Supermarket Diesel. Does it clog injectors ?

[Dorset Bob]

I have to use ethanol free petrol for my Triumph, otherwise my tank would be wrecked like this:



I have seen worse! When I was looking for a 955i, around 3 years ago, many of the low mileage, cared for, little used machines had tank damage caused by ethanol.

I agree with mss about the higher mileage users getting away with it, as the fuel doesn't have chance to separate out into a water/fuel di-phase.

I use Esso Supreme as it does not contain ethanol from the terminal that supplies my area.
I wrote to their technical boys, who confirmed this in writing.
For me, It has nothing to do with octane rating.
As my V6 covered 1400 miles between the last 2 MOTs so it has the same fuel as I don't want an aggressive, corrosive cocktail in the tank.

For high mileage people the "normal stuff" is probably fine, as long as it doesn't hang around too long.

The point is, despite the fact that we all know a mate of a mate, down the pub, who knows a mate that drives a fuel tanker that says "it is all the same, mate".
It isn't.

[BillyMG]

Friend of mine used to drive tankers. He said they would queue up 4am in the morning - hundreds of them in lines from every company - Shell, Esso, Morrisons, Tesco ... And they'd all fill up from the same pumps. Suffice to say he never pays a premium for his fuel and neither do I.

[Dorset Bob]

Thank you for that post that illustrates my point!

[macafee2]

This topic has been around for years and years. I have no idea of the truth but certainly in its early years it was rife that supermarket fuels caused cars to run rough.
May be it was true but even if it was is it true now?
If supermarket fuel is as good as branded is the stories from years ago the reason why some people rightly or wrongly think supermarket fuel is rubbish?

There are a lot of supermarket petrol stations, would they still be in business if their product was rubbish?


I use branded fuels mainly because their petrol stations are on my route, to use supermarket petrol stations I would have to go out of my way. Also perhaps because we have home delivery so don't venture to a supermarket unless on holiday.

When I towed my caravan with my Honda Accord I did find/imagine that one branded fuel was better then another. Cant recall which it was but the car did not seem to labour as much.

macafee2

[marinabrian]

All of the petrol variants of our cars are tuned in the UK to use 95 Ron fuel, there is absolutely no benefit whatsoever in using 98 Ron fuel, the car will not run better, you will not become irresistible to the opposite sex, and your car will not do an extra 50 MPG.

Higher octane fuel is less prone to pinking............so if you need to fuel your P6 V8 with five star, then you can still buy "real" petrol from BMH.



Back to the here and now, other markets are tuned for lower Octane fuels, Australia for instance use 92 RON fuel, and their "premium" fuel is actually 95 RON

With the low mileage cars, I leave only a small amount of fuel in there, and when pressed into action, fill as required as modern fuels tend to go stale when standing, due to the ethanol content as required by the EU,being both hygroscopic and having a tendency to evaporate off, this of course applies to both 95 and 98 RON fuel.

Another fact, the higher the octane rating, the higher the temperature of the spark required to ignite the mixture, this is why the ignition system of cars running LPG need to be in top condition.......incidentally LPG is circa 110 RON, however the calorific value is lower than petrol, so you have to burn 20% more to achieve the same output.

It's not all about octane either, a little light reading HERE

Brian

[jjames]

Originally Posted by BoroRover

Reading today that supermarkets will be, "slashing", diesel by 3p by the weekend, there was a claim their diesel is inferior, having additives that clog injectors. Quite apart from the cost of their fuel rose by an average of 11p a litre during April/May, it's hardly a "slash"

It is concerning to read their product may cause problems.

It is welcome though, to read of a reduction, if only for a couple of weeks when it will be back to its former price....or dearer.

I normally use Asda for my diesel. I'm thinking it may be wise to buy elsewhere.

Surely even if it does, you can buy cleaners that you just put in with the fuel. i.e: Redex, they do multiple cleaners for diesel and petrol engines
And it’s fairly inexpensive


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MSS]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

All of the petrol variants of our cars are tuned in the UK to use 95 Ron fuel, there is absolutely no benefit whatsoever in using 98 Ron fuel, the car will not run better, you will not become irresistible to the opposite sex, and your car will not do an extra 50 MPG.

Higher octane fuel is less prone to pinking............so if you need to fuel your P6 V8 with five star, then you can still buy "real" petrol from BMH.



Back to the here and now, other markets are tuned for lower Octane fuels, Australia for instance use 92 RON fuel, and their "premium" fuel is actually 95 RON

With the low mileage cars, I leave only a small amount of fuel in there, and when pressed into action, fill as required as modern fuels tend to go stale when standing, due to the ethanol content as required by the EU,being both hygroscopic and having a tendency to evaporate off, this of course applies to both 95 and 98 RON fuel.

Another fact, the higher the octane rating, the higher the temperature of the spark required to ignite the mixture, this is why the ignition system of cars running LPG need to be in top condition.......incidentally LPG is circa 110 RON, however the calorific value is lower than petrol, so you have to burn 20% more to achieve the same output.

It's not all about octane either, a little light reading HERE

Brian

What rubbish from an armchair expert. Try filling up your cars with V Power and discover that you are constantly fighting to escape the sexual desires of the opposite sex and occasionally the same sex.

Real men do not fill up with Supermarket fuel!

[roverbarmy]

The only proven way to get more mpg from your car is an industry secret .................................
Move your seat back a notch! Moving it forwards gives you more power, less MPG and cramp on long journeys (unless using cruise control, which is being debated elsewhere!).

[ziggy72]

Originally Posted by BillyRover

Friend of mine used to drive tankers. He said they would queue up 4am in the morning - hundreds of them in lines from every company - Shell, Esso, Morrisons, Tesco ... And they'd all fill up from the same pumps. Suffice to say he never pays a premium for his fuel and neither do I.

Have to agree. My wifes sister has lived down Ellesmere Port for 28 years and her husband worked at the shell refinery for 16 years filling the tankers. They fill the supermarket tankers from the exact same pump as the shell tankers.
He just laughs and says is that myth still going about.

[bl52krz]

My car failed the mot on emissions this year,March. Just to concentrate on diesel, I was advised to change my engine oil to a C3 derivative to help with emissions.I was also advised to use the ‘better quality’ diesel fuel for the re-test. I filled up with C3 oil as suggested, and also put around 10 gallons of BP ‘best quality’ diesel in the tank.
I cleaned the egr out. Not much gunk in it. My car passed the mot test. I continued using BPs finest for the next two fill ups. My conclusions were:- Same mpg. The engine did seem to pick up revs easier. The last two fill ups were from Asda, the terrible junk diesel.The mpg was the same. It picked up revs just as easy as when on BPs super duper diesel. My only conclusion from this is:- that the Magnatec C3 fully synthetic 5w40 oil was what made the difference in the faster pick up. It is also recommended for the diesel in place of 10w40. It achieved the same test results as the 10w40..