Top Tier Gas

[LAAC]

I have a 20' Silverado LT 5.3L. The manual says to put top tier gas in the tank but I haven't found any gas stations in my location (Northern VA) that sell top tier gas. Could not using top tier gas eventually harm my engine?

[fastk9dad]

None of these stations exist in Northern VA?

https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

 

And no, not using it won't harm your engine. It's a marketing licensing program where the members agree to use certain additives/detergents in their fuel.

Edited March 29, 2022 by fastk9dad

[KARNUT]

1 hour ago, fastk9dad said:

None of these stations exist in Northern VA?

https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

 

And no, not using it won't harm your engine. It's a marketing licensing program where the members agree to use certain additives/detergents in their fuel.

My wife’s 2011 get gassed at Sams after church on Sunday. My 02 Avalanche at Kroger’s same with my 15 CRV. None are top tier. I’m more concerned with volume than the top tier status.

[Z45]

I rarely use top tier fuel as they are the most expensive stations around here. Been using Murphy (WM) for over 20 yrs.  Less costly + 2% cash back with Capital One CC.   Its the most convenient place for me.  One Shell close is at a grocery store and the pumps are often in disrepair or out of Premium fuel which my 6.2L runs best on + up to 30 cent more that Murphy.   I just run some AMSOIL P.i. fuel system cleaner every 4,000-5,000 miles and never a problem.

[customboss]

5 hours ago, LAAC said:

I have a 20' Silverado LT 5.3L. The manual says to put top tier gas in the tank but I haven't found any gas stations in my location (Northern VA) that sell top tier gas. Could not using top tier gas eventually harm my engine?

Was in fuels and lubes formulating, testing, research, and development sciences for 42 years.  fastk9dad    is correct, top tier status gets deposits reductions with dispersant ( mostly polymer)  technology added to the EPA approved barely refined fuels that are available. 

 

So fuels are not that great in US.   Adding a bunch of polymers can be helpful to clean up the deposits the fuels leave because of that quality issue.  

 

I have found in testing that having a well tuned engine will burn about anything marketed as gasoline and do it with less deposits as long as air filter is free flowing, plugs are kept in near new condition, coils don't partially misfire, crankcase vent system is not defective or clogged by carbon.  Engine oil is as critical as those items to ensure deposit free ring and valve guide seal. 

 

With DI engines we all run now you are fighting a losing battle because of poor fuel refining quality. The cleanest part of our gasolines is the ethanol if it still uses it for oxygenate. 

 

In my market here in Southern CO, I use CENEX when I can because they use better polymers and 3X the level than any other brand here.  They are also refined a few hours away in Kansas so its fresh as KARNUT alluded to.  

 

Good luck. 

 

 

 

 

[LAAC]

4 hours ago, fastk9dad said:

None of these stations exist in Northern VA?

https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

 

And no, not using it won't harm your engine. It's a marketing licensing program where the members agree to use certain additives/detergents in their fuel.

Some of those stations exist in my area, but those particular stations do not sell top tier gas. I will have to look into some fuel system cleaners.

[fastk9dad]

6 hours ago, LAAC said:

Some of those stations exist in my area, but those particular stations do not sell top tier gas. I will have to look into some fuel system cleaners.

 

Techtron is what I'd recommend. To be honest I don't pay attention to that list and just run quality gas. For many years Mobil wasn't on that list and it's what I used the most. Now they are on the list but BP still not part of it, which is usually the cheapest around me.

[Byrds8]

I pretty much use Exxon exclusively. Most places around me all have the same prices. Even Raceway is the same price as the Exxon. I miss the days when they would compete with one another lol.

[Grumpy Bear]

17 hours ago, LAAC said:

I have a 20' Silverado LT 5.3L. The manual says to put top tier gas in the tank but I haven't found any gas stations in my location (Northern VA) that sell top tier gas. Could not using top tier gas eventually harm my engine?

https://www.consumerreports.org/fuel-economy-efficiency/top-tier-gasoline-worth-the-extra-price-a7682471234/

 

If it's on the list it's top tier even if the logo is not displayed. 

 

I don't know what 'poorly refined' gasoline is suppose to mean. Gasoline sold in the USA is a chemically defined liquid BY LAW with very specific parameters monitored and adjusted multiple times per shift. Have a read. I ran thousands of these test making gasoline. Gasoline is a blended product to achieve the LAWFUL requirements for the market being sold to and segregated by formula and octane to some degree. Remember SUNOCO blender pumps? Anyone with more than two octanes of the same oxygenate type will use a blender pump. 

 

https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/54047

 

You may have noticed in the first link that gas is a communal commodity. 10 different refineries pipe gas into common storage vessels called the 'rack'. Chevron and Sinclair, AMACO and Shell all add to the kitty. Additives are added at point of sale. When a Casey's or Circle K truck pulls up the additives are added 'in line' while loading. In smaller markets you may even see a Shell tank  wagon off load at a Sinclair station and visa versa. But bet you last pair of clean socks that a place like COSTCO turning 5 tank wagons a day is on a dedicated contract. The refinery I worked at sold 85% to the rack and the remainder sold to the area Circle K stations blended at the refinery. That said Circle K doesn't get it's own 'cut of the barrel or special blends. It's gets the same gas the guy across the street gets with the ONLY difference being the add pack. 

 

You go to work and make the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day of the year. By law you are allowed to alter the ratio of butter to jelly seasonally (butane in mix) to adjust for Reid Vapor pressure. In some markets like Chicago the ratio of reformate is altered for city sold fuels by season and market. BUT it is ALWAY in compliance with the LAW. Those laws are quite tight in the USA. 

 

If anything fuel today is better than it was 30 years ago.  

 

 

 

 

[diyer2]

The belief that our gas is junk is a myth IMO.

[Black02Silverado]

1 hour ago, diyer2 said:

The belief that our gas is junk is a myth IMO.

It isn't the best.  Those running 100% E85 from what I have seen, don't have as much issues as the rest of us. 

 

Also the fact there is a bunch of fuel treatments available, which is a money grab for the most part but some actually do work. Points to me that our fuel isn't the best.  Think of it this way.  Cost more to produce a quality product so if the oil companies can produce one that just works, why invest in a cleaner burning one?  They don't have any concern for how our vehicles perform.  They just hype  up that they have additives to keep it running.  Produce a fuel that burns clean and keep the extra stuff out, easy peasy. But their bean counters will not allow it.

[customboss]

11 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

Additives are added at point of sale.

 

Why does BP make 1 or 2 extra steps of refining for their invigorate Premium? Because the EPA mandated regional fuels don't burn clean enough. Same with Shell Premium. 

 

Look no farther than DIZZY and frankly any DI engine for proof that our fuels don't burn clean as they should. Where do you suppose that carbon came from, not the engine oil. Crankcase vent issues are secondary to the  EPA approved fossil based fuels source. 

 

The cleanest part of our EPA mandated gasolines is the ethanol. 

 

People are and OEM's are lucky that that many DI engines have good enough ring seal only the fuel side builds deposits but many crater the piston ring interface, valve seats,faces,guides.  

 

The ECM design cooling using fuel for cooling to reduce detonation over fuels at BDC in many designs and the fuel quality or lack there of adds carbon to that heat and deposit cycle. 

 

API and EPA are too close and have settled to make inferior burning products for modern spark engines that have out the tail pipe emissions that meet standard but DO NOT OPTIMIZE burn where it counts.  

 

Pre ignition detonation was a major engine oil reformulation issue a few years ago, that was directly fuels, fuels deposits issues related and the oil companies compensated for the lawful EPA mandated regional fuels. 

 

 

 

 

[diyer2]

 Cost more to produce a quality product so if the oil companies can produce one that just works, why invest in a cleaner burning one? Same as cheapest bidder for parts to build a vehicle, the bean counters.

 

I think most gas problems are related to how long it is allowed to sit, either in a gas can or in a motor. Carburetors being the worst case. 

An occasional shot of fuel system cleaner for maintenance is no big deal. The debate concerning using Top Tier is a difference in opinions also. 

All I know is I have never had a fuel system problem including ones with carbs by using fresh gas, fuel stabilizers and fuel system cleaners. Just another maintenance task.

  

[customboss]

Thats exactly the problem, lowest common denominator has been accepted by American Consumers ever since Rockefeller pushed black gold on Henry Ford who wanted to use ethanol in his cars.  

 

DIYER2 you obviously have never seen problems in your spark fired engines like DIZZY or others with DI engines suffering terrible issues from poor design that DEPENDS on good clean burning fuel. 

 

In the R&D world for OEM's they beg for better fuels but design the best they can to meet EPA on the crap we sell today.  

 

The result is what most people experience whether they know it or not a degrading engine from a poor feedstock source. 

 

Garbage in garbage out is true with gasolines too. 

 

 

[diyer2]

Like I said, problem free for me. But I don't buy the cheapest gas either. To many variables. We could debate this until the cows come home, but I'm not interested.