Fuel

Acme said:
Thankyou rainmaker.. :p

Is the regular diesel at any petrol station basically the same stuff, with the only difference being in the premium offerings from various patrol stations?
Click to expand...

From everything I've learnt, pretty much. The supermarket diesels will generally just about hit spec (eg 51 cetane), and this is backed up by Greenergy diesel quality analysis, which they publish quarterly. The big brands, conversely, will generally exceed the spec (eg Shell FuelSave hovering around 55 as per my earlier link). So yes in theory there is a marginal improvement buying branded, especially regarding detergent levels. If you can get it around the same price, why not?
 
I've tried Shell V-Power (diesel) several times in my car and it just doesn't like it. Always 4mpg less than my usual diesel. Not sure why it happens really but wouldn't pay the extra for it that's for sure. My car actually prefers BP Ultimate which grabs me an extra 3mpg over standard. If you're keeping your car for many years then premium is probably worth paying for, otherwise you're just paying for the next owner to have the benefits of it!
 
It's also worth noting that fuels with a higher ethanol content will give lower economy due to having carrying around 2-3% less thermal energy compared to than fuels that don't
 
Frozennova said:
It's also worth noting that fuels with a higher ethanol content will give lower economy due to having carrying around 2-3% less thermal energy compared to than fuels that don't
Click to expand...

Nice, thanks.

Does this make VPower worth the extra over Momentum? I think Momentum uses more eth than VPower.
 
Tesco diesel is nasty stuff, the GF's mum used to fill up their fleet of Mondeo Taxi's up with the stuff so she got points on some sort of card, she ignored the fact that they were forking out for new injectors every 40k miles at several hundred quid a time.
 
My old Rover 25 I would fill it completely when the needle was in the red, about £40-45 depending on the price that day and it was fuelled during the 4th week. Annoyingly I had just put £30 in on a Friday and on Monday was when the top hose blew due to HGF and I had had enough of the car so got shot of it.

My Golf 2.0 GTI is living off of £20 refuels atm which I'm doing about every 2 weeks. Once I fully trust it I'll start giving it full tank refills.
 
I use it all the time because the old design diesel engine in my car can apparently practically run on muddy water with a dash of moonshine and it doesn't care. :p

Probably wouldn't use it in a modern diesel engine.
 
Anecdotes are anecdotes,

However,

I would report that BP super diesel makes the difference on my old Land-cruiser between "Mild Smoke" and the "Bismark running for cover"!

(Not entirely the LC's fault, I admit to having tweaked the turbo compensator for "Max Power" :p! )
 
Acme said:
Nice, thanks.

Does this make VPower worth the extra over Momentum? I think Momentum uses more eth than VPower.
Click to expand...

From what I can find, BP ultimate contains no ethanol, Vpower is 0.1% and Momentum is 5%.

But then it gets more complex when you add a remapped engine into the mix as you need to inject more fuel to keep the AFR at the same target negating the difference in energy (but using more fuel) because ethanol has a higher latent heat of vaporization which means the fuel draws more heat from the cylinder during phase change which allows more timing advance or boost where detonation is limiting power
 
Frozennova said:
From what I can find, BP ultimate contains no ethanol, Vpower is 0.1% and Momentum is 5%.

But then it gets more complex when you add a remapped engine into the mix as you need to inject more fuel to keep the AFR at the same target negating the difference in energy (but using more fuel) because ethanol has a higher latent heat of vaporization which means the fuel draws more heat from the cylinder during phase change which allows more timing advance or boost where detonation is limiting power
Click to expand...

According to Shell's spec sheet it's 'typically' anything between 0 and 5%, which is basically the EN standard. The difference with Momentum is the other extra alcohols/oxygenates. Turbo engines love it, but NA motors can often prefer the higher alkene/aromatic base of V-Power. I find my car goes better on Costco/M99 (same fuel) than V-Power, but as with anything ymmv.

BP is (was?) ethanol free except in the south west, but it is also only 97 RON and therefore no use for the >98 RON Germanic stuff.
 
Rainmaker said:
According to Shell's spec sheet it's 'typically' anything between 0 and 5%, which is basically the EN standard. The difference with Momentum is the other extra alcohols/oxygenates. Turbo engines love it, but NA motors can often prefer the higher alkene/aromatic base of V-Power. I find my car goes better on Costco/M99 (same fuel) than V-Power, but as with anything ymmv.

BP is (was?) ethanol free except in the south west, but it is also only 97 RON and therefore no use for the >98 RON Germanic stuff.
Click to expand...

Vpower is a bit unclear, Shell themselves state as above, some people seem to think it contains none, some the full 5% allowed and then anywhere in between.

My engine feels noticeably better with a higher alcohol content fuel.

Everything I can find agrees with BP being ethanol free except in the SW
 
adolf hamster said:
Huh, amateur, try an old 323f that doesnt register any quantity of fuel below 1/4 of a tank to the point that the fuel guage can empty itself as you watch without the engine running :p
Click to expand...
Meh - Get an old Yamaha Cruiser - No fuel gauge at all and likely a blocked reserve tap too. Ride that around in deepest, darkest Cornwall or the Lake District, where it seems petrol stations "cannot be found, 'cept by them who already knows where they are....." :D
 
My old man rides old bikes. When I used to ride pillion, on a long trip he would occasionally pull over, take the fuel cap off and stare in the hole while swaying the bike from side to side to see how much fuel was left. :D
 
ttaskmaster said:
Meh - Get an old Yamaha Cruiser - No fuel gauge at all and likely a blocked reserve tap too. Ride that around in deepest, darkest Cornwall or the Lake District, where it seems petrol stations "cannot be found, 'cept by them who already knows where they are....." :D
Click to expand...

valid point, cornwall is good at hiding things thats for sure. :D
 
Wales is another fun one, even in the bigger well known towns you better make sure you've still got at least 10 miles left in the tank to ride out of town to the nearest station. That's squeaky bum time on a bike you've owned for a week so have no idea on the actual tank range and the light has started to blink :o
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom