"supermarket fuels"

[goosergus]

I know there have been posts in the past regarding "supermarket fuels" but read this and give me some input.

My van has been running very rough for several weeks and on starting has some worrying knocking noises.

While driving the other day (and on the verge of booking my van in for checking the problem) i pondered recent fuel contamination problems with so called supermarket fuel. I then realised that several weeks ago i stopped using my local garage for fuel following one of their staff being unecessarily rude. Also around the same time a new business partner meant the relocation of our business to within a hundred yards of a tesco store and garage. As a result i have in these several weeks been mainly using Tesco's fuel whereas previously i would rarely use tesco because of long pump queues followed by long till waits while people also buy a basket load of shopping.

I decided to go to a BP garage nearby and fill up there an almost empty tank.
I had about 30 miles of country road driving to do and gave her a goooood run. By nearly the end of the journey she was running lovely, sounded better and was definitely quicker. She recently felt as if she was pulling a full load. I was actually delighted.
I discussed this with my destinations customer (who runs a fleet of lorries) and was happy to have my theory confirmed when she responded that 3 years ago she and her husband noticed poor performance in two of their cars and stopped using supermarkets for business or personal fuel and have never had the same problem. Their mechanic on inspecting the vehicles for the problem said that supermarkets have crap fuel and were off his list of refueling choices.

Three days later and each morning the van started better ticks over more steadily with all knocking noises gone and still a vast improvement in preformance.

I am absolutely convinced something is amiss and while "real" petrol stations use additives for improved perfomance and are more expensive it actually works so i will not use supermarket fuels until there is a proven improvement.

Is there any definitive information anywhere on this subject because other posts seemed fairly evenly split over whether this alleged problem with supermarket fuels.

 

[Ron Palfrey]

I don't know, but our Corsa won't run properly on supermarket petrol. Our 206cc has never had supermarket petrol in it since we've owned it, nor has my C280 (except on 1 occasion when I had no choice if I wasn't to run out). Lots of people won't believe me but I know from experience that it doesn't do one of my cars any good, so it doesn't get put in any of them. Better running and more mpg from Texaco, Shell, BP and Esso etc.
Ron

 

[Dosco]

I don't know, but our Corsa won't run properly on supermarket petrol. Our 206cc has never had supermarket petrol in it since we've owned it, nor has my C280 (except on 1 occasion when I had no choice if I wasn't to run out). Lots of people won't believe me but I know from experience that it doesn't do one of my cars any good, so it doesn't get put in any of them. Better running and more mpg from Texaco, Shell, BP and Esso etc.
Ron

I am sort of with you on this Ron. since the supermarket fuel problems, which I was fortunate not to suffer, I changed to 'branded products' and I know I am getting a better MPG not I might add by scientific means but simply from fill-up to fill-up.

 

[Blobcat]

I almost exclusively used shell in my last E320CDI and as this one has a bigger tank I have only used shell as I don't have to fill up for 550-650 miles now previously 4-500 miles.

 

[Cnics]

I see a difference on average of about 5mpg between my local garage and supermarket fuel. The van runs awful on supermarket fuel, has no power, and does less to the gallon, it DOES work out cheaper short term to pay extra per litre and certainly will long term.

Remember for those people in little diesel cars getting 60mpg 5mpg is a nice bonus, when i'm getting 23mpg and 28mpg from my local garage and 50k miles a year, its a MASSIVE difference.

 

[flying haggis]

got to agree with the previous posters
had to put supermarket diesel in the w210 the other day as the local shell had run out, luckily i only put a tenners worth in cause it sounded as though the big ends had gone so very quickly got some shell diesel in and within about 5 miles the noise had gone and the car was running smoothly again.
now the only time i use supermarket fuel is when i buy petrol for the lawnmower!

 

[Mr Teddy Bear]

What has the Lawn Mower done to upset you Haggis ?

 

[television]

I was thinking that this was maybe a diesel thing, but this would not appear to be so

 

[littlebrooklyn]

We never use supermarket fuel either. My father spent most of his working life working for the oil company Conoco/Jet and was their Transport Mangager for many years. He always told me never to use supermarket fuel and I have always stood by the advice he gave me and don't go near the stuff :???:

 

[jon_harley]

I have noticed an improvement of 1-2mpg from branded fuel over supermarket (super unleaded). Not much (only 5% of my typical 30mpg) but it seems to be quite consistent.

 

[goosergus]

Thanks

Thanks for your replies.

There certainly seems to be more opinion against using supermarket fuels lately so maybe the ball is realy getting rolling against them.

What is the problem here? does anyone know why these supermarkets have inferior fuel or is it like i said that companies like BP, Shell, etc use additives and so enhance their fuel that would otherwise be equivalent to supermarket fuel?

I also wonder how many people are driving around with their vehicles under performing because they know no better having always used supermarket fuels.

Again thanks for your replies. My friends all look at me as though i am mad when i tell them about this problem.

 

[Eric Tilley]

I have changed over to using supermarket fuels in recent monthes. My reason is that is that in five local garages (major brands) customers have had their cards cloned by employees in outlets which are franchised. People have suddenly found they have been buying Rolex watches and Vesachi suits in places as diverse as Vancouver and Bangcock without going there. The Police have investigated but just come out saying they know where it happened but can`t prove who did it.
My thinking is that in a supervised supermarket PFS it would not be possible for an individual to fix the skimming and code spy camera equipment to enable this.

 

[television]

I have changed over to using supermarket fuels in recent monthes. My reason is that is that in five local garages (major brands) customers have had their cards cloned by employees in outlets which are franchised. People have suddenly found they have been buying Rolex watches and Vesachi suits in places as diverse as Vancouver and Bangcock without going there.
My thinking is that in a supervised supermarket PFS it would not be possible for an individual to fix the skimming and code spy camera equipment to enable this.

This is an interesting angle to see things from, makes you think

 

[goosergus]

What do you drive Eric Tilley, how long have you now been using supermarket fuel and from your post i presume you are having no trouble with your vehicle?

 

[Eric Tilley]

Hi Goosergus.
I am currently running a W203 C180 auto and a A170 vario. Both are returning me a combined performance around 38mpg on 95 oct. No running problems at all. If I was to return to Main petrol company brands I dont know if my economy figure would improve, it might be an interesting experiment, as would a trial on super 98 octaine. I don`t think there is anything wrong with supermarket petrol except that it is blended to meet the min. octaine rating and no more. But as the car can run on 91 octaine this does not worry me. I assume that after the last debacle Tesco are keeping a close eye on their suppliers.

 

[Cnics]

I suppose you'd have to see a large increase in MPG and performance and do ALOT of miles to pay for a rolex

I can fully see your point about the security issue. With my local garage its cash or go somewhere else, but it is a local village. And i have a monthly account there too.

 

[grpar]

the card cloners were at BP

As I recall the card cloning scam affected mainly BP garages. That said, I only ever put BP Ultimate (97 ron) into my car. On the rare occasions I've filled up with BP (or other branded) regular unleaded, the car has always felt more sluggish and lethargic.

Friend of mine commutes from Ipswich to Cambridge every day, and has tried all the supermarkets and most of the branded stations. Given his commute, he is convinced the supermarket fuels are inferior and no more economic.

So there's definitely something in it.

 

[Blobcat]

Lot of issues with the pin at Shell Garages in Wales and quite a few I frequent had a lot of staff vacancies....;-)
I have 1 card to pay for fuel so I can track it easily.

 

[flying haggis]

What has the Lawn Mower done to upset you Haggis ?

it requires pushing up and down the lawn on a regular basis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[R2e]

Must admit I have almost invariably used supermarket fuel, petrol and now diesel, mainly from my local Sainsburys. When I've filled up with Shell, Texaco, or any other can't say I notice any difference at all.

Many years ago, one of my tasks was to supervise a petrol station and I queried with the Shell rep how come I saw the same tanker offload a couple of compartments down the road at a Jet station and then offload a couple at ours and was told the fuel was all the same, came from the same distillery, but Shell put additives in the compartments after loading to make it superior. That explains it then.............