Different petrol qualities.

[Crispin]

Folks,

If supermarket diesel is watered down with non-diesel stuff to make it cheaper / cleaner / less "go" (queue someone with a scientific term), is the same done with petrol?
I filled up my rocket with expensive Shell petrol and have just finished a tank of "normal" petrol and have actually got higher mileage out of the normal tank. With the 120, I get more miles per tank with the expensive diesel than with Tesco's finest. Might be placebo?

 

[Chris]

I understand (from an ex refinery employee) that it's what they add as special stuff in the tanker that makes the difference Crispin. In other words petrol is just petrol and derv is just derv until it's loaded. So it all has to meet the same spec, but you can add to it if you like. If you choose not to, it's bog standard (including the watering down with bio fuel that ALL of it gets) and then you can raise things like the cetane with boosters. I filled my company Toyota Anus with Shell Super Juice the other day. Got more MPG and it went like a fast thing. All that costs more though. Diesel has suffered there is no doubt. Cheap supermarket diesel is cheap because they haven't added the goodies to it. For Mr and Mrs Plodder in their Suzuki Tightarse that does 58.6 mpg, it doesn't make a difference. I might stick £40 of Super Juice in my cruiser this weekend as it's on vapour and see if it goes any better.

Now, is petrol the same? Can't say. My chainsaw seems to run OK on it

Chris

 

[Ecoman]

My old Harley wouldn't run on supermarket fuel. I discovered this after it developed a bad misfire after I filled the tank and it wouldn't run worth a toss. I limped to work and drained the fuel, cleaned the fuel lines and carb and changed the plugs. On the way in the next morning got a fresh can of fuel from a different supermarket and filled her up. I was exactly the same if not slightly worse. I ended up swapping plug leads, coil and carb but still the same. It was only cured when I went to get a fresh batch of fuel and I went to the shell garage and bought shell V-power. I filled the tank and within a few minutes it was significantly better. I took the bike to the garage and brimmed it with v-power and oh what a difference! I never went back to supermarket fuel after that and i never had that problem again

 

[Rob]

Well my Volvo V70R is a bit fussy when it comes to fuel. On standard supermarket fuel its a bit slow to start in the mornings and most importantly not as fast when compared with "branded" 95 octane fuel, however on Sainsbury's 97 octane at the same price as branded 95 it runs just fine. Never tried any of the super branded juice as 22mpg it's a bit pricey.

 

[Crispin]

Well, on the iQ I with Total normal stuff I could easily sit between 60 and 70mph on a level road and the consumption meter would sit at 60mpg (the max it can read) Slight uphills would have a small effect on the speed.
I filled up yesterday with Sainsbury's and it goes like a pig. Consumption is way up and to keep it at 60mpg is hardly possible. It hovers between 50 and 60 on level roads. Any hills require a lot more pedal to keep the speed as well wereas with the Total in, "normal" adjustments were fine.

I did notice when filling up that the Sainsbury's petrol was also clear. Could not see properly but this looked like water. I remember leaded to be redish and UL to be greenish? (Been a long time since I filled a 2L coke bottle with petrol )

I started spraying it on the ground for a better look but they got cross with me and called me in a big red truck. I high-tailed it out of there in my rocket

Is the public not being conned by the cheaper yet less efficient petrol?

 

[ModelMakerMan]

I dont know about petrol but I can confirm the Diesel at supermarkets is rubbish!

I doubt it would make too much difference in the LandCruiser as it was designed to run on anything closely resembling Diesel but in my daily run about (Seat Ibiza FR TDi) I get much better performance and MPG out of branded fuel than supermarket fuel. Morrisons seems to be the worst (especially in the winter as they dont seem to "winterise" their diesel!).

Have a look at the data Ive been keeping: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/modelmakerman/ibiza. For he supermarket stuff scoll back to 2010/2011. Also I tried Millers Eco Max addative for a while and it didnt make a massive difference.

PS. The dip in Jan was because I found out about venting the tank (venting the gasses and overfilling) so I got an extra 8 litres in the tank!

 

[Olazz]

Excellent site MMM,

Just joined up to log my own vehicles.. Will be interesting to monitor for a while.

 

[Chris Green90]

Put £40 in at asda the other day as I was desperate. Wish I hadn't got 50miles less that I would have if I had put it in at Tesco.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Shell V-power is the fuel to use on anything you want to be sharp. Modern petrol engines can detect better fuel with knock sensors etc. My tuned up Honda Blackbird runs ok on any petrol but really sharp on V-Power, even sharper with 2 capfulls of octane booster on top.

Andy

 

[Gary Stockton]

Most Mr T service managers warn you off supermarket fuel if you're a 120 diesel driver the moment you complain about noisy injectors. Seems they think the fuel doesn't help with leaking seals ... Allegedly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thelostscott]

I saw an interesting bit of data on another forum in regards to Shell V-Power Diesel vs. BP Ultimate Diesel:

Makes me wonder if this is a typo in the 'Sulfur Content' field or if that much of a difference can actually have some effect? Other than that they both look very similar...