Costco Gas

I been hesitant to purchase Costco Gas because I kept on thinking its like Arco Gas. Anyone purchased Costco Gas? Comparable to Shell or Chervon?

Thanks

If you're talking about gasoline, it may come from the same distributor.

I buy BJs gas, no problems yet.

dealgrabber2002 said:

I been hesitant to purchase Costco Gas because I kept on thinking its like Arco Gas. Anyone purchased Costco Gas? Comparable to Shell or Chervon?

Thanks

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I fuel almost exclusively at Costco (NY), and the car ('98 Camry) runs fine.

If you use your costco card you get a discount.

BTW, what's wrong with arco gas? That's what we have most of out here.

dealgrabber2002 said:

I been hesitant to purchase Costco Gas because I kept on thinking its like Arco Gas. Anyone purchased Costco Gas? Comparable to Shell or Chervon?

Thanks

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FWIW, BP owns ARCO.

These are the refineries we have in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Richmond Refinery
Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company, Golden Eagle (Avon/Rodeo) Refinery
Shell Oil Products US, Martinez Refinery
Valero Benicia Refinery
ConocoPhillips, Rodeo San Francisco Refinery

They supply all norcal stations with gasoline, whether brand name or independent. I once got a tank full of *%*&&*%&(^ from a nationally known chain. Never had a problem with Costco, Rotten Robbie, or any other independent dealer. Gas is probably gas unless it's contaminated somehow at the station you just visited. Unless I'm driving the lunar lander, I'm pulling into the place with the best price. IIRC, federal law mandates that all cars must be able to run on regular grade gasoline. So there must be some basic formula or standard adhered to (california reformulated aside).

I always buy gas from CostCo. Never a problem.

I only puchased gas from ARCO once. It made my car slow on accerlation and I didn't quite give me the mileage that Shell, 76, and Chervon did. I use mainly 89 (super??). That was the last time I went to ARCO. That's my experience with ARCO. I hope Costco Gasoline is not like ARCO.

Are you driving something with a super high compression engine?

dealgrabber2002 said:

I only puchased gas from ARCO once. It made my car slow on accerlation and I didn't quite give me the mileage that Shell, 76, and Chervon did. I use mainly 89 (super??). That was the last time I went to ARCO. That's my experience with ARCO. I hope Costco Gasoline is not like ARCO.

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I'm curious, how were you able to measure the slower acceleration.

Many times I'm unable to tell variances in acceleration. Were you using a timer / distance measuring device?

dealgrabber2002 said:

I only puchased gas from ARCO once.

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I purchase gas only at Arco stations - never a problem.

Assuming the car is OK (injectors, fuel filter, O2 sensor, tank pickup, etc. are all good) there are very few problems with most brand name gasolines over any of the other brands. Number one rule is to not fill up while the station tanks are being filled or shortly thereafter. Other than that, as long as all the locally available brands have switched from Winter blends to Summer blends, it probably wouldn't matter.

Using higher octane on a regular basis also probably isn't necessary unless you have a high performance engine. Modern fuel systems with knock sensors will take care of most differences with regards to octane levels. Check the manual.

I have a hard time believing that gas between major sellers is any different, but whatever.....

Nothing but Costco gas here, 5% back on every purchase, no problems at all.

The only difference between major franchises is the additives they use from what I have heard.

So far, my mother has been using Costco gasoline without any problem. I mostly use Arco myself and sometimes Valero since they have the lower prices in my area. My dad prefers Mobile.

My mother also used to use Arco but then started using Mobile after a co-worker told her that Arco mixes water with their gasoline :thinking: She then started using Mobile along with my dad and both always put Premium fuel in their cars since my dad also though higher octane gas meant it gives better performance (more "burning power" he says) and has more additives to help keep fuel injectors and internal engine parts clean.

But then after the price of gas went past $2.00 back in 2001, my mom switched to regular unleaded without trouble and later started using Costco fuel since she had a membership there and it was also convenient to buy groceries for the week and get fuel at the same time.

Dad still puts Premium fuel in the car he drives.

My uncle once told me that he had a friend that was "in the industry" who told him that it's all the same stuff, regardless of where you buy it.

I have read a few studies on this and the results seem to indicate that there are some differences in gasoline.

It seems that octane is determined by different tests. The Research method yields higher octane values, but the Motor method translates to better performance in your car. The octane at the pump is an average of the two.

I believe the Research method of determining octane came first, but differences in performance were observed with gas having the same octane, so the Motor method was devised. The Motor method involves higher RPM and higher intake air temperatures.

Gas with a higher Motor octane value seem to perform better, but I also think they are a little more expensive to formulate. At any rate, both numbers are moving targets, so it is subject to how the gas is formulated at the refinery.

If gas from all the refineries is pumped into the same storage tanks prior to distribution, then there would be little difference between them.

There is a difference in additive packages between the different brands. As I understand it, the additive package is put into the tanker truck before the gas is loaded. Traveling to the station mixes the additives into the gas and that becomes the brand of gas. Cheaper gas has less of a complete additive package.

In talking with various mechanics that work on engines, they seem to notice that cars that regularly run on "cheap" gas seem to have more deposits in the engine, and have dirtier injectors. Unfortunately, they don't spend time documenting this, and we have to keep in mind that they are working on "problem" engines and we don't know what initially caused the problem to start.

It may be an idea to add a little gas additive if you run "cheap" gas all the time, but choosing which additive is a more daunting task than picking a brand of gas. Perhaps a better idea is just to put a tank of "better" gas in every once in a while.

I had one mechanic give high praise to Techtron in one breath, then swear at it in the next breath when one of his customers put a gallon of it in a 12 gallon tank and then brought his car back saying that it was running a little "strange..."

I have also heard that Costco buys gas on the "spot market" and is not locked into any one brand. However, I am sure this is subject to change, depending on what they can negotiate.

Tom

Costco gas worked just fine the one time I used it.

I won't use it again though. Waiting in line for 20 minutes to save five bucks is ridiculous.

:buddies:

Diesel_Bomber said:

Costco gas worked just fine the one time I used it.

I won't use it again though. Waiting in line for 20 minutes to save five bucks is ridiculous.

:buddies:

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Go after 8 pm :tinfoil: