Lexusfreak

Agreed mr. aristo......it's awesome stuff!

TunedRX300

I fill up at Coscto and use Chevron's total fuel system cleaner. Costco gas is supplied by Cheron and Shell but w/o additives. For those who fill up at regular Chevron/Shell, you don't need to add additional additives.
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Discounters
Gain as Price
Of Gas Rises

Oil Companies Fight Back
By Touting Premium Fuel;
Do You Need High Octane?
By THADDEUS HERRICK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 7, 2005; Page D1

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

WITH GASOLINE PRICES at record levels, drivers are increasingly filling up their tanks at Wal-Mart Stores, Albertsons and other retailers not traditionally thought of as gas stations.

Big chains such as these -- even Kroger offers gas at 536 food stores -- are quickly adding new pumps, and are gaining popularity with drivers since they often sell fuel for about three to seven cents a gallon less than conventional service stations, according to Energy Analysts International, a consulting firm in Westminster, Colo. At the same time, regional discount gas-station chains like QuikTrip and Love's are also popping up around the country. Grocers and big-box discounters, which entered the gasoline business during the late 1990s, are growing at a rate of about 20% a year.

As a result, major oil companies, including BP Plc, ChevronTexaco Corp. and others, are heavily marketing their own gasoline brands as having additives that make them worth paying extra for. Shell Oil Products U.S. plans to spend $25 million this summer to promote V-Power, a top-grade fuel that has five times the minimum amount of detergent (which helps keep internal engine parts free of carbon buildup). BP is pushing its Amoco Ultimate, describing it as providing "more performance and less pollution," in its press material.

Finding inexpensive fuel is an increasingly important financial issue for drivers. The average household is expected to spend about $2,000 this year on gas, according to EAI, which is several hundred dollars more than last year. Average prices for regular unleaded are now hovering around $2.22 a gallon, up about 44 cents from a year ago, according to the Department of Energy.

Though current prices at the pump are still lower than they were in the 1980s, when adjusted for inflation, the steep rise has created a surge in demand for cheap fuel. It's one reason why big-box retailers and grocery stores, which typically sell discount fuel, are expected to account for at least 12% of the nation's gasoline market by 2008, up from 5.9% in 2002, according to EAI.

For consumers, the pricing disparities, combined with marketing claims about the importance of gasoline additives, is adding new complications to the otherwise straightforward task of filling up. But since all gasoline must meet government minimum standards for certain key additives, in most cases, it doesn't matter what brand or grade of gas gets put in the tank.

The low-cost providers are able to undercut rivals on pricing brands because they buy unbranded gasoline from wholesalers. However, often the suppliers are the same ones providing gasoline to the major gas-station chains. The gasoline at Costco, for example, is the same fuel that branded stations such Shell and Chevron and BP typically sell, often from the same refineries. The difference is that the branded fuel contains a small amount of detergent that can help clean important working parts of an engine, particularly the valves and fuel injectors.

Even the lowest-price gasoline meets detergent standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1995. And extra detergent can also be bought at auto-parts stores for as little as 99 cents, and simply poured into the tank as infrequently as every 3,000 miles, a considerable savings to the cost of branded midgrade or premium.

Another money-saving option: Fill up occasionally on branded gasoline that contains extra cleansing compounds, and buy discount gas the rest of the time. That should be adequate to keep valves and fuel injectors from clogging, says Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station and Automotive Repair Association.

Major oil companies disagree, saying regularly using high-detergent fuels enhances performance, reduces emissions and improves gasoline mileage.

Last summer, they won some vindication. BMW, Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. joined together to recommend gasoline that meets a higher standard for detergents than the one set by the EPA. Those making the "Top Tier" list for all grades of their gasoline: Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips' brands of Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76, QuikTrip, Entec Stations and MFA Oil. According to the car makers, the EPA standard is minimal and, in many cases, isn't sufficient to keep engines clean.

Another key choice that can have a significant impact on consumers' wallets is whether to buy higher octane fuel, which sells for as much as 20 cents a gallon more than regular unleaded. Cars requiring more expensive fuel include sporty automobiles with high-compression engines.

But while less than 10% of cars need such gasoline, as many as 30% of Americans fill up with such fuel, says Sean Comey, a spokesman for the Automobile Association of America. "A lot of people are wasting a lot of money," he says.

Mr. Comey says regular unleaded is adequate even for cars in which the owners manual recommends a higher octane gasoline. Octane comes in three levels. Without the proper one, engines can make knocking or pinging noise, a signal that the car is burning fuel inefficiently. In this case, owners needn't worry about car damage. Simply switch to a higher grade, Mr. Comey recommends.

Whether discounters will keep their prices significantly lower than branded fuels is unclear. Already, in California, an unusually tight gasoline market has hit discounters without long-term contracts harder than branded service stations, which have guaranteed supply contracts. The result: In some instances, gasoline at discounters can cost more than fuel at branded stations.

In other markets big retailers such as Wal-Mart have been gradually raising their gasoline prices, narrowing the differential between themselves and branded stations, says Joseph J. Leto, who heads EAI. The reason: Discounters are comfortable that their customers are in the habit of filling up while buying groceries and other goods, giving them less incentive to dramatically undercut prices at conventional service stations.

While overall growth in gasoline sales at big-box retailers and grocery stores remains strong, it is slowing a bit, according to EAI, partly due to market saturation and laws that require a certain price markup above cost at the pump. Wal-Mart, which operates or leases 1,220 gas stations in the U.S., has in particular been stung by measures like these.

BUYER'S GUIDE

• Unless the owner's manual says a car requires higher octane gasoline, regular is fine.

• Fuel containing extra detergents can help keep engines clean -- but so can inexpensive additives from an auto-parts store.

• If a car's engine is knocking or pinging, switch to a higher grade.


Write to Thaddeus Herrick at thaddeus.herrick@wsj.com

SDSC300

Seafoam..
works great.
I put it in the oil, TB, and gas.



https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hlight=seafoam

http://www.supraforums.com/forum/sho...hlight=seafoam

http://www.mr2oc.com/showthread.php?...hlight=seafoam

SCV8

Whatever you use, make sure you use up the tank within a week, as the chemicals in these cleaners can soften the plastc parts in the fuel system. I saw first hand how a Techronaholic had messed up up his new car by adding the stuff in each tank of gas, as well as using Chevron premium, kinda funny really; compulsive sob. The Lincoln dealer agreed to replace the fuel pump, and all the injectors, regulator under warranty, but was told to cut back on the Techron.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

I use STP complete fuel system cleaner (silver bottle). I saw an article in Car and driver magazine some years back testing fuel system cleaners. They disassembled an egine to see which product works best, and the stp came out on top.

Lexusfreak

How many fuel system cleaners were tested? Was the Chevron with Techron synthetic one of them as well?

TunedRX300

I remembered reading that article also, STP at that time was the only one to come up with a complete system cleaner. If I remember correctly, Chevron Techron was not yet avaliable at that time.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Yup, the test was only for stp. It did an excellent job of ridding the engine of deposits. The silver bottle guys

toy4two

BG 44k fuel system cleaner, you can find it at good Toyota Dealers in their parts department.

Its what the pros use, its like 10 times stronger than Techron.