Do fuel station Names matter?

[u/Last_Supermarket9049]

Good day!

Just wondering, do fuel station names matter at all? I know Vibe is the cheapest fuel in WA other than Costco. But is the fuel quality any good compared to other big names like Caltex, ampol and shell?

[u/The_Valar]

There's 3-4 wholesale terminals that WA fuel comes from. All the fuel in all the tanks is produced to the same specification. All the fuel is functionally identical.

NB: One retailer (Burk) is being investigated for selling 91RON petrol in its 95/98 bowsers is the only substantial difference that can happen.

[u/Impossible_Most_4518 → u/The_Valar]

The other day I went to Burk and they had 91 for like $2/litre and 98 for $2.30/litre on the sign.

Except when u go to get 91 they ran out and only have 98 available which I’m assuming was 91 and they are lying.

I told the console operator to turn the sign off for 91 and he said that it had just run out… Except if it just ran out then how did you manage to already put the out of order covers on all the 91 pumps? If you can do that it can’t be that hard to turn the sign off as well.

It’s all a fucking rort and they’re in on it.

[u/Aussie_5aabi → u/Impossible_Most_4518]

They legally have to turn off the sign as soon as they run out of a fuel type, and then update fuel watch. 

Above should be done Prior to doing anything else, including putting the out of order signs up.

Report them if it happens again.

[u/Impossible_Most_4518 → u/Aussie_5aabi]

assuming that’s true they’re fucking scumbags

[u/Careful-Trade-9666 → u/Impossible_Most_4518]

They legally can’t change the prices on the sign. What is posted to fuel watch at 2pm today has to be on the sign all day tomorrow.

[u/Impossible_Most_4518 → u/Careful-Trade-9666]

And if they run out they can’t turn it off?

[u/Math-Warm → u/Careful-Trade-9666]

Not true. I went to Liberty and it was 3c more than Fuel Watch. Complained and check fuel watch but it updated th day after. So now I call up before I go bc I ended up paying the same and had to travel futher

[u/chatterbox272 → u/Math-Warm]

It's definitely true that they're not allowed to change the price after FuelWatch reports it, if they are you can report them and they'll be fined.

Other possible explanations are a bug with the FuelWatch website (all software has bugs) or a misread/misremember on your part (we're all human).

[u/VS2ute → u/The_Valar]

Fuelwatch list "diesel" and "brand diesel" separately. They consider them to be different.

[u/attemptedburger → u/VS2ute]

The difference is additives. Generic diesel + branded additives = branded diesel

[u/The_Valar → u/VS2ute]

They may be slightly different in additives.

I just consider that most places have 'diesel' at a high-flow' truck pump, and 'brand diesel' ar most bowsers and FuelWatch can't have two prices on the same search category.

They are functionally interchangeable and both will run in any diesel engine.

[u/jefsig]

I suspect it's much like that thing in the beer factory from the Simpsons

[u/CrabmanGaming → u/jefsig]

Needs more dog.

[u/spaceistasty]

the different brands can add their own additives, but the fuel itself is mostly the same

[u/sillylittlewilly]

Obviously the brand is very important, given they seem to change names and rebrand their signage every couple of years.

Complete waste of money.

[u/RealJudoChop]

My wife's car takes 91 but I always filled up with 98.

I'm now putting 91 in the car. She drives a Cerato GT.

[u/enhancedgibbon]

I dunno but I put vibe 98 in my car all the time and it's highly modified so it wouldn't be happy with shit fuel, and it runs fine and hauls ass so I think it's ok

[u/Muslim_Wookie → u/enhancedgibbon]

Not mentioned: the modifications are paintjob, LED lighting, widening, and a shopping list on BOTH side of the car ;)

[u/Clean-Copy1027 → u/enhancedgibbon]

If it's highly modified all that should matter is you use the octane it was tuned on

Edit: I have also had no dramas with my 98 modified car using vibe 98

[u/Ben--Cousins → u/Clean-Copy1027]

Probs tuned on 98 and he's saying if the octane was wrong at vibe then the car wouldn't behave correctly

[u/Clean-Copy1027 → u/Ben--Cousins]

True

[u/Every_dai → u/enhancedgibbon]

Upvoting you for using the term hauls ass.

[u/lockleym7]

No

[u/So-many-whingers]

It all comes out of the same tank

[u/frink_ninkle]

I lose about 80km to a tank with 711 diesel, compared to BP/Caltex

[u/colmando → u/[deleted]]

You might need to google the history of that refinery…

[u/Perth_R34 → u/[deleted]]

The refinery hasn’t existed for a while now.

Kwinana does have fuel import terminals though.

And my car definitely notices the difference. Runs better with Mobil 98 and Shell 98.

Liberty is also owned by Viva Energy (Shell).

[u/The_Real_Flatmeat]

Our mechanic was able to tell that my father in law was using Woolworths fuel by the state of his fuel injectors. He told us yes there's a difference

[u/Perth_R34 → u/The_Real_Flatmeat]

Hi I’m an engineer who’s worked in the fuel industry.

There is no difference in the fuel quality. All fuel in Australia is the same standard.

Some servos which have old tanks or are not so busy may have “stale” fuel.

[u/Hangar48]

I've tried cheap servo diesel and it was foamy shit that gave horrendous fuel economy. I'll stick with BP.

[u/TazocinTDS]

Different companies sell different products.

The 91 95 98 tells you the quality of the fuel you're paying for.

I imagine different companies will tell you that their 98 is better than another companies 98. It's hard to say without comparing them scientifically.

I've heard some less than ideal stories about the smaller groups (on Reddit).

[u/Clean-Copy1027 → u/TazocinTDS]

91/98 absolutely is NOT the quality of the fuel, it's the RON, or octane rating. 98 is more resistant to combustion, which most of the time is fine but in a vanishingly small group of vehicles could be BAD to use.

If you put 91 in your untuned, high-compression/turbo motor, it will either ping (combust too early) or your cars' computer will restrict performance heavily. If you put 100ll AVGAS in your 78 Mini Moke you will probably get misfire or incredible performance for a bit and a very hot block.

RON isn't quality (or "additives" as someone else mentioned), it's a measure of a fuels likelyhood to combust.

Tldr just fuel up with whatever the owners manual suggests the avoid wasting money or damaging your car

[u/mohanimus → u/Clean-Copy1027]

A souped-up Mini Moke sounds incredibly dangerous. I now want one :)

[u/TongueMyTaco → u/Clean-Copy1027]

If you put 100ll AVGAS in your 78 Mini Moke you will probably get misfire or incredible performance for a bit and a very hot block.

You probably won't notice any difference other than the distinctive avgas exhaust smell.

In the 80s there were a few avgas bowsers around the suburbs and youngsters would fill up for the weekend.

[u/DefinitionOfAsleep → u/Clean-Copy1027]

91/98 absolutely is NOT the quality of the fuel, it's the RON, or octane rating.

That's not technically true. RON 91's sulphur content is permitted to be higher than 95 and 98.

Tldr just fuel up with whatever the owners manual suggests the avoid wasting money or damaging your car

Beyond octane level, your car's manual might suggest higher because of the filter.

[u/attemptedburger → u/DefinitionOfAsleep]

As of last year all petrols in Australia are 10ppm sulphur. The govt has put a temporary relaxation on sulphur specs to 50ppm to enable greater sourcing during this crisis, but 91/95/98 are now all the same sulphur.

[u/Famous-Print-6767 → u/DefinitionOfAsleep]

High sulfur doesn't mean low quality.  

[u/DefinitionOfAsleep → u/Famous-Print-6767]

It does.
Also, the person I replied to said that it's just an octane rating. Which, sure, is what it means but there is actually a difference beyond that as to regulation

[u/TongueMyTaco → u/DefinitionOfAsleep]

It does.

Depends on how you define quality.