Here's they story, about a year ago I decided to switch to Pioneer from Sunoco for the Vette and Shell for my daily driver because they gave away bonus/bonanza bucks or whatever at least you got something. Just after switching I noticed my daily drivers kinda bog and stutter a bit on takeoff, not too bad but noticable. I then noticed my Vette doing the same thing. The Vette used premium and the dd regular but I put 2 and 3 together and figured it was the gas and switched back to the Sunoco/Shell. The problem on takeoff disappeared within a few miles of driving for both cars. Needless to say I have not gone back to Pioneer.

Now I put the Vette away for the year so I don't buy any gas from Sunoco for a ffew months until spring and I get the Vette out and fill it up and now I have the bog or stutter again when starting from a stop.

Not too bad but I have to rev it higher to get over this bog. I buy new plugs and do the normal looking around and can't find anything wrong but it still bogs and now I have some deiseling which I have never had and my idle RPM has not changed any it stays at 800.

So now I go to Shell and put in their premium ( it is only 91 and Sunoco was 94 ) but the bog seems to have gone away and the car runs great. What the h ell
is going on, did Sunoco do something to thier gas ?

I am going to email them but don't expect a stright answer but I am going to tell that I am not buying any more of thier gas until I get an explanation.

BTW I have been runnig Sunoco 94 for 7 years without a problem and the motor is more than tuned correctly.

Am I going crazy here or are their others that are having the same experience,
if I can hear from a few people who believe this has happend to them then possibly I can add their responses to my email to Sunoco and if I get enough
responses maybe they will be forced to give a straight answer. :D



[Modified by MotorHead, 5:47 PM 5/30/2003]

 

Gas really is pretty much the same between brands. Most stations buy from whoever happens to have a truck nearby. Consider an intersection with a shell, a mobile, and a texaco. You think there will be a texaco tanker rig coming for the texaco, a mobile for the mobile station and a shell for the shell station? Nope... More often than not ONE truck will fill all three stations.

That said, there IS a difference between individual STATIONS. If they don't take care of their tanks, water and dirt collects. This is the real reason to stay away from bargain gas stations. The risks are greater that you get water and other contaminents in your fuel. Water, BTW, will cause the symptoms you describe...

 

I agree with Zwede, worked at the refinery in Nanticoke and you would be suprised at the names on the tankers (when it was Texico, it's now Esso).

That being said I was running Pioneer and Sunoco in my DD (2001 Silverado) and have had problems with slow speed stalling (wheels cranked and parking) the last gas i bought was Shell.

Steve :steering:

 

I have been running Sunoco-94 for 5 years, I just filled the Vette up today.

No problems here, whatsoever! Maybe try a can of dry gas, and keep with one fuel after that, whatever that may be? :cheers:

 

I disagree... That's an old wives tale that all gas is the same. The octane rating method is R+M over 2 (R)reasearch octane is under no load. (M)motor octane is measure under load. So you can see that brand A might use R 96 and and M 90 for a pump rating of 93 while brand B might use R 90 and M96 for a pump rating of 93. Two totally different formulas that will act completely differently. Companies are constantly changing their formulas. Do a search for gasoline FAQ and you will find a HUGE paper on gasoline. Histoy additives, More than you can comprehend unless you are a chemist with a PHD. My 427 will not run on some brands of 93 and nothing comes close to Amoco. The worst is Hess. I can't even touch the gas without extreme pinging but no pinging on Amoco even though both are rated at 93 octane.


[Modified by bluevetteman, 7:22 PM 5/30/2003]

 

i go back and forth between shell and sunoco...seem ok to me...

 

You might want to check if the Sunoco is an ethanol based gas. In california they are forcing us to switch from a MTBE based gas to ethanol. I talked to the tech line at 76 and they said that there is a chance that when a car switches from the MTBE gas to ethanol it can cause gumming and deposits in the system. (I found lots of gunk in my intake from it) Apparently the ethanol is a very good cleaner and will force the years of build up in your tank and fuel lines to flow strait to the carb. They said they have had several calls that relate to the subject. He recommened trying to use the MTBE gas as long as possible. I'm not sure about your neck of the woods, but California has to switch over by Jan 1st 04. I plan on just flushing the system now with the new gas so I won't have to deal with it later. Good luck,
Christ

 

Sunoco around here is 10% ethanol and has been for a few years and I have never had a problem so unless they incresed the enthanol or something it is not a factor.

I didn't mention in my post but I have been playing around with this for a month or so just to make sure because the stumble is not a real bad one and it is possible you could wriite it off to yoor motor needing a tuneup. I ran the Sunoco for the last two weeks, got used to the stumble, put Shell in today and the stumble disappeared,

I have to agree that I don't believe all these big players ( Sunoco, Shell and Esso ) share the same gas

***I just thought of a good idea I am going to email Sunoco and tell them my car runs better than it ever did with their gas and did they change the formula or do something else to it to make it so good ? :lol:


[Modified by MotorHead, 6:42 PM 5/30/2003]

 

Sunoco in Canada is up to 10% alcohol. That is stated clearly on the pumps. So you may have a point.

 

The Sunoco stations in pa hare now speedy gas I know nothing ABOUT THIS GAS

 

This thread is over 10 years old!

 

 

True, but the hocus-pocus myths and conspiracy theories live on unabated.

 

[QUOTE=Larry B.;1544151808]I disagree... That's an old wives tale that all gas is the same)


around here a gasoline distributor, (who I will not name), picks up gasoline from an independent refinery, (who I will not name) , then he takes his no name tankers to a lot of different brand name stations, and unloads his fuels. all of the fuels come from the same tank.

 

it could well be the dishonest gas station owner. i had similar situation with local shell gas station 93 oct. Whenever I use their gas i'd diesel like crazy. i even shelled in octane booster and it still dieseled on their gas. switched to exxon 93 oct few miles up the road, never had dieseling again.