Quote:
Originally Posted by hunds02
Can you please explain why you would avoid Costco gas? It seems to be good, has fuel additives to clean valves and injectors, (similar to Chevron), and exceeds the EPA requirement of fuel detergent by 5 times. I'm by no means an expert on fuel or the fuel system on our BMW's, just wanted your opinion and reasoning.
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Fuel quality varies widely by region in North America. What my local Costco sells is not necessarily anything like what your local Costco sells.
There is one refinery in my town, and all the majors use fuel from it, with some variations in additive packages. There are at least two refineries in Calgary, where the OP was. Not sure where your local fuel is coming from.
Philosophically, I would buy fuel from a fuel company that has its own formula. Any discount retailer that buys from a succession of low bidders, week to week, is further down my list. That isn't to say that the fuel any one of them sell is bad, just that over many tanks, I think I will have more consistent results from someone who is in control of the production and distribution process.
There were many problems with (intentionally) reduced levels of fuel detergent additives years back, leading to valve deposit buildup and sludging problems on some specific engines. That led to the whole Top Tier gas program. These days, I think those problems have been largely addressed, which is why I don't worry about the Top Tier marketing program. I do think that ethanol content (actual, not what they think they are putting in it) is key. Ethanol is mixed in at the end of the process, and many driveability problems are due to ethanol levels far beyond what the distributor thinks they are or what they should be. I would trust a distributor who is in the fuel business to have more control over that risk, than a discount retailer.