|
Tesco's is BP or Texaco, depending which part of the country you're in.
|
|
|
Yes - I agree - where are all these garages full of cars with wrecked engines/fuel systems having been run on supermarket fuel? I run three diesel engined vehicles and have done so for some years, I always try to fill up with supermarket diesel due to the price but sometimes have to use other fuel. My cars have high mileages and have had no problems relating to fuel systems. Is it the occasional top up with the 'good stuff' that keeps them going?
I look forward to the debate as I do have an open mind on the subject!
steve
|
I used to test diesel engines for a living. Any mineral fuel you can buy legally in the UK will meet the required standards, including lubricity. Don't waste your money on anything other than the cheapest fuel you can get. Drain the water agglomerator (beautiful word), ie the bottom of the filter frequently, and change the filter with an OE or Bosch part at least every 30k miles, and more frequently if dirt in the fuel is suspected.
Diesel engines are very tolerant of fuel variations, but totally intolerant of dirt and water.
659.
|
Years ago I remember reading an article on motorway driving which included the advice to lift off the throttle every so often so that oil would be sucked up to lubricate the upper cylinder.
Nowadays of course the traffic ensures that this is automatic! but why do we no longer worry about the upper rings being abraded because the oil does't reach them?
|
|
|
Well said, 659!
On the one hand we are warned not to buy our diesel fuel from supermarkets, yet in at least one other thread we are told we can save money by using cooking oil, presumably from those very same supermarkets!
|
I think this topic comes up every couple of months and my answer is always the same.
If supermarket fuel is so poor, why do the big fuel companies not get together and prove this? Or is it they can't?
Or to look at it from a different angle, if you are Shell or BP and you are selling the same product as the supermarkets at a higher price how do you justify it - you claim that your product is better don't you?
|
A while ago I filled up a generator with unleaded from a super market, after many cut outs and very poor running the fuel was emptied and was replaced with BP, the generator then worked perfectly. Perhaps it was a bad batch of fuel ?
I always try to fill up at Shell, BP or Texaco because its the same price as the Super Markets where I live and the advice from HJ (that I read after the generator problem).
|
I can only comment on my own experience based over the last 10 years, 150000 miles and mix of diesel and petrol cars.
Over that period I have never had a problem using (or caused by) mostly supermarket fuel. OK if running low away from a supermarket i have used any of the major brands now and again, but its mostly (85%) supermarket fuel use. As I have had no problems I shall continue using the cheapest fuel I can find.
|
Oh my goodness! didnt know it was that contentious. thank you for all the replies. As so many of you have achieved large mileages without dire results I shall stay with Tesco.
Lucy T.
|
I'm in a slightly advantageous position, (Cheswick Green, Solihull) in that the Shell petrol station down the road is the cheapest, followed by Sainsburies, Tesco and the most expensive - BP.
Our local Safeway does the offer that you get 1p and upwards off the BP forecourt price with their voucher after buying goods from their supermarket. As BP are on average 2p a litre more expensive, I still use the Shell garage. I wonder though if the price is higher in the first place to make up for the discount they are going to give.
I do keep an eye out at the BP garage though, because a number of times they have run out of Unleaded, and let you buy their Super-Unleaded for the 95 octane price! The the money off makes the price even better.
Paul
|
|
I read HJ comments re avoiding supermarket diesel and using high lubricity Shell and Texaco diesel in his advice column this weekend. My local supermarket (Morrisons) sells Texaco fuel - will this be the same as Texaco from one of their garages, or should I still avoid?
|
Not sure if there is a link on it or not, but has anyone tried BP Ultimate Diesel? Is it any good?
I was going to give it a try but as the normal stuff was so bleedy expensive I couldn't face paying extra for the Ultimate.
|
Might also be worth checking prices in your area at
www.aapetrolbusters.com/default.asp
I seem to live in an "expensive " area - local (Leics)supermarkets are 78.9/litre for diesel and Shell etc about 80p/litre yet when I went to Leeds on Sat to visit my son Shell, Texaco,Total etc in garages just down the road from him were 75.9/litre. I filled up on Shell for a change. However, I usually use supermarket stuff and have never had a problem. Would Sains, Tesco etc risk selling a product that would damage engines? Do they get it from a special refinery? I remember a friend who worked for Total telling me once that "their" petrol went to most local garages whether they were Total, Shell, Texaco etc. It was just picked up and delivered in different tankers. I presume he wasn't just having me on.
|
Two things on this really (not expert of course)
I always believed that if you have a standard diesel engine it would be best run on standard diesel fuel.. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG I WOULD LOVE TO TRY ULTIMATE
and
after one try of diesel fuel at sainsburys all the way to emptyish, tesco, B.P., shell etc..Esso was by far the worst, and BP the best --all rounder--..
for me it helps hopefully for you too..
|
"I always believed that if you have a standard diesel engine it would be best run on standard diesel fuel.. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG I WOULD LOVE TO TRY ULTIMATE
and
after one try of diesel fuel at sainsburys all the way to emptyish, tesco, B.P., shell etc..Esso was by far the worst, and BP the best --all rounder--.."
In some ways you seem to be answering your own question, in that you seem to have experienced differences between 'standard' diesel fuels, never mind 'special' diesel.
Also, unless a car has an mpg computer, you are never going to obtain accurate figures from one fill from each type. Fuel foam, level forecourts, unlevel forecourts, individual pumps... did the tanker driver put in the additive pack properly? So many factors come into play, that I personally don't pay a lot of attention until after the third or fourth fill and then do an average.
|
|
I'm running it at the moment (Punto Multijet, as raved about in Diesel Car magazine, among other places). I didn't believe all the blah about "instantly noticeable improvement" but it is actually true. Car runs better, mpg is up by about 4 or 5. I shall be sticking with that in future. Previously I'd used Shell or Texaco, which I had always found to be the best two, so for Ultimate to be better than either of those is saying something. Worth the extra 3p a litre IMHO.
|
Good debate! I run Shell in my 405 along with a bottle of veg oil, I love the smell and it seems to run better, should improve the lubrication factor as well. I'm aware of the duty charge payable to customs. Where I live Shell is as cheap as any other type - 75.9/Ltr.
Steve.
|
|
|
|
|
