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What happened to Top Tier gasoline?

Discussion in 'Prime Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by mountaineer, Feb 5, 2023.

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  1. mountaineer

    mountaineer Active Member

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    My 2019 Prime manual recommends using Top Tier gasoline, which I suspect is a standard Toyota recommendation.

    In my part of Canada, only Shell and Costco sell it. Even though the Top Tier website still lists Shell as a vendor, when I visited them in December, the attendant told me they'd stopped selling it six months prior.

    I don't know whether Costco still sells it, as I don't have a Costco membership and am unwilling to acquire one, for the three times a year I need to fill up my car.

    The question is, does anyone have a detergent to recommend that I can add to my tank before my next fillup to do the same thing? It seems, comparing season-to-season, my gas efficiency has gone down in the 3.5 years I've owned the car.
     
    #1 mountaineer, Feb 5, 2023
  2. captqc

    captqc Member

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    #2 captqc, Feb 5, 2023
  3. mountaineer

    mountaineer Active Member

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    None of the other ones are nearby – they must be in other parts of the country.

    My point really is whether Top Tier is obsolete. Why haven't they removed Shell from their list, eight months after they stopped selling it? Why does nobody but Costco sell it in Ontario? Can I achieve similar results with a detergent additive?
     
    #3 mountaineer, Feb 5, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2023
  4. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

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    Top Tier virtually died in 2020 after key producers went down.

    the additives needed are in short supply

    To my knowledge there is no top tier certified station in my county.
     
    #4 Rmay635703, Feb 5, 2023
  5. ColoradoBoo

    ColoradoBoo Senior Member

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    That stink not having a Top Tier station you can go to. I suggest adding a small bottle of Lucas Fuel Injector cleaner every month or so. I'm worried about my daughter's Mazda with the Direct Injection so run a bottle through it monthly...and she only gets refilled at our Top Tier station. (Going on 80,000 miles and, so far, no issues.)
     
    #5 ColoradoBoo, Feb 5, 2023
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  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I can only assume it knocked the "right" competitor out of business, so they don't fund the program anymore.

    Still a few local stations advertising it though.
     
    #6 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Feb 5, 2023
  7. nicoj36

    nicoj36 Active Member

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    https://a.co/d/1KA7woP

    Check out chevron additive. Search ‘prius’ under the question box and you’ll see plenty reviews from other prius owners.
     
    #7 nicoj36, Feb 6, 2023
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  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I’ve been using nothing but Chevron regular, pretty much from day one with our ‘10; haven’t noticed any difference recently. Top Tier’s mostly hype?
     
    #8 Mendel Leisk, Feb 6, 2023
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  9. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    It was mostly a marketing "gimmick" anyway.

    In the US, at least, there is a required minimum level of "detergents" in all the gas.

    If you are still concerned, you can buy a bottle of Techron additive and put that in the tank every 3 or 6 or 12 months; whatever makes you feel comfortable. I do all my vehicles every 6 months or so.
     
    #9 sam spade 2, Feb 6, 2023
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  10. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    Time to cancel your AAA ownership :) https://newsroom.aaa.com/2016/07/aaa-not-gasoline-created-equal/
     
    #10 Marine Ray, Feb 6, 2023
  11. captqc

    captqc Member

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    #11 captqc, Feb 6, 2023
  12. mountaineer

    mountaineer Active Member

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    Thanks for the replies... I've looked into available products and generally found "fuel injector cleaners" and "fuel system cleaners". What I've read is that the former contain solvents, and do a lighter job, while the fuel system cleaners have detergents that are heavier duty. I'll start with a system cleaner, and see if I notice a difference. Gumout and MotoMaster (Canadian Tire) are locally available to me. Will report back here in a few months.

    Car almost four years old with 50,000km, maybe a third of that in hybrid mode. I've written down my monthly distance, gas & electricity consumption from the start so it will be interesting to see any change over the seasons.
     
    #12 mountaineer, Feb 6, 2023
  13. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Two things about that:
    AAA is a commercial business.
    It is not a big stretch to think they might be on the dole.

    It says 19 times cleaner. Cleaner than what exactly ?

    And what gas were they using as their non-top tier comparison ??
     
    #13 sam spade 2, Feb 6, 2023
  14. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    The Top Tier fuels have extra Techron in them.
    Just sayin'.

    And if you really think that you need some heavy duty cleaning action, look around for Berrymans B12 Chemtool.
     
    #14 sam spade 2, Feb 6, 2023
  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Techron is patented by Chevron.
     
    #15 Mendel Leisk, Feb 6, 2023
  16. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I'd think that some patents would be expired by now, but the Trademark doesn't expire.
     
    #16 fuzzy1, Feb 6, 2023
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  17. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Yes.....and ???
    They SELL it to other companies too.
     
    #17 sam spade 2, Feb 6, 2023
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  18. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    I provided reputable article pro TopTier. Can you provide similar besides your personal negative opinion?
     
    #18 Marine Ray, Feb 7, 2023
  19. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Saying that their claims are mostly marketing based is just a statement of fact.

    I have nothing "negative" to say about so called "Top Tier" fuel itself.

    I think their hype is a bit over done but nothing really wrong with the product.

    That is true of a LOT of things these days.
     
    #19 sam spade 2, Feb 7, 2023
  20. MalachyNG

    MalachyNG Active Member

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    Interesting that local Mobil and Sunoco stations are on that list but the same truck delivers to them and Stewart's, which isn't on the list
     
    #20 MalachyNG, Feb 7, 2023
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