High-Quality Gasoline Really Does Improve Your Car’s Performance
Phillips 66 outperforms Top Tier gasoline and keeps engines running smoother and cleaner.
For more than a century, Americans have relied on gasoline to get us everywhere we want to go. Rarely do we think about how gasoline actually combusts in our engines. Most often, we're concerned with price and convenience.
But when our engines start running rough or not at all, there's a distinct chance that inferior gasoline is sitting in the tank. Carbon deposits from bad gas can build up on engine intake valves and can cause severe problems. Reduced power, sluggish performance, poor efficiency, and the potential for those nasty deposits to break off and contaminate other parts of the engine can all disrupt your next drive. What keeps your car or truck at peak performance and prevents harmful engine deposits is a high-quality, dependable fuel that won't quit. That’s what gasoline from Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76 is formulated to do.
Many gasoline stations sell Top Tier, a higher standard developed by automakers and gasoline refiners in response to the low detergent levels established by the EPA in 1995. Top Tier came out in 2004 and is endorsed by nearly every major automaker for its ability to keep intake valves, fuel injectors, and combustion chambers cleaner versus fuel without these helpful additives. In a 2016 study conducted by AAA comparing six randomly selected fuels in a Ford engine running for the equivalent of 4,000 miles, the three regular fuels caused 19 times more carbon buildup than in the same engine running Top Tier fuels. On average, Top Tier-approved fuels are only a few cents more per gallon. It’s a win-win on every level.
Gasoline from Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76 goes further. Every grade is designed to outperform Top Tier gasoline with 30 percent more detergents than the minimum specified in Top Tier and three times as much as the EPA minimum. The result: A cleaner-burning, more efficient car that keeps you going for longer. Phillips 66 performance gas can even clean the carbon deposits inside your engine. You won’t need to buy fuel additives or special fuel treatments from the auto parts store. Especially for older, higher-mileage engines, you may notice a difference in as little as five tanks’ worth of Phillips 66.
Direct-injection engines are more challenging to keep free of carbon deposits than port- and dual-mode injected engines, since fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber rather than above the intake valve. This prevents the gasoline detergents from coating and cleansing the tops of the valves and the ports. But advances in engine technology have introduced smarter spark and valve timing that reduces this risk. And with a cleaner, more even burn across the combustion chamber, direct-injection engines have much to gain with a specially-engineered fuel like Phillips 66 performance gas.
This drive for improvement and innovation runs at the heart of the company. In 1927, Frank and L.E. Phillips opened their first gasoline station in Wichita, Kansas after buying a refinery that same year. The “66” and the company logo were inspired by Route 66 and a successful test on that iconic Western road in which a car running on the brothers’ new fuel hit 66 mph, an incredible speed in that time.
Today, scientists and engineers at Phillips 66 are working on how to power the future. While researching the next generation of renewables and batteries, the company is constantly trying to extract every last ounce of efficiency and safety in its conventional fuels. Metallurgical analysts ensure gasoline is properly transported to stations across the country. Analytical forensic experts look to reduce problems with crude oil processing and feedstocks before they occur. From the barrel to your tank, there are thousands of people working to make every gallon its absolute best. Carbon on the valves and constant breakdowns? That’s history.
