Fuel problems

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Wed 12 Jan 2011 19:00
Fuel problems - HE

I have had problems with tesco fuel. Was wondering if anyone else has had problems around the end of 2010 or begining of 2011. This has caused lots of problems with my car.

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Wed 12 Jan 2011 20:06
Fuel problems - boggles

There can be problems with any brand of fuel, from time to time. due maybe to incorrect tanker loading, contamination from outside sources etc. To get any meaningful answers, you need to say if your problem has been with diesel or gasoline, and what area you are in. Then anyone who has had similar problems can comment. There have been no reports locally (Derby,Burton,Ashby) of Tesco fuel causing problems.

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 12:29
Fuel problems - HE

My car uses diesel and i am from colwyn bay, north wales.

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 18:27
Fuel problems - Cymrogwyllt

I almost certainly get my diesel from the same refinary as am in NW Wales. No probs at all

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 21:18
Fuel problems - Lygonos

Fantastic level of information by the OP.

What problems/car/mileage/servicing history?

Why do you think it's fuel related?

Would help...

Edited by Lygonos on 19/01/2011 at 21:18

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Wed 19 Jan 2011 22:10
Fuel problems - madf

Car description and service history would help as well as a description of problems.

We could tell the length of a peice of string more accurately than answer the question.

But I suspect water in fuel filter...could be one of many answers.

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Mon 24 Jan 2011 22:20
Fuel problems - sb10

Tesco fuel for several months has not been up to its usual standard,stores I use are Sidcup and when there the isle of wight Ryde store,so now I only use Tesco once a week instead of every other day

BP and Esso I use more now as I get better performance and several miles to the gallon better economy

My car, Rover 416 Tourer manual Honda unit

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Sat 29 Jan 2011 01:41
Fuel problems - rogue-trooper

Do different brands really give better mpg?

I always think my car works better with Shell and worst with Total, but is it the imagination?

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Sat 29 Jan 2011 17:36
Fuel problems - unthrottled
The calorific value of fuels varies slightly according to the composition, but since the composition is not advertised, conjecture is pointless. The octane rating of petrol and the cetane rating of diesel have no bearing on the energy content. If brand X had more energy than Brand Y, it would be advertised!

Most modern petrol cars will see a small gain in WOT performance with high octane fuel because the spark timing is invariably knock limited. But WOT performance has no bearing whatsoever on fuel economy. 95% of all driving requires trifling amounts of power (~20hp is good for 60 mph in a mid size hatch).

Cetane and diesel is a bit different. The higher the cetane rating, the lower the ignition delay. It will generally reduce clatter-but not necessarily improve performance. Whether this is beneficial depends on whether the injection timing is retarded from the best torque point (for NOx reduction). Since you don't know the injection timing, conjecture is pointless. In any case the difference in efficiency is very small 2~3% at most.

It might be of interest to note that the most efficient diesel engines in the world run on the cheapest, nastiest, bunker fuel available...
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Wed 2 Feb 2011 12:43
Fuel problems - HE

I have had no problems with my car before then, it is a 04 plate Corsa. Has anyone else had any problems with tesco fuel?

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Wed 2 Feb 2011 15:21
Fuel problems - injection doc
out of interest the HE, is the light coming on and reporting knock sensor fault ?
I have come across a lot of vauxhalls flagging this fault on Supermarket fuel but clears up when they have a dose of another brand !

there will be loads who jump up and say there is no difference !
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Thu 3 Feb 2011 11:10
Fuel problems - HE

no light was coming on or knock sensor fault. The garage did lots of tests and they all came back clear, there was nothing wrong with the car but still wasn't starting. The garage then emptied the fuel tank and the fuel was stodgy, as soon as the old fuel was taken out and replaced with new fuel the car started.

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Wed 2 Feb 2011 15:31
Fuel problems - Dutchie

I remember a few years ago and problaby still now that a lot of modern ship diesel engines run on a cheap tar kind of fuel.This has to be preheated first before it can be used by the engine.Talking to the ship engineers the preheating was the problem and the stuff is a lot cheaper than diesel.The majority of diesel cars will run on anything for so long in my opnion but how it effects the injectors and other systems in a modern tdci is a other question.

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