JerryU

Great! Makes me feel my using it (or the equivalent the GM product I had used in my 2014 ) is worth the effort. It says it should on the container and is one of the two key billets on the Techron website!

Curious, assume you park your car in the winter as you live in NY. Do you keep a full tank or follow the "keep it at ~1/3 full so the sender is not sitting in gasoline?"

Hall1836

Off the road for the winter, had a full tank.

JerryU

Thanks for the feedback! For others who are reading this Thread who store they car (and for myself for my street rod) that comment reinforces filling the tank when parked for a lengthy time may be a bad idea!

I installed the fuel level sender in my street rod. I could, if needed, drop the fuel tank with minimum effort to replace it. It's not like the C7 that requires dropping whole rear drivetrain! As I said previously, a forum member was horrified when he saw his drivetrain on the ground in their garage as they replaced a sender!

Would appear to me that having the sender submerged in gas is a perfect scenario for sulfur to plate itself to the electrical resistance strip as there is no gas sloshing around to assist whatever additives the gasoline contains to be in contact with the material. Know it's a liquid and I am not a chemist BUT would seem to me that these "cleaning compounds in Top Tier fuel" migrating by diffusion would be slow compared to gasoline moving in the tank while driving!

The suggestions I have read of keeping the tank ~1/3 full when storing for the winter would be logical!

I put STA-BIL in my street rod fuel tank at each fill (typically after I drive to and back from each car show) think I'll add a container of Techron periodically! I'll continue to use Techron in my C7!

Bcarr

JerryU

^^^
See my post #13 with details.
Sure you can replace the fuel sender at a very high cost in a C7 as to get the tanks down you have to remove the whole rear drive train, dif suspension etc! It is also possible it is other than a sulfur coating on the sender BUT it solved the OPs problem and others have reported the same, including one where a dealer put in two bottles of the GM equivalent product and charged $100 and it solved the problem!

This is what it says as the two points in the Techron website that reads the same as the recommended GM fuel additive mentioned in the Owner's manual.

Techron States:
One treatment with TECHRON® Concentrate Plus can help:
* Clean corrosive sulfur deposits from fuel gauge sensors
* Restore operation of sulfur contaminated fuel gauge sensors

Techron or equivalent is what Top Tier contains in very small amounts. It dissolves sulfur that is in gasoline that can coat the electrical strip that a wiper moves on as the gas float moves with fuel level.

Suggest you read the whole Thread!

Michael A

The sulphur issue goes back to the C5 days. Sometimes you have to run a few good top tier tanks of gas to clean the sender. I used Chevron to clean it up, and used it religiously after that. No more problems.

JerryU

Yep, Techron is Chevron’s patented product! It’s in their Top Tier gas and was in others who bought it from them. Assume most other oil ompanies now have their own similar “stuff.”

If there s a problem, no harm in adding a bottle as well as using Top Tier gas. Might as well desolve the sulfur asap.

Grand Slam

Yup. When it happened to me I owned my C5. I've read of entire portions of the country that experienced the problem all at once due to a bad supply of gas.

Vetteman Jack

I put a bottle in the tank about twice a year and have not had any fuel sending unit problems in my C5.

JerryU

Yep, the sulfur is supposed to be reduced to a low level in refining. In our area we get our gasoline from a pipeline as do many. Top Tier non Top Tier (like Sam's Club in our area that is often ~$0.40/gallon less for High Test) get the same gas! When it's put in the tanker to be delivered they all get some additive package. Some aren't as expensive additives as required to meet Top Tier specs however if a batch of gas gets out with high sulfur they all get it!

Sour crude oil, a common raw material, can have ~3% sulfur, so can see how an error in refining might cause an issue!

Michael A

That's contrary to this article.

"But this doesn't mean that all gas is the same, even though it starts out that way. The fuel from different filling stations comes from a common source: the "base gas" from a refinery. Workers there mix additives mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency into the base gas in order to clean a car's engine and reduce emissions. Then, the different gas companies — both off-brand and major brands — put their own additive packages in the gas to further boost both cleaning and performance."

https://www.edmunds.com/car-care/is-...-your-car.html

Dave80C3

In the USA there are 21 blends of regular gas, One being CA blend and its the only state that uses it. Blends are for a given area depending on the requirements of that area of the country.

The gas you are buying may have been drilled for by BP, Shell, Exxon, Cheveron, Marathon or some one else. So it comes ashore in one of a few pipe lines. All oil companies oil go into the same pipe lines and get mixed together. From the pipe line it goes to a Refinery, again any one of the Major oil companies. So BP might be refining Chevrons crude oil, you just never know. The refiner refines it to the requirements of the blend that is for the geographical area it will go to.

From there it is most often shipped again by pipe line to the distributor. That pipeline could have gas from several different refineries if they are all producing the same blend. So it this point the gas is a mix from all producers.

At the distribution center the additive package is added and it now is branded gas. The additive package is the only difference if you are buying gas in the same area. Gas in FL for example is a different blend then the gas in East TN and North GA. West TN has a different blend yet from East TN. All BP use the same additive package regardless of area, same with the other brands.

Top Tier, is just a better additive package with more detergents in it.

LIStingray

You may want to change that old school thinking for next winter.
With E10 fuel the recommendation is to keep the fuel at less than 1/4 tank if possible. This will also help with the fuel sender sticking issue, which from keeping track of posts on this forum, seems to be most prevalent after a car coming out of winter storage with the tank full.

JerryU

Hmm, that is exactly what I said! Quoting:
"When it's put in the tanker to be delivered they all get some additive package. Some aren't as expensive additives as required to meet Top Tier specs however if a batch of gas gets out (in a pipeline) with high sulfur they all get it!"

Those "workers" the article refers to may well be the tank truck driver! It's a small percentage and as that article states the EPA requires ALL GAS to use additives to help keep the engine clean! Even the $0.40/gallon less Sam's Club high test gas versus Top Tier around here.! They just don't pay a royalty to Chevron or someone else and the "cleaning additives " are not as effective!

A forum poster noted a relative operates a tank truck(s) and delivers to a number of gas stations. If you look at a tanker truck many have internal partitions and multiple outlets for regular and high test and so they can deliver both to different stations with different additive packages. Just have to get the right small amount of additive in the proper section! No big deal!

Larry/car

You have gas saving tires, spark plugs, seven speed manual/eight speed auto, and a aero dynamic body. Why should it not make gasoline. Remember to let the gas out when the tank gets full!

Ozzstar

Year and mileage of your car?

sharpseadog

You all should know that COSTCO gas IS TOP TIER. This certification is provided by consortium of automobilei manufacturers. I don't know about WAL-MART and SAM'S CLUB. Having worked extensively in 4 different regional refineries, i do know that the post about common sourcing, then custom blending is correct. I have used COSTCO gas without any issues in my C6 and both C7's. It averages at least $0.40 per gallon less than major brands that are also Top Tier. 🚘🚘🚘😊

Dcasole

You do know that this is a 3 year old thread right .....

eboggs_jkvl

Necro thread of 3 years.
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