Sub Standard Shell

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Sun 12 Jun 2005 13:46
Sub Standard Shell - Mr Tickle
I was filling my car at a Shell station yesterday when I noticed a home-made notice stuck on the pump (and also on all the other pumps). It said that there had been a delivery of fuel to that station which did not conform to the relevant British Standard and had an RON rating between 93.7 and 95 (I think 95 is the norm for unleaded). It went on to reassure customers that it would not harm their cars and there was no risk involved. It also recommended Optimax to customers with high performance engines.

I was curious to know if anyone else had encountered this elsewhere(the filling staion is in deleted, presumably the bad batch of fuel came from deleted). Also, would this have any adverse or noticeable effect on a car? It did also wonder what sort of quality control system picked this up after it had left the refinery rather than before.

{Location removed as per this site's T's & C's. DD}
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Sun 12 Jun 2005 15:41
Sub Standard Shell - nortones2
No doubt Trading Standards would be interested, as would Shell. I believe many, if not all, Shell stations are franchises, therefore greater scope for QC foul-ups. Doubt that Shell would risk the damage, if they made a mistake, by neglecting to pump it out again. If the octane level is lower than 95, what else is wrong? Perhaps the fuel did not come from conventional sources????
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Sun 12 Jun 2005 16:28
Sub Standard Shell - Roberson
That's certainly not something I would have expected from Shell. I have never know that happen before anywhere, let alone a Shell petrol station, but then again I haven?t been driving all that long!

As to whether or not it would have an 'adverse' effect on your car, would depend upon what car you have and how it is set up. My car would run happily on lower octane (down to 91 RON), but others may not. My handbook states that 'in an emergency, if the octane rating is lower than that required by the engine, drive with medium engine speeds and low engine loading. High engine loading with full throttle or high engine revs can cause engine damage'.

So, assuming you follow the manufacturer?s guidelines on running lower octane fuels, then no adverse effect would be experienced. However, as a worse case scenario, petrol with too low an octane reading would lead to 'knocking'. This is where the fuel mixture uncontrollably detonates in the combustion chamber. This would lead to high piston temperatures, eventually leading to a hole in the piston top.
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Sun 12 Jun 2005 18:19
Sub Standard Shell - JH
since you pay more for a higher octane fuel did you pay less for this lower octane petrol ? I bet not ! :-)

John
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Mon 13 Jun 2005 09:52
Sub Standard Shell - hairdresser
This was the same as my local shell station on saturday. Didn't notice it until I had filled up.
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Mon 13 Jun 2005 11:26
Sub Standard Shell - Alan
I think that shell were being honest and admitting it when others would keep quiet. On several occasions my car has pinked after filling up and I then have to top up with super unleaded to stop it pinking.
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