my BMWs now have 20k miles and 32k miles. wondering if there are gasoline additives that I should be using?

my BMWs now have 20k miles and 32k miles. wondering if there are gasoline additives that I should be using?

the two cars are always filled up with Shell, Costco and Sam's Club gasoline... nothing else. (well, not sure what kind of gasoline they were topped up with when I bought them new? good gas from Germany? both were manufactured in Germany)

nothing special needed, my 540 has 65K miles and I never wasted money on additives, it runs like a dream since day 1.

I'll pour a bottle of Chevron Techron Fuel Injection Cleaner ~500 miles before I do an oil change.
It prolly works about as well as snake oil but I like the warm and fuzzy feeling it gives me.

If you use top tier premium gas you don't need any additives. The gas already has it in it.

Ditch the Sam’s Club swill, it’s not Top Tier. The others are. Say NO to additives!!

DanG wrote

If you use top tier premium gas you don't need any additives. The gas already has it in it.

This. Run quality fuel, dont lug the lump and dont abuse it and it'll be fine.

For the 1st ~7K miles my M8 was fueled very nearly 100% with non top tier fuels. Mostly Walmart 91 but Casey's 91 and Maverik 93(!). (I'll add while in some areas Casey's stations can offer top tier fuel in my area none of the Casey's stations offer top tier fuel.)

Then on a whim I switched to a top tier fuel -- Philips 66 91 -- and after some 10+ miles of freeway driving the engine acted up. Refused to run at higher RPMs.

I left the freeway in case I couldn't continue and after a mile or two on a nice secondary road with engine not acting up but me not making any demands on it I risked giving the engine some throttle. The engine was fine.

More experimenting and the engine manifested no untoward behavior.

Made a believer in top tier fuel of me. Since then in over 3K miles of additional driving Philips 66 has been the fuel of choice. Oh at first I tried alternating between Philips 66 91 and Maverik 93 but because my habit is to refuel at 1/2 tank adding 93 only boosted the octane to ~92. Hardly worth the bother...

Here's what my M8's owners manual has to offer...

Caution
The use of poor-quality fuels may result in harmful engine deposits or damage. Addi- tionally, problems relating to drivability, starting and stalling, especially under certain environmental conditions such as high ambient temperature and high altitude, may occur.
If drivability problems are encountered, we recommend switching to a high quality gasoline brand and a higher octane grade — AKI number — for a few tank fills. To avoid harmful engine deposits, it is highly recommended to purchase gasoline from Top Tier retailers.

Failure to comply with these recommendations may result in the need for additional maintenance.

As an aside and FWIW in my M8's owners manual Shell V-Power is the recommended fuel. Shell V-Power did very well -- it came out on top -- a gasoline test done by a UK car magazine that consisted of both (chassis) dyno and track testing.

I'd use Shell V-Power here but Shell stations here at least one nearby have very high prices; or while offering competitive pricing the condition of the pumps and the station have me concerned about the quality of the gasoline.

decaf wrote

my BMWs now have 20k miles and 32k miles. wondering if there are gasoline additives that I should be using?

the two cars are always filled up with Shell, Costco and Sam's Club gasoline... nothing else. (well, not sure what kind of gasoline they were topped up with when I bought them new? good gas from Germany? both were manufactured in Germany)

Top tier gas is top tier gas. Fill it up and drive.

In my over 30 years and several dozen performance vehicles, I've never worried about what gas stations I use.

decaf wrote

my BMWs now have 20k miles and 32k miles. wondering if there are gasoline additives that I should be using?

the two cars are always filled up with Shell, Costco and Sam's Club gasoline... nothing else. (well, not sure what kind of gasoline they were topped up with when I bought them new? good gas from Germany? both were manufactured in Germany)

Redline Si-1 if you want to scratch the itch

All BMWs have been recommended to use Top Tier gas since 2006. SI B 13 02 06 states:

If the TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline is unavailable, we recommend BMW Group FUEL SYSTEM CLEANER PLUS (PN 82 14 0 413 341) be added to the gas tank. For optimum cleaning and deposits control, add a 20 fl. oz. bottle every 3,000 miles when refueling.

The BMW fuel system cleaner is rebranded Chevron Techron Complete Fuel System Cleaner, which you can buy cheaper than the BMW branded bottle.

DanG wrote

If you use top tier premium gas you don't need any additives. The gas already has it in it.

This. Top Tier fuel ONLY.

JABCAT wrote

In my over 30 years and several dozen performance vehicles, I've never worried about what gas stations I use.

So, a car a year? 2 years? There's a chance you don't keep them long enough to know if your station choices made a difference.

tracer bullet wrote

So, a car a year? 2 years? There's a chance you don't keep them long enough to know if your station choices made a difference.

I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles in them. My wife's '22 X3MC currently has 61k mi & my '23 M2 has 40k mi. I drive them, and not gently. I also have multiple vehicles at a time (5 currently).

Wawa gas won't kill the car, that's not what we're saying here. We're saying the car will run better and the fuel system will stay cleaner in the long run using quality gasoline. You can drink soda everyday all day but eventually it will catch up w you. Same difference. If you must run cheap gas for whatever reason, I'd suggest a top tier every few fill ups. Some cleaning is better than none.

Forum posts like this are always so comical.
Just shows nothing has changed in 20yrs.

People just driving their cars putting over 100 or 200 thousand miles. Filling up at any gas station they come across.

Buddy of mine drove his F80 to almost 180k miles before he traded it in. Between filling up on the military base, Costco or any other gas station he was close to, he never once worried about which gas station to fill up at.

Of the close to 500k miles I've put on the 20 or so cars I've owned (several with complete engine modifications), I've never once worried about what gas I'm filling up with. As long as it was the grade the car was tuned for, I haven't cared which station I fill up at.

There are more important things in life to worry about. Stop stressing yourselves out over what gas station to use.

dizz81 wrote

Forum posts like this are always so comical.
Just shows nothing has changed in 20yrs.

People just driving their cars putting over 100 or 200 thousand miles. Filling up at any gas station they come across.

Buddy of mine drove his F80 to almost 180k miles before he traded it in. Between filling up on the military base, Costco or any other gas station he was close to, he never once worried about which gas station to fill up at.

Of the close to 500k miles I've put on the 20 or so cars I've owned (several with complete engine modifications), I've never once worried about what gas I'm filling up with. As long as it was the grade the car was tuned for, I haven't cared which station I fill up at.

There are more important things in life to worry about. Stop stressing yourselves out over what gas station to use.

These posts go right along with "I change my oil every 1,500 mi & use x-aftermarket brand of oil because I know more than the engineers who designed, built, and tested these engines under the most extreme conditions for hundreds of thousands of miles" posts.

Sorry to see that. Costco advertises Top Tier on their pumps which is backed up by numerous youtube vids on the subject, along with Chevron.

JABCAT wrote

In my over 30 years and several dozen performance vehicles, I've never worried about what gas stations I use.

That's not really any real help. No doubt where you live and drive there are a good number of stations selling top tier gasoline so while you may not have filled the tank up with top tier gasoline every fill up you did often enough.

I was in a similar situation in the SF Bay Area. Gas stations all over. I filled up at stations that were conveniently located to where I lived or handy along my work commute. Some stations did not offer top tier gasoline but some did and I filled the tank up often enough at these stations for the top tier fuel and its detergent package to cleanse the engine.

RockCrusher wrote

That's not really any real help. No doubt where you live and drive there are a good number of stations selling top tier gasoline so while you may not have filled the tank up with top tier gasoline every fill up you did often enough.

I was in a similar situation in the SF Bay Area. Gas stations all over. I filled up at stations that were conveniently located to where I lived or handy along my work commute. Some stations did not offer top tier gasoline but some did and I filled the tank up often enough at these stations for the top tier fuel and its detergent package to cleanse the engine.

It's just not something I worry about.
I've lived in 6 different states, tiny towns, large cities, driven all across the country (I like road trips), etc.

Auto manufacturers test these vehicles in the most extreme conditions for hundreds of thousands of miles before they're released. Especially in new cars, software is constantly reading sensors and making adjustments to keep the engine (and other systems) running optimally.

It's not the '70s & '80s anymore.

*If one doesn't live in an area that has quality fuel, they should probably reconsider a high-performanc turbo vehicle.

I don't worry about it either. I fill up most of the time with a top tier fuel. Phillips 66 91. Once in a while I will fill up with Maverik 93.

Your usage -- road trips -- even if you didn't use top tier fuel may have worked to cleanse the engine of deposits. Years ago I'd set out on a long road trip in my only car and after around 200 miles of just steady freeway driving the engine would be running noticeably better.

The automakers do indeed test the cars as you say but I would be very surprised they test with a mix of non top tier and top tier fuels. A good portion of the testing is done in South Africa -- for the high ambient temperatures and the government looks the other way when it comes to speed limits and also keeps out the photographers trying to catch the models being test -- and in northern Norway -- for cold weather testing. II would be surprised if the car makers would go to the extra expense of trucking in non top tier gasolilne along with the I imagine large amount of top tier gasoline.

Testing that is done in say Germany/USA and in city/urban and rural areas at least in the USA have access to both top tier and non top tier fuels.

I will note that for years now for every brand of car I've owned the car maker recommended the use of a top tier fuel.

The engines are very well monitored and adjustments made to get the best out of the engine while keeping emissions within spec, but deposits can't be removed by adjusting something. And as the deposits build up this further negatively affects combustion which can lead to more deposits.

Turbo charging doesn't make an engine immune from the deposit build up. I have owned a number of cars fitted with turbo charged and even super charged engines.

Two: the 230i and M8; both manifested better engine running when I switched from using non top tier gasoline to top tier gasoline. Other turbo charged/super charged cars either got fueled occasionally with a top tier fuel though a couple never got fueled with top tier fuel at any time. But I didn't own these for more than at most about 1.5 years and put less than 10K miles on the cars.

The very quick and rather dramatic improvement the M8 engine manifested and at the same time the Honda Ridgeline engine when fueled with a top tier fuel made a believer out of me.

While under some types of usage some owners might be able to get by without using a top tier fuel my usage which no longer entails long road trips is not such a usage.