For the last few weeks I had been running my Vectra CDTi1.9 on Shell V diesel to see what difference it made to the economy and performance to justify the extra cost. Over 2500 miles I found that it did accelerate better but the engine didnt seem to run quite as smoothly as it had on ordinary diesel and the economy was only marginally better too.
Filling up with ordinary Shell diesel again I found the car didnt start up very well, it had a very lumpy tick over and cruising at about 2100-2400 rpm produced what felt like a misfire. After a few journeys I was getting a little concerned and I ended up topping up the tank again with 30 litres of Sainsburys diesel. The Vectra immediately returned to its good starting and smooth running.
If my tank of ordinary Shell diesel contained water or particles then surely diluting it with 30 litres of fresh diesel wouldnt make the slightest difference. Ive generally used Shell fuels believing them to be one of the better brands but is this a quality problem or something else?
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You`re not trolling Brian, are you?
Its just that you never came back to your other thread on derv we that looked into
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?m=577028...e
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Sorry having not replied to the first thread but I decided that I didnt really understand enough of the subject and went off to read up a bit. My apologies for that.
Having owned my first ever diesel car since April I was keen to do my bit to save the planet but I was very weary of what fuel I put in having read so much of how unreliable and expensive modern common rail diesels can be. Much has been made of the need to use good quality fuels, if only to be on the safe side. After further reading I decided to forget about bio-diesel for now and to use good quality mineral diesel.
Again reading about the virtues & benefits of advanced diesel fuels like Shell V and BP Ultimate, I decided to try Shell V and although the car did seem accelerate better general running seemed no better than ordinary Shell that I had been using.
So having decided to just use a good quality ordinary diesel, I was surprised and mystified to find that the car ran badly. I am at a loss to understand if it may have been a "bad" load of diesel or the car adapting to the lower cetane rating of the ordinary fuel again.
I seem to have become a bit paranoid about the continuing quality of diesel to use in my car. I bought the car to keep for several years to give good economy & reliability during my 25K miles a year traveling. I though by sticking to a good brand would guarantee good running of my car all the time but now I'm not so sure.
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Brian
Its really simple.
When your low fuel warning lights comes on, you pull into whatever station is next (supermarket or one of the oil companies) and you fill up with their cheapest.
Have it serviced on schedule.
I have done 200,000 diesel miles in total and this practice has not let me down yet.
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< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
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I apologise Brian. I think I understand more where you`re coming from now.
To be honest, i would just try to stop thinking about quality. Just use any diesel except biodiesel and steer clear of additives.
I have been running diesels for 14 years now and non of them have run any differently whatever has been put in them.
Regards
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I think I had run out of things to worry about concerning diesels and I was coming round to that way of thinking.
Thank you for both for your comments.
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