I don't think it is quite that simple. All of the large refineries make basic gasoline that meets minimal government standards. Then the major brands add to that the special additives the differentiate their fuel from others. Some may do other proprietary things to the fuel to make it "their" formulation. The base gas is what you are likely to get at no name stations / convenience stores and it is cheaper because it doesn't have those additives. Whether the additives actually cost as much as the price differentials is very debatable. But it is correct that the no name, Exxon, and Texaco, that you might buy within 5 miles of where you live could have and probably did originate in the same refinery or at least in the most local refineries if there is more than one close by. The Exxon and the Texaco (insert other major brand names if you wish) will have the brand specific additives, and the no name gas will not have any beyond the minimal. When I see a convenience store selling brand name gas for about $.10 less than anyone else in town is selling that brand, I am often suspicious that they have the base gas, not the actual brand name in their tanks. So each major brand has some refineries that make base level gas, which they use and sell to other brands and base gas users. But each major brand also pays to have base level gas made into it formulation, both at its refinery and at other refineries. Probably the largest impact from a boycott of a major brand is upon their station owners, but it would also hurt their profits from the sale of their proprietary gasoline formulation. How much it would hurt and how large a boycott it would take to make them wince is beyond the information in the articles I have read about how gasoline is made and distributed in the U.S. Volkswagen even makes reference to the differences in gas formulations in a note in the owner's guide for Vanagons, noting that some gases will not have all of the best detergent additives for keeping fuel injectors clean. In the Bentley, it is on the first page of the Vehicle Care appendix. In a thread a few months ago on the vw-camping list, a number of people reported having problems with hesitation type symptoms mainly or solely when they were using no name gas. Fuel injector cleaner would eliminate the problem for a tank or two and it would reappear. For some a return to brand name gas would eliminate or improve the problem. Sam -- Sam Walters Baltimore, MD 89 Syncro GL 85 Westy Weekender 84 Vanagon, original owner, soon to be retired, just too many problems All incoming and outgoing email scanned by automatically updated copy of Norton AntiVirus. |
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