Is The Maverick Gas Station Dishonest?

[Dmnordin]

I want to know what you guys think... So, I drive 500 miles/week with my work commute. Unfortunately, I'm still driving my cage while I re-build my '83 from my accident of a couple of months ago. Bummer - working on it every Saturday for 12+ hours each time. Anywho, For the past 4 months commuting in my cage, I've bought gas at one chevron station, and I try to get it at the same pump, and fill it the same way each time. I have consistently gotten 32mpg in my little Subaru Justy. Very consistent - rebuilt my Justy this past winter so everything is new. Last week, something was screwey with their credit card system - I pay at the pump at 4 to 5 in the morning - and I swiped my card 3 times, pre-approving 3 separate, $75 gas purchases (I didn't know it pre-approved for this much each time), but the pump said to see the cashier - too early, they weren't open. So, my wife calls me mid-morning at work freaking out because the Visa credit card fraud people are calling wanting personal info to verify that she is who she says she is so they can verify charges. She hangs up on them because she won't give personal info out over the phone & thinks maybe I'm spending money I don't have like crazy. So, I had gone to Maverick to get gas that morning after failing to get gas at Chevron, & since then - 3 times total. My gas mileage is 30 mpg EACH TIME at maverick all of a sudden. I just did some figuring & comparing of 5 Chevron fill-ups at about $2.94 ish/gallon, and the 3 Maverick fill-ups at $2.89ish/gallon. I've payed the same per fill-up per number of miles driven at both Maverick & Chevron (Wow, how did that happen? the Maverick gas is less per gallon!), but the Maverick fill-ups consistently say I filled up with more gas per miles driven than the Chevron fill-ups! This doesn't add up! nothing has changed except for where I'm getting gas, & I think that Maverick must be doing something fishy with their pumps. Doug

[MiCarl]

If the Chevron is pure gasoline and the Maverick has ethanol blended in you'd expect fewer miles/gallon on the "gasohol".

 

Don't know about there, but here in Michigan they apparently can go to 10% ethanol without labeling it.

[SC89Venture]

For what it is worth, in SC the Department of Agriculture is responsible for verify pump accuracy.

[flb_78]

The Chevron may also have some additives in it. I know in the Amarillo area, almost all of the gas and diesel came out of the same pipes. One could drive by and see every gas station's truck sitting in line waiting. The only difference was what additives were added to it when it was pumped into the tanker.

[Dmnordin]

They do use ethanol here - I thought it was in the winter only, though. I may be wrong.

 

Chevron's (& Texaco - the same any more) have always advertised to the max about Tekron.

 

One mechanic buddy thinks Maverick gas is junk, which is kind of funny if they all get their gas from the same refineries. I talked to my wife since I posted earlier - she says that last year the mileage in her '96 Town&Country van went down a lot more than mine did with Maverick gas compared to Chevron gas. It stayed down until I used Seafoam and she stopped going to Maverick.

 

Several years ago, My dad said that as long as he used Chevron gas, his performance/sports car worked great, but it was very fickle with cheap gas and would start to have problems with his injectors.

 

Maybe I'll stop going to Maverick - I wish Chevron would get their act together with their credit card system - there have been times this past year when several Chevron & Texaco stations in the area couldn't pump gas because the system was down.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience with different gas station chains & gas?

 

Doug

 

Doug

[Condor]

I had a local independant dealer try to explain how I could get 20 gallons in an 18 gallon tank that hadn't run out yet.... Ya gotta watch these guys. They will tweek the computor. A few years back they found a few dealers that reprogramed the computor to pour five exact gallons and then start short pouring the rest. What happen is the dept of weigths and measures would check the pump and find nothing wrong, but anyone taking on 5 gallons or more would get screwed. They were actually charging more than a national brand.

[RandyR]

I had a local independant dealer try to explain how I could get 20 gallons in an 18 gallon tank that hadn't run out yet.... Ya gotta watch these guys. They will tweek the computor. A few years back they found a few dealers that reprogramed the computor to pour five exact gallons and then start short pouring the rest. What happen is the dept of weigths and measures would check the pump and find nothing wrong, but anyone taking on 5 gallons or more would get screwed. They were actually charging more than a national brand.

 

don't ya love computers?

[Flyinfool]

I keep gas logs for all of my vehicles. I record the mileage, the date, the brand, the type of gas, the gallons, and the cost.

I have noticed that there is a difference in MPG between brands. It does not matter where in the country i get the gas, I see the same differences in MPG. I understand that all of the brands come out of the same pipe and that the additive package is added at the time it goes into the truck. The only reason that I can surmise is that it is the additives that are making the difference. I have gas logs covering almost 1 million miles of my driving. I can see the exact difference in MPG between the new er crap gas with ethanol and real gas. I just avoid the brands that my vehicle does not like.

FWIW there is one brand that works best in one of my vehicles and is worst in another.

[Sideoftheroad]

don't ya love computers?

 

Reminds me of the early pc days of like the 386's where you could trick the display to read all 9's. Kept hearing stories of people would take them in to have worked on and get them back w/ all 9's displayed thinking they have increased the processor speed of the chip.

[timgray]

I have noticed that as well. It is hard to find a gas station here in Michigan that does not use the garbage 10% ethanol dilution. Once in a while on a trip out of town I'll get gas at a strange station and suddenly I get 10% more gas mileage (Honda civic, 10% ethanol drops me by 4mpg)

 

I wish someone had a list of gas station chains that sell real gas and not gasahol.

[etcswjoe]

I have noticed that as well. It is hard to find a gas station here in Michigan that does not use the garbage 10% ethanol dilution. Once in a while on a trip out of town I'll get gas at a strange station and suddenly I get 10% more gas mileage (Honda civic, 10% ethanol drops me by 4mpg)

 

I wish someone had a list of gas station chains that sell real gas and not gasahol.

 

I ran across a website http://pure-gas.org that list stations that carry non-ethonal fuela and it has been pretty spot on so far.