Arco gas?

I noticed that Arco is the cheapest priced gas around.
Is there anything wrong with it or it bad for Honda engines?

 

I hate ARCO. Too many of them won't let you use a credit card without
making a trip inside because they charge more for the gas if you
charge it.

 

Call your credit card company and report them. This practice is
specifically against every credit card issuers policy that I have ever
read, and I have personally been witness to Mastercard removing a shop's
ability to accept their card because of violation of this rule.

The 2-3% that the shop pays in fees is part of the cost of doing business.
If a company cannot accept that cost, they shouldn't accept credit cards...

 

["Followup-To:" header set to ca.driving.]

It's fine.

Arco and Valero are the least expensive here in SoCal.

Of course, Arco doesn't accept credit, only ATM, debit, cash and Arco
fleet cards. That may contribute to the lower cost...

Valero does accept credit.

 

["Followup-To:" header set to ca.driving.]

None of the company-owned stations I know of do. Some dealers do, but
no one out here in the Inland Empire. The one at I-15 and Fourth Street
accepted credit cards on a trial basis but I'm told they had a lot of
problem with credit card fraud and went back to ATM/debit/cash only.

 

http://www.toptiergas.com

Here's what you do: run several tanks of Arco, and figure out how many
cents per mile it costs to run.

Then run several tanks of Shell and figure out how many cents per mile
it costs to run.

It's all about the fuel cost per mile, and not at all about the price
per gallon at the pump.

I found that Shell is the lowest cost per mile fuel overall.

If you have an older car, you may want to run several tanks of Shell 93
in it first to get the additional cleaners through the system to clean
it out. Again, see toptiergas.com.

 

Gas is gas, unless part of it is water :-(

The ARCO stations here (SoCal) only let you use debit cards and charge a
quarter (maybe more) for the privilege. Better to find a station that takes
the CCs with a 5% rebate for gas, groceries and drugs.

 

Gas is gas, unless part of it is water :-([/QUOTE]

Gas is gas, until the vendor adds its additive packages.

 

Gas is gas, until the vendor adds its additive packages.[/QUOTE]

In years past, Arco was always the highest octane at the pump as
tested by Union Oil Company technicians in Yorba Linda, Calif. My
uncle was one of them. Their premium was typically close to 100
octane. Now, they are just a low-cost seller like a lot of other
stations. The problem I have with Arco and other stations with three
pumps instead of two is that they are usually 85-octane, 88-octane,
and 92 octane (at least in the West.) The 85-octane pump will be a
little lower priced than the 87-octane at two-pump stations, but most
cars requiring regular need at least 87-octane unless you live at
higher altitude. So you buy the 88-octane and pay 10-cents more. If
you choose the 85-octane to save the 10-cents your car's computer will
just adjust the timing to avoid detonation, and you get less power and
less mileage. It's really a marketing ploy to get more money out of
the customers. I avoid 3--pump stations like the plague.

Dick

 

octane is not calorie content. it's calorie content that matters.

 

This is strictly illegal in the state of Texas.. A provision of the state
Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits it, and fines and prison sentences
can result.

 

Unless you drive the same trip all the time, I think it'll take way more
than a few tankfuls to average out the noise in that measurement. I went
through ten tankfuls of regular in my car, and ten of premium, and got
slightly better gas mileage with regular (about 1%), which I don't believe
for an instant, especially since the car feels slightly better running on
premium.

It might be possible to make this measurement if your car has an MPG meter,
and you do the same test run on a particular piece of road at a particular
speed, on windless days.

 

["Followup-To:" header set to ca.driving.]

Even then....

 

It's cheaper because they are not paying merchant discount on credit
cards. I tried buying gas twice in Arco stations outside of San Diego
and twice they screwed up the amount of the prepayment. There are
enough other gas stations around who have their act together that the
minor price difference with Arco is not worth it.

 

You think "premium" means "better", which is what the gas company wants
you to believe.

 

Once again, credit SURCHARGES are illegal in Texas; cash DISCOUNTS are
not.

--Gene

 

you measured but you don't believe it???

anyway, depending on whether you have a knock sensor, running a car
tuned for regular on premium /will/ result in slightly inferior gas
mileage. higher octane means lower combustion rate, so the gas needs to
be ignited earlier. if it's tuned for regular [with no knock sensor],
that won't happen, and you'll be getting less from each combustion cycle.

 

Gas is gas, until the vendor adds its additive packages.
[/QUOTE]
even then, different producers use differing catalysis yielding slightly
different base product qualities. results are within a few percent, but
they exist nevertheless.

 

Unless you drive the same trip all the time, I think it'll take way more
than a few tankfuls to average out the noise in that measurement. I went
through ten tankfuls of regular in my car, and ten of premium, and got
slightly better gas mileage with regular (about 1%), which I don't believe
for an instant, especially since the car feels slightly better running on
premium.

It might be possible to make this measurement if your car has an MPG meter,
and you do the same test run on a particular piece of road at a particular
speed, on windless days.[/QUOTE]

Cars can run better or worse on different octane ratings. I've
experienced cars with an aggressive lean burn mode run less efficiently
when the octane is too high. The symptoms were exhaust buzzing, loss of
power, and reduced milage during light throttle cruising.

High performance cars may be physically designed for 91 octane. Most of
these can run on on 87 octane too but the engine will loose some
performance as the ECU tries to avoid pre-detonation conditions. I've
heard that lower octane reduces the milage but I haven't experienced
that personally. Driving conditions is likely the biggest factor in
what happens with de-tuned operation.

Good info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

 

Heh. My car runs better when it's clean.