Same here on the drop in the winter.

 

Do you guys always run one brand and grade or do you mix it up?

 

A few months after I first got my 97, I played around with different gas stations around me and oddly, gas isn't just gas. Each company has their own "secret" blend of addins to their gas. Ingredients that make the fuel burn differently or supposedly clean better...

It's all a matter of what your motor likes the best. I found that Shell did great for my 97 and after playing with other gas brands with this 2010, Shell is still on top.

Another thing you might consider is that different brands might not kick into the winter blended gasses at the same time. Arco might do it quicker than the others for some reason or another...

 

I've run different brands trying to fix this problem and it didn't help, premium didn't help either

 

This may just be dumb luck on my part, but I've found that I get better mileage and performance out of the stations that are not the new MEGA mart type. When I lived in Atlanta I filled up exclusively at a little dump of a chevron station near the house (two pumps). Averaged 33-35 in the SC2, any where else at one of the bazillion new megamarts I was getting around 28.

Here in the Fox Valley of WI I fill up only at the Citgo on the corner. The guy has the 10% eth stickers on the pumps, but he never gets the blended crap. It's the only place in town I get an average of 32-34 in the SC2 winter/summer. The only reason my winter mileage drops is from driveway idling on those 15f and lower days.

Not only do manufacture blends have an effect, but often the owner of the place also as an effect.

I think I average about 12 in the ram. Gotta do some poking around, the nv3500 should give me better than the AT's.

 

Winter blend gas sucks *****! Yeah it's perfectly normal to see a decrease in both performance and fuel economy with winter blends.

As far as brands go, I've found that different engines/plugs/etc. like different blends of gas. EVERY 4.0 I6 I've had (four of 'em between two Wranglers and two Grand Cherokees) have LOVED Chevron gas. Fuel economy would always be about 2 mpg better with Chevron.
My Hemi seems to like the 93 Octane from Shell better, but the results are not as dramatic, maybe a .5-1 mpg gain.
The 4.7 HO in my current Grand Cherokee doesn't seem to have a preference, at least not one that I've found yet.

EVERY outboard engine I've ever owned ran much better on Amoco, since bought out by BP. Whatever Amoco did, BP stopped doing, because I lost the gains I had shortly after BP bought them out...

 

It's gonna take a while to burn off this Chevron but I'm trying the hole in the wall Shell staation down the road next. The effect seems pretty pronounced with this magnum engine.

 

Well got about half tank of 76 super and half tank Trick 101 now. It was $$$ but holy !@#$% best gas yet by a mile!!! All in the name of science. I wanted to see what would happen with some good stuff. I got my answer. Don't know if it's the octane or just more energy per volume but it is very very noticebly running better now. Wish I knew a cheap way to get the same effect. That's worth two or three bolt ons right there. lol!

 

My pops was an oil man, or a gas man- oil man sounds better so I'm going to go with that for the purpose of discussion. He's retired now, and he's a wood worker. That makes him a wood man. Christmas is coming close, and when I head that direction I fully expect to talk about everything wood- but, there was a time when all that was discussed was oil, and gas. Believe it or not, that has bearing on this conversation.

Guess what guys? Gas, is gas is gas. Other than octanes (which aren't close to being a regulated thing in practice, and by the time its planted in the tank you don't know what you've got)... ALL gas comes from the regional hub no matter what brand. 89/91 or whatever 'mid' grade you have in your area is simply cut premo. You may get lucky and get mostly premo, but be realistic: do ya really think that's gonna happen?

Some stations add to the gas their 'potion', at least most the time. They are supposed to, but in times of pinching pennies, that's one of the very first pinched. Bigger stores with silly high volume don't even bother most the time.

That being said, smaller volume stores do things to take better charge of their product. They don't wanna run that tanker any more than they must, so they 'treat' the fuel in the ground with potions intent on preserving it. Its their lifeblood so to speak. They are also more likely to have truly 'premium' premo, and better concoction of mid grade. Their tanks are smaller and get close to empty more often, so theirs is a cleaner fuel w/o near as much sediment floaters.

You never want fuel from a major store right after they top off the tanks unless you want a diluted (with water off the bottom of the tank) mess in your truck. AND- a trick managers of high volume stores use to kick their inventory balances up when they're about to be shown with shortages: water the tanks... Ugly, but effective. The weight in the tank thinks there is a helluva lot more gas than there is. Even dipsticking the tank w/ stick and comet will show more. That goes in your engine. Smaller shops are less likely to do this because the owner is usually involved more on a day to day basis.

 

# 3 is an interesting read http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/r...ell-You-19750/