Know Anything About Costco Gas?

[EuroDriver]

I have heard stories about how bad Arco gas is, at least out here on the West Coast (AM/PM gas). I confirmed this on a couple of my cars, whose performance (and bad smell) dramatically improved after I stopped using it. Now I'm buying gas at Costco, which is considerably cheaper than most gas stations over here, but I'm curious about the quality. Anyone know anything about thier gas? I's like to find out if I'm risking a plugged cat or burned valves somewhere down the road.

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

In the three states I've lived in, the Costcos typically used the same gas that one of the major truck stops uses.

The most common trucks I've seen filling the tanks at Costco are from Flying J. I imagine it all comes down to who had the cheapest prices that given time though. Now who refines that gas I couldn't tell you.

One thing to keep in mind - in chatting with one of the attendants at a Costco in TX, I was told that Costco holds the same quality standard in the gas they pump as they do in all the products in the store. He went as far as to say that if you could show that gas pumped from a Costco pump damaged you car/engine in some way, Costco would make it right. I'm not sure how much I believe that last part (he may have been blowing smoke up my butt), but it is what I was told.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

Costco gasoline is just fine - at least around here. Gasolines don't differ so much from brand to brand the way they used to. Tougher EPA standards, state government regulations and other things have narrowed some of the quality gaps.

Of course, some companies do put 'additives' in their fuel (Techron, etc.) to help reduce deposits, etc., etc. I have used many different types of fuel and have never noticed a difference between "name brand" stations (Exxon, Shell, Texaco, etc.) and off-brand places such as Hess, Sheetz or Wawa. The latter two probably sell more gasoline than anyone else around here.

Gasoline in our region is "piped" over long distances. There are many companies/brands of fuel - possibly forty or fifty from which to choose when filling up the family sedan. There certainly are not than many pipelines or tank farms, right?

From what I understand, they pump several million gallons of fuel through the pipelines, with each company getting its turn. Between two different 'name brand' fuels, there might be several thousand gallons that are a mixture of, say, Shell and Exxon gasoline. It might not be "pure" enough to wear either name, but is certainly good enough to run in your car. They supposedly will sell this to "Brand X" stations (East Coast, Quarles, 7-11, etc.) at a reduced price.

Many of our tanker trucks fill up at the same place - regardless of brand, so I tend to believe this theory. I noticed that more gasoline tanker trucks lack a brand name, and that only a few of them are marked Shell, Exxon, etc., etc. The same tanker truck - which I have seen do more than once - will stop at two differently-branded stations and deliver fuel to their underground tanks.


To me, it is important to buy fuel from places that sell a lot of it. This allows for less time for the fuel to "go bad" or to collect condensation. Wawa gets one or two tanker trucks daily, so I have faith in their fuel. Even their "87" unleaded runs fine in either my Mustang or the Sentra.....and powered my 4Runner just fine when I had it.


Do a Google search on 'petroleum refining' and I suspect you are going to learn more than you ever wanted to know about fossil fuels.

 

[Uneek]

I pump at Costco regularly. Haven't hand any issues with their gas. I pumped at Safeway as well, no issues either.

I won't pump an some off brand station.

 

[charlier180]

Many of our tanker trucks fill up at the same place - regardless of brand, so I tend to believe this theory. I noticed that more gasoline tanker trucks lack a brand name, and that only a few of them are marked Shell, Exxon, etc., etc. The same tanker truck - which I have seen do more than once - will stop at two differently-branded stations and deliver fuel to their underground tanks.

I agree with you that brands of gasoline are not nearly as different as they may have once been.

There is a wholesale gasoline distrbutor (ie tank farm) near the town where I live. I laugh my butt off when people here where I live say Sheetz is crappy fuel and Sunoco is good gas. Maybe these people should stop by this tank farm and watch the tankers with the Sunoco, Sheetz, Exxon logos and the unbranded tankers that service Wawa, Turkey Hill and other Convience stores ALL FILL UP from the SAME STATIONS in the farm. This tank farm does not have dozens of storage tanks with all the different brands. There are maybe 4 or 6 very large tanks at most.

I too have seen the same unbranded tankers deliver to differently branded stations.

BTW, Hess gasoline is not an "off brand gasoline".
Hess Corporation operates their own refineries and operates one of the largest petroleum terminal networks on the East Coast (22 terminals).
More info at http://www.hess.com/index2.aspx

I also agree that getting gasoline from a retailer that sells large volumes of gas is better than one that does not.