Is cheap gas not worth it?

Question

I always here that cheap gas from some non-popular gas stations are "watered down" and you shouldnt use it in your car. Is there some truth in this?

Answer 1

hey Chris

This website says gas is gas..and other stuff

http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/IsCheapGasBadForYourCar

Answer 2

the gas that smaller stations get is the same gas that the bigger chainsof gas stations get, it all comes from the same refineries. the only reason you may lose some performance is because the smaller stations that dont sell as much gas have problems with condensation in the fuel tanks, because they dont sell their gas as fast as other stations. it can happen where you get water in your fuel from busier stations but it only commonly happens when the storage tanks fuel level is low. but really it doesnt matter this is more of a myth than anything still perpetuated from the old days when less than honest gas station owners would water down their gas to make more money off it. and as it continues to perpetuate, the BP's and speedways and super americas love it because it helps them sell more becuase people are nervous about gas from mom and pop stores. what the other guy was talking about, the paste that detects water can be used. would i waste my time doing it? no. it uusally turns up purple. most gas stations will do this on a weekly or monthly basis. i did at my station, and never found water. this stuff was so sensitive that if i touched the paste, the moisture in my hands would change its color. another thing that all the pumps have is an inline filter to filter out the crap and also a water separator. another protector. if you ever notice that at some gas stations the pumps run really slow, its becuase those filters need to be replaced.

Answer 3

If you want to know for 100% if a cheap gas station waters down their gas, there is a tube of something you can get (probably from autozone, maybe home depot or something) that you put on a stick and run some gas over it. If it comes up a certain color, then there is water (or something other than gas) in there. Just grab some, spray some gas on it, and wait the 30 seconds.

Is it possible? yes.

Do most people do it? No.

Now, you don't wanna fill up with the pump truck there because the pump truck is stirring all the sediment at the bottom of the fuel tank up, and it can be sucked into the pump and into your gas tank, which is not good.

If you have any worry about whether you might have gotten bad gas, just dump some fuel injector cleaner, or seafoam, into your gas tank once every five tanks or so.

Answer 4

I'd say very little truth. Most gas is delivered from the same distribution site. Some of the brand name gas stations might have different additives that are unique to that brand name but otherwise the the gas is the same. In fact most refineries deliver gas to the same pipeline for transshipment. They get credit for the amount of gas they deliver at one end and then can withdraw the same amount from the other end. But the product they take out is not the same physical product they delivered.

Now some of the cheap non name brand stations may have poorly maintained tanks and pumping equipment that potentially causing some trouble. However the state inspectors will usually catch and put a stop to that rather quickly.

Answer 5

I've been driving cars for over 50 years and the only bad gas I ever got in any of my cars was at Brand name stations. Once at a Sunoco station in Mass. back in the winter of '59 and it took 8 cans of "dry gas" to stop the gas line freezing up. Another time was at a Texaco station here in Austin, TX. They had water in their tank and the car ran like crap until I finally got the tank down to nearly empty and refilled it at a discount station. Stations have requirements and inspections by state agencies. Water in the gas is a very rare occurence.

Answer 6

In general no. B+Gas content is governed by state and federal regulatory commissions. If they were selling watered down gas, the fines would put them out of business fairly quickly.
I've never had trouble from the no-names.

Answer 7

If you're car runs different and you get bad fuel mileage from cheap gas then you know that gas is not very good. And you're only saving like 1 or 2 pennies anyway.

Answer 8

Cheap gas is likely to have some sort of fuel additive in the gas (it is probably not legal, but they do it anyway). Your cars performance is likely to such and it can impact on how often you need to service your car and how long the engine will last.

Answer 9

In the UK gas is a LOT cheaper than electricity. If you use electricity instead of gas for your heating (& have the same amount of heat) you'll find your bills are even higher.

Answer 10

it is fine to put in your car as long as the octane is at least 85. If you drive a BMW or mercades, they say it isn't good for your car but it wont hurt it, it will just lower the performance of your car and it shouldn't do any wear and tear on your car as long as you change the oil frequently.

Answer 11

i don't know the truth of this but I believe it doesn't have the same quality of bigger oil companies, but it can't be watered down otherwise you're out of a car. What would they stretch it with? I'll check back and see what other people say . Good question.