Got the best mpg yet from a tank of Sheetz

[Wolf359]

On a recent road trip, I filled up 14 gallons at Sheetz in WV (Morgantown). I subsequently drove up to Niagara and then onto Montreal. I got the best mileage I've ever had (47mpg) over 600 miles or so. I did add 3oz of PowerService to the tank (as I had with the previous tank and the following tank, but those tanks only yielded ~42mpg).

I know a couple other factors like speed (I was doing ~63mph in Canada and 68mph in the US) will make a difference, too. But there is something definitely related to the fuel used, right?

Given it's the farthest south I've ever filled up at, is it possible the diesel less "winterized"?

Sheetz doesn't post a cetane rating, AFAIK. Didn't see one, that's for sure. And saw nothing about any biodiesel blends either.

 

[langer]

N of 1. Can't see how you can come to any conclusions from a single tank.

 

[jettawreck]

N of 1. Can't see how you can come to any conclusions from a single tank.

X2.
And if there was much difference it probably wasn't from fuel. Enviromental factors, temps, wind direction/speeds, etc make a lot of (most of) difference.

 

[Wolf359]

yes, good point, can't make judgements off a single tank. I guess I was looking to see if there were others who had good experience from using Sheetz on a regular basis (unfortunately I cannot try it again as it's too far away.)

That all said, on this road trip I basically used 3 tanks, and 2 of them averaged out to 42mpg. I guess I was just surprised that this one came out noticeably higher.

 

[colourfastt]

I avoid Sheetz like the plague.

 

[Wolf359]

I avoid Sheetz like the plague.

I was under the impression that Sheetz was one of the worst, too--the only reason I refuelled there was because I was down to 0 miles to go on the Range in the MFD. So I was somewhat surprised as to the mileage I got out of it.

 

[tdiatlast]

...wow...tough crowd...

 

[Sinner]

"""My""" Sheetz fuel station is a pretty busy one, including always a few diesels (trucks, TDis) fueling up. My mileage is pretty good, they are on the road home <-> work, and have the best prices in 100 miles radius.
With all that I've read (everybody uses the same fuel, so it doesn't matter who sells your diesel), I just fuel up there.
Am I wrong? Is there something terribly wrong with Sheetz?

 

[tdiatlast]

Sinner: Everybody uses the same base fuel, because it is delivered regionally via pipeline. When it's loaded onto the truck, various additives are added. Each brand has its own cocktail.
Problem is, there's wide variation from region to region, even station to station. For instance, I spoke with BP Global 2 (?) years ago, and the rep read for me the lubricity ratings in the field from several stations in the Northern Va. area. Cetane ranged from 43-47, all of it branded "BP Supreme Diesel." Shortly thereafter, they dropped the 45 cetane number on their pumps to 40, and started calling it plain diesel.
I'll bet you'd find the same range in numbers with any fuel, name brand or not.

 

[Wolf359]

I suspect Sheetz gets a bad rep from this posting with cetane ratings by brand:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=1987974&postcount=1

But I'm not sure how valid the ratings are anymore, as tdiatlast said, it varies from region to region, station to station, not brand to brand as it might seem (or as it might have been at one point).

 

[tdiatlast]

What I don't understand is the known wide variation in cetane. I've always thought that fuel energy (cetane/octane) was easy to "dial in" by the manufacturer. Are petrol engines so forgiving that they run w/o issue on 84-89 octane?
I guess cetane isn't as critical, so basically anything above 40 will work, hence there's no need for the distributor to worry about an exact number.
I think I just answered my own question.

 

[IFRCFI]

Sheetz gets their diesel from the same rack that most/all other retailers get theirs from. This notion of top tier diesel is pretty laughable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mountain-valleymotors]

I use Sheetz diesel fuel all the time. I get a $.03 per gallon discount off their already low price by using my Sheetz card. I also use a couple ounces of Optilube at each fill up no matter where I fill up. When Sheetz first moved into our area many years ago, there were lots of stories about bad gas. But they were one of the first large scale discount gas stations in our area. Now their prices are very close to everybody else and I haven't heard any bad stories for years. They sell more volume than any other gas station around other than the large truck stop down the street so I figure it can't be too bad.

 

[Scottie3000]

They opened a Sheetz in my town and even though they undercut the competition's fuel prices by 12 cents, it didn't save any money since for three tankfulls I got about 12% worst fuel economy. I suspect it was cheap truck diesel. It might have been coincidental as it was just one station and only three tanks.

On a similar note, we had a load of Hess diesel delivered in out yard, and the lab sample was the cleanest and clearest diesel I'd ever seen; it was crystal clear!

 

[40X40]

What I don't understand is the known wide variation in cetane. I've always thought that fuel energy (cetane/octane) was easy to "dial in" by the manufacturer. Are petrol engines so forgiving that they run w/o issue on 84-89 octane?
I guess cetane isn't as critical, so basically anything above 40 will work, hence there's no need for the distributor to worry about an exact number.
I think I just answered my own question.

I think you mistyped in this post. Neither Cetane nor Octane is a measure of the energy contained in their respective fuels. Both terms describe ignition characteristics only, not energy content.

Bill

 

[tophergrace]

the higher the octane the higher the resistance to ignite correct

 

[RDC98tdi]

the higher the octane the higher the resistance to ignite correct

Technically, the higher the resistance to detonation -- i.e., you don't want the fuel to detonate before the cylinder is ready to or you could bend a rod or worse. Sometimes it just causes knocking, sometimes on cars that are running high boost or run pretty lean, it can cause catastrophic damage.

Cetane is pretty similar but opposite. It allows the diesel burn more evenly and almost immediately. This also allows more fuel to be burnt in an injection event. When diesels are cold, they knock more just like a low cetane fuel would because there is a delay after the fuel is injected and that means a less efficient burn and more smoke.

 

[R4074]

Funny, I am having the exact same experience with fuel from a local Circle K, same situation, I was showing 0 miles to go on computer and they were the only place close so I filled there (normally use a local Shell station, Sam's Club, BP or Marathon. My car has 48,000 miles, I track through fuelly.com and the best I have ever done on a tank was 43 mpg while on a trip to Florida from Ohio. This tank I am at 600 miles so far and range shows 130 to go. Computer is showing 44.5 mpg for this fill and my trip average seems to be around 47 while on freeway and low 40's for city driving. I have never had mileage like this. I am not driving any routes that are new, the weather has been 60's as it has for a while.

Bottom line is that there is definitely something different with this fuel. I added 1oz. of PRI-D as I do with every fill-up. I am going to fill up there again in a day or two and see how the next tank goes.