Diesel

[Iain&Shani]

When we picked up our Cali we were warned about using supermarket diesel exclusively. Reason being that is isn’t pure and contains stuff it that the engine won’t like. It was suggested that we should by fuel from independent forecourts rather than cost cutting supermarkets.
TBH….I’m not sure.

Any thoughts on this……………

 

[Martin]

As far as I am aware all standard diesels are all the same, however , BP Ultimate, Shell V-Power etc all have special additives for cleaning and lubrication so in theory should be better for the engine. They did a test on fifth gear a few years back and there was no difference at all after running three vehicles on different types of diesel. I personally will use the cheapest diesel I can find and them maybe one in every five fill-ups put a quality diesel in.

 

[Californiaman]

I believe there are only 9/10 refineries supplying the whole of the UK including all of the independents. So all the fuel is largely the same (given the different octane ratings etc)

There are numerous urban legends around contamination. Two that I know actually occurred are when silicon contaminated petrol at a lot of tesco's and another where diesel was contaminated with petrol.

This may boil down to the general feeling that "supermarket fuel is rubbish" purely due to the fact that so many people purchase cheap fuel from supermakets!

There always used to be a school of thought that said that diesel in certain parts of europe had an excess of water. This meant that bits like pumps and filters wore quickly. This certainly used to be the what the truck fleet manager at my works thought. I think most of these issues are few and far between these days..

There is some interesting reading here (if you're interested in such things..)

http://www.ukpia.com/home.aspx

And here (particularly the links!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_Kingdom_petrol_contamination

 

[Iain&Shani]

Thanks chaps. My thoughts were diesel is diesel is diesel; unless it is specifically modified and sold as such.

 

[Andy]

Seen this question on motorbike forums loads of times, guys swearing they get 5 mpg more using non supermarket fuel.
There was an answer in one of the forum threads by a fuel delivery driver who said the only difference is that some had extra addatives/lubricants which were added as tanker was being loaded.

I believe there are only 9/10 refineries supplying the whole of the UK including all of the independents.

South Killingholme, Fawley, Grangemouth, Stanlow, Milford Haven, Lindsey, Croyton and Pembroke,

May soon be one less in the south If Coryton closes !

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...mps-despite-Coryton-oil-refinery-opening.html

Part of what is driving deisil prices up is that the refineries in UK are setup to produce predominantly unleaded petrol. This is what we as a country consumed when the refineries were made.
UK exports unleaded petrol & imports diesil from europe. All refinineries in UK are old & can not increase diesil production & decrease petrol production to suit demand.

I just buy the cheapest around. I use a website that tells you which is the cheapest in your area.

http://www.petrolprices.com