuel price information I can get top tier Mobil, She'll and Chevron at Costco prices.

The Costco Pizza is the bomb, but you don't need a membership to buy a few slices!

 

You are very selective in your reading comprehension.

from the same source:

 

no one has yet talked about following toyota's scheduled maintenance guidelines. just do what the maintenance book recommends!

 

The "Top Tier" debate?

The way I look at it, if you don't regularly use a top tier gas station? Then the Techron gas treatment is a very cheap and easy procedure to apply.

Can I prove it helps? I can't. Of course Chevron swears it will and does. So to me? Win, Lose or Draw with it, it's a cheap enough insurance policy/placebo.

I strive to use Chevron gas and fill at Chevron or Top Tier stations and I still run a Techron treatment through occasionally. (once or twice a year max) .

If I'm wasting $8.00 a year or less on this gambit? I'm okay with it.

I can't really prove anything, and I realize my limited single experience is almost really worthless. But Top Tier and occasional Techron treatments has been my "fuel" protocol, and I've never had a problem with any of my engines. 3 vehicles ago, I applied this routine to an early 1990's Honda Accord with 120,000 miles on it, and the engine ran perfectly.

I would be HIGHLY suspicious of a dealership claiming an engine with around 40,000 miles needed an in depth Fuel Injection cleaning. Unless you have noticed a performance drop off? It would be something I would assume really wasn't needed.

 

Over 200,000 miles and 20 years, my previous car, a 1990 Honda Accord, never needed a fuel injector cleaning orreplacement... In addition, I normally used cheap no name generic 10% ethanol regular 87 octane gas. IIRC ... I did have to replace a fuel filter at one time... IMHO if you are worried about your fuel injectors being dirty ... you should check it see if you need to replace the fuel filter...

 

Be aware on The Prius Gen 2 and Gen 3, the fuel filter is built into the gas tank. Not sure on the Gen 2 but at least on the Gen 3 evidently there is an access panel under the rear seat that allows you to access and remove the " pump/filter/level sender assembly ". But from most of the threads I could find, right here in Prius Chat, it seems the Fuel Filter is considered a "Lifetime" filter and checking it and replacing it is NOT and easy or casual endeavor.

 

Geez! I didn't know that!
I wonder why Toyota did that?

 

As obvious as it may sound, it's because they really do last the lifetime of the car. My 1998 Corolla was driven to 220k miles with no fuel filter change. My aunt probably has it now at 250k miles.

 

Most manufacturers have been going to lifetime fuel filters that are in the tank.

 

Almost all the cars on the road is this way. It is easy for packaging and is two less fittings that can leak or get hit/damaged by road debris or side impact accidents.

The filters are very easy to replace IMO considering their locations. Also there is 3-6x more filter surface area compared to the inline type filters.

 

This thread is not as entertaining as some of the old oil threads.

 

Where can I find me some Bottom Tier Gasoline?

 

7-11 stores.

 

Any gas that has been in storage for over a year will be bottom tier. Only suitable for wankel engines.

 

...well you can get ethanol-free (oxygenate-free) gasoline in some areas. At this point in time, ethanol is the only oxygenate we are generally using in the USA to my knowledge. MTBE was widely used but banned around 2005.

Someone posted the fuel injector info from a Baton Rouge repair shop, which I wondered if I ever went to that shop when I lived there. But it reminded me that 10-15 years ago (early 2000's) that gasoline may have been more problematic with respect to fuel injectors. Today we have the various EPA regs for low sulfur gaso, reformulated gaso, E10, etc...these regulations have undoubtedly "cleaned up" gasoline to a significant degree. Consumer Reports always said all gasolines are equal, which was never exactly true, but today it is more true than before because all these regs tend to more narrowly define the allowable make-up of gasoline, one would think.

 

It all smells the same to me.... C'mon. Who can tell the difference? Who has had injectors get clogged in the last decade?

 

It is not.

Galaxy Nexus ? 2