What fuel are people using

[cubbyq]

BP Ultimate diesel for me.

I ran my last car (BMW 525d) on it exclusively for my 45k miles/2.5 year ownership and the engine ran more smoothly and quietly than when I bought it - have given my E250CDI the same on it's first fill in my ownership, and experienced the same.

I had one situation in Ireland where I had to fill it up with some local fuel, and it definitely sounded rougher...I was happy to get that tank empty quickly!

On the last service I asked the garage to clean the EGR, and when I collected it, they commented on how clean it was already, and the car was on 90k miles. It was checked for DPF pressure, and all was good there, along with real low emissions showings on the MOT.

For me it's peace of mind, and while it's more than likely the same fuel as found in supermarkets, I guess it's the additional additives that make the difference.

On a similar note, I tried Shell V Power a couple of times in an old Audi A4 1.9 tdi, and it ran like a bag of spanners on that stuff.

Your mileage may vary, and I have no problem with people who are happy to use normal supermarket fuel - if it damaged engines, it wouldn't be sold!

Cheers,

Nick

 

[silestanix]

Only Shell regular for me, except once a month when I run a tank of BP Ultimate. Jamie at WG-MB has commented a couple of times when working on my motor at the EGR being clear of soot and sludge, whereas when a work colleagues E300TD had the EDC light on and a MAF related code was stored when I connected up a code reader.

I had a gut feeling it would be EGR related. In our works car park I set about taking the Over engine inlet pipe off, and the rest of the intake pipes. His EGR was caked up with crud. I cleaned his EGR valve with brake cleaner and put it all back together and it ran fine. I asked what fuel he used and he said just supermarket stuff...he uses Shell BP Esso etc now and since me cleaning the EGR 2 years ago he's had no issues and says the car feel much smoother to drive.

 

[rayhennig]

I've never noticed any difference in fuels. 95, 98: all the same.

Supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Super U, Auchan, Leclerc.

Garages: BP, Shell, Elan, Esso.

Not a scrap of difference.

RayH

 

[Arudge]

There is a load of tosh spoken and written about fuel. All fuel has accord to certain standards if it to be sold in the UK. For this reason I have bought from the cheapest available source (usually supermarkets) for the last 30 odd years and have never had a problem. Why pay more than you need to? It doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm sorry mate, but I've had major issues with petrol in older motorcycles, MB don't suffer too much but ethanol is major grief and ethanol is always found in cheap fuels, so my older stuff is always run on premium fuel purely because it's ethanol free.

Ethanol rots rubber, is hydroscopic and holds vast amounts of water, rotting internal steel parts and steel fuel tanks, and destroys polypropylene petrol tanks as used on the older Hinkley Triumph motorcycles.

 

[EmilysDad]

.....

Ethanol rots rubber, is hydroscopic and holds vast amounts of water, ....

hyGroscopic

 

[Arudge]

hyGroscopic

Yeh, that's the one

 

[Arudge]

I've never noticed any difference in fuels. 95, 98: all the same.

Supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Super U, Auchan, Leclerc.

Garages: BP, Shell, Elan, Esso.

Not a scrap of difference.

RayH

The RON rating, 95, 98 is less relevant these days because our ignition systems are adaptable. In the old days of distributors and fixed ignition curves, if you experienced 'pinking', which is pre-ignition or detonation, then you either had to retard the ignition timing (lose power) or go up a RON rating (buy more expensive fuel). Sportier engines on the day ran higher compression ratios and needed higher octane petrol to combat the pre-ignition, there was no other way. Run on cheap fuel and you certainly knew about it.

Not any more.

Now of course, it's very different. We now have fully adaptable ignition systems with anti knock sensors that look out for pre-ignition, and will retard the ignition automatically if the sensors smell a rat. We have electronically controlled fuel metering systems that deliver exactly what the engine needs, as opposed to a bank of double barreled Webers that basically poured petrol in with the hope that you managed to burn some of it.

How things have changed.

In essence, whatever brand the fuel is the engine will adapt to it by adjusting the ignition curve and fuel trims to suit. Cheaper fuel that has an ethanol content has a lower calorific value, less power, but the electronics will suck it up and adapt, which is why you probably can't tell the difference.

It's all personal choice, but ethanol is wretched stuff and ought to be banned.

Spell checked by EmilysDad

 

[EmilysDad]

....

Spell checked by EmilysDad

You would expect the term to be hydroscopic ..... I was actually taught that as an apprentice. It was in more recent years that I discovered that my instructor was wrong

 

[Arudge]

You would expect the term to be hydroscopic ..... I was actually taught that as an apprentice. It was in more recent years that I discovered that my instructor was wrong

The thing is, my spelling is pretty dire, nobody in our shop can spell regardless of our age's. Thank goodness for spell checker! But i did Google your correction and i stand corrected, learn something new every day.

All good fun

 

[om613]

Done 20K on home brewed B100 in my S210 OM613.

It won't be my fuel that kills it...

 

[Nick Wood]

OK, Got something to say about that one!

First off, your car is a 2007 petrol model right? Use 98 or super fuel to keep the engine in mint condition.

Here comes the story:

It doesn't matter where you fill up as long as you are aware of the following facts,

• Don't ever put 95E10 in your car! It consists of 10% bio-fuel (sunflower-oil and what have you?) because in the long run it will kill your engine. Been there!
• Regular 95 still contains 5% of ethanol (bio-fuel) without telling you so.
• From the 1st of January 2017 even 98 has got 2 percent of bio-fuel in it.
• I don't know if you can get it in the UK, (not in France that's for sure!) but 102 is actually the best to get.
• Downside is 102 or even 107 Octane is only available in Germany to my knowledge.

So. go for 98 Octane if you want your engine to last for a long time!

A little bit off topic but actually it still concerns the matter at hand:

My BMW 740i (V8 - 4.4 liters and 330 bhp, yes it's tuned) was blocked solid from the residue the 95E10 left behind in the cylinders. It took me a whole week to get the heads off and actually find the problem. It just seemed like a very fine sort of sand which was blocking up the free movement of the pistons. There is a whole lot more to this story but whatever you do, don't put 95E10 in it! 98 is the way to go although it's not perfect either.

Like I said, It really doesn't matter whether you go for the supermarket stuff or not. Just go for the highest rating in octane for the lowest price and you'll be absolutely fine.

 

[Arudge]

• Don't ever put 95E10 in your car! It consists of 10% bio-fuel (sunflower-oil and what have you?) because in the long run it will kill your engine. Been there!
• 
  

• I don't know if you can get it in the UK, (not in France that's for sure!) but 102 is actually the best to get.

• Downside is 102 or even 107 Octane is only available in Germany to my knowledge.

We don't have E10 in the UK as yet. it was meant to be rolled out but consumer nervousness has delayed it's availability. Pumps dispensing E10 will be clearly marked. Hopefully marked with 'Don't buy this, it's rubbish'

102 is the old 5 star petrol which was phased out in the late seventies, i don't think we've ever had 107 RON sold at the pump, some of the old boys may chime in.

 

[Richard Moakes]

5* Petrol, now that was the full fat coke of the petrol world

We used to have a Volvo 144S that ran on 5*, used to pink and run on something awful if you fed it 4*, but what a car, it used to have some real poke


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[LostKiwi]

AvGas was always my favourite... the smell of the exhaust was something else!