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Been experimenting

Gary820

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Over last few months I've been running the 80 on fuel from different places and comparing mpg.... done over quite a few tanks (not difficult with a 1fzfe lol) I'm not tied to mpg and don't chase the figures it was more out of interest. This is with the 255's fitted not the 35's

Tesco 95 Ron, shocking! 14mpg at best, performance down and doesn't run as smooth as it should. Even gear changes under load were poor.

Tesco momentum99, 18 mpg at best, performance is good but idle a bit poor.

Shell optimax about the same as Tesco momentum but better idle quality.

Bp ultimate as above.

Bp normal unleaded 17mpg at best, smooth idle, performance is good and yesterday was a surprise, after kicking the box down to overtake some slow traffic, it pulled to near 5k before changing up without the pwr button being pressed, smooth all the way round and pulled like a train :icon-twisted:

The exhaust hasn't made any noticeable difference (it was worse to start with lol) but does have better pull mid range.

Off road fuel use is daft and with the 35's it's horrendous round town but on a run returns upto 17mpg.

I've put about a grand through the tank while noting this down lol and will stick with normal Bp stuff now. Has the best bang per buck and it runs nice and smooth, apart from the exhaust rumble at idle don't notice it's running. :icon-biggrin: :icon-cool:
 
Thanks for that Gary , i pay little attention to mpg but have been frustrated for months by a rough idle that comes and goes for no apparent reason and has seen me adjust the throttle cable at least 5 times . It has never occurred to me its the quality of fuel causing it . Now to work out which pump to avoid as i top up almost exclusively at Morrisons using whichever pump is free .
 
What got me noting it down was how shocking Tesco regular unleaded was, the performance was quite noticeable tbh and most likely caused the poor mpg as had to make it work! Engine didn't sound right either almost a bit strangled!! No wonder it's cheaper lol.
For a big 4x4 it goes so well and I was surprised how much difference there's been. Sure anyone who's driven the petrol version will agree they're not slow!!
Obviously all the small bits add up, exhaust, performance plug leads, well serviced etc.

I'm not too fussed about mpg as it's a second vehicle but always good to pass the odd filling station :lol:
Our new car (when turns up in a few weeks) will do 60 odd mpg so offsets any running costs of the 80. That's what I tell the wife anyway :lol:
 
Thanks for posting your results. Very clear and concise.

Personally I never use poopermarket fuel since I had a really bad time with Morrisons diesel a few years ago. We had a cold snap and it waxed the fuel up in my LC and Hilux and the wife's Skoda. I spent the best part of a morning heating up fuel pipes and changing filters to get the vehicles running. My LC is never one to not start, even when the temperatures dropped to -20, so when -12 starts to solidify the fuel in the lines and the truck refuses to fire up I know the issues had to be fuel related.

I nearly always use BP or Shell fuel and always have a full tank of Ultimate/ VPower whenever its available.
 
I know it's apples and oranges... But I'm getting 26mpg on my 105. With a 1HZ... :icon-biggrin:
 
I must admit that I take all this supermarket vs "Branded" fuel discussions with a pinch of salt. IMHO you're just as likely to get a "bad" batch of fuel from a Branded station as a supermarket. If it's being sold in the UK, then it must meet the various standards.

For the last 12 or so years, I've 99% of the time bought petrol from Tesco, usually from their Watford station, one of their busiest apparently. In the 90 I did around 40k on Tesco's and SWMBO's Yaris, which usually only does short trips has now done 65k miles - I can guarantee that at least 60k of that would have been on Tesco's 95RON. Still runs sweet as a nut. The 90 also used to run fine - never had any fuel related issues. However now I'm on LPG, I don't really worry about petrol usage in the truck. Just a shame that Tesco's don't sell LPG. :-(

YMMV - literally. :)

Add: Yes, 98RON does makes a difference, to the Yaris at least - it is a bit perkier and does a few more miles but not enough to warrant the price difference. I never actually felt the difference in the 90, though it may have idled a bit smoother......perhaps?
 
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Fifth Gear program did a comparison, under strict conditions (draining fuel completely between runs etc..) of different fuel brands/grades using a golf GTi.
Results were:

1. Shell V Power (super unleaded). Gave best economy and the best power gain measured on a dyno with noticeable better running and engine pickup/acceleration.

2. Esso supreme.

3. BP unleaded (not the 'super' stuff).

2 and 3 gave pretty similar results with 1 being noticeably better all-round. The rest, supermarket fuels etc came in 4th but very close to 2 and 3.

I've tried them all in the ZZR and didn't notice any difference but, then again, the performance is so huge anyway which makes it harder.JMO
 
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hmmmm .... interesting .....

I've been using the shell premium unleaded in mine .. it idles at a slightly lower rpm (750 ish instead of around the 800-850 mark) .. there feels more grunt in the lower and mid rev range too, and it seems to last longer in the tank .... which is always a good thing
 
I agree you can get a bad batch from anywhere. I was using Tesco as 5p off a litre makes a nice saving but I could notice the difference, swapped to the momentum99 which then got me thinking I'd see what difference I get. Not difficult to get through fuel in the 80 lol.

As a note though the wife's focus (1.6petrol) makes no noticable difference at all.
 
Last year I sold my mercedes sprinter flatbed to a guy form Lithuania. He explained to me the situation with the quality of their fuel in Lithuania, very poor and high mileage motors petrol or diesel are knackered as they only have low grade fuel. He explained that he prefered to buy a high mileage motor from the uk as "You have better quality fuel".

The reason that supermarket fuel is cheaper is that they dont add any additives etc and in their interests they dont want to buy the best quality stock and sell it for cheap! So I always keep away from supermarket fuel fillups. I buy from my local oil distributor.

Keep burning good fuel in these cruisers we have!!
 
I totally agree with the bad batch theory, it can happen to any fuel station. I know of a BP station that had just that. I was called out to a multiple motorcycle breakdown scenario. All the bikes were within half a mile of each other and had all filled up at the BP station up the road. I got sick of cleaning out fuel tanks and carbs that week I can tell you!:icon-rolleyes:

Anyway, its not poor fuel quality but rather the lack of additives that are used in the fuel. The fuel generally comes from the same refineries and the additives are mixed when the fuel goes into the delivery tanker. Morrisons went through a spate of not putting enough antiwaxing agent in their fuel which led to the issues I had with my cars.

I have also had issues with an old Harley I had that wouldn't run worth a toss on Tesco fuel. I found this out after basically replacing the entire ignition system and carb!!!! I put a gallon of BP unleaded in the tank and it ran perfect. It stayed like that until the next morning when I filled it up on the way to work. I got about half a mile from the garage when the running issues started again. I got to work and drained the fuel and replaced with BP and the issue was instantly cured. That was a good enough reason for me to avoid supermarket fuels from then on and I only ever use it when I'm stuck and have to put a bit in to get me to one of my preferred filling stations.
 
In 1992 I bought a 2.2E audi coupe and after a couple of months it started making a tinkling noise (pinking) caused by pre ignition. So I checked the timing etc and all was in order. It happened for 2 months so I came to the conclusion that the combustion chambers were coked up thus increasing the compression ratio. I stripped the head down and found everything clean!! It turned out to be "bad" European petrol for a few months.
 
I have been adding 2T for the past few years in both my vehicle and it certainly seems to run smoother and cleaner....
 
I have been adding 2T for the past few years in both my vehicle and it certainly seems to run smoother and cleaner....

Same here, makes a big difference in my case, 1/2 liter per 80 liter tank... :thumbup:
 
I like the idea of adding 2-stroke not so much for mpg but in theory it should prolong the life of rings . How much should i add to a full tank of diesel - keep it simple please - lets assume all 2-stroke bottles have the same size cap . how many caps ?
 
how big is the cap?
sorry shane

as it says 1/2 liter per tank which there is not much difference in the 95 and 80 not sure about the 90 though
 
I like the idea of adding 2-stroke not so much for mpg but in theory it should prolong the life of rings . How much should i add to a full tank of diesel - keep it simple please - lets assume all 2-stroke bottles have the same size cap . how many caps ?

I bought a few 1/2 litre plastic bottles, cheap on eBay, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-5-x-5...Equipment_Lab_Supplies_ET&hash=item338ac75c74 and a 25 litre container, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUTBOARD-...at_Engines_EngineParts_SM&hash=item5198f0271e not so cheap, and decanted. :thumbup:
 
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Petrol wise i always found my old ZXR and ZZR didn't like BP, but it was a very old BP station. Maybe old tanks?, they both seemed much happier on Shell
Diesel wise I run 2 near identical Iveco vans and time, time again they do 4mpg less on Morrisons with noticeable smoke under load and the cruiser idles rough on it too.
All i can say is there must be an awful wide tolerance in these various fuel standards..........
(If i could save 1mpg on those vans I would, as it is they get Shell)
 
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