Best Diesel: Shell? Caltex? BP? Mobil?

[Hoppo]

G'day all

Have a mate in Melbourne with a Citroen Dispatch Diesel van (12 months old) - he had to truck it to the dealer the other week because it had started to blow smoke like mad.

Dealer found problem to be the fuel - completely drained his tank - he only uses BP diesel (as have I in most of my fills). Interestingly I tried to fill up at 5 BP stations a few days later and none of them had diesel - well, the pumps all had the "sorry - not available" skirt on them. Also, observed a tank apparently being emptied at another BP which also had no diesel. So I gave up and filled up with Shell.

Does anyone know anything about this? (I didn't have time to ask at the servo's)

[Spoddy]

I have started using Caltex premium diesel (Vortex). Similarly to BP's premium but not available around these parts. A noticeable drop in the amount of smoke and also a far quieter engine, though still enough to know you drive a tractor .

So my questions are- how many VW TDIs are using this new fuel (new in my location)? And how has it changed the performance/economy and noise?

I also have noticed that after 3 tanks ,and my son is back from Melbourne, that the economy is also lower by about 0.3l/100km.

The thing I am not sure about now is whether I should keep using Morey's diesel smoke killer which I have been using for about 7 tanks. Could the improvement be from an accumulation of Morey's or the new Caltex?

[dazag]

Yeah I'm about to start running the Caltex Vortex diesel and se how my Skoda RS TDI (125kw) runs with it, since we dont have the BP Ultimate diesel in NSW as yet. Will let you know how it goes.............

[6thgear]

i tend to go to caltex for petrol and diesel, partly because they are more abundant in my area and better priced...

have had no issues with them, engine smooth and all. never really sat down and compared with others on efficiency or anything though...

no complaints from anyone else i know, caltex seems to be ok...

[Arctra]

Hi guys.

Over the Christmas/New Years break I managed to cover some 3700km's in my Tiguan TDI and kept track of some of my consumption stats. When I filled with standard diesel I put a squirt of "Moreys Diesel Engine Smoke Killer".

Standard Diesel:

• BP Std D in Grafton - 380km's @ 7.17l/100km's (Grafton -> Gold Coast)
• Caltex Std D in Armidale - 130km's @ 9.58l/100km (Waterfalls around Armidale)
• Caltex Std D in Dubbo - 683km's @ 8.12l/100km (Dubbo -> Parkes -> Sydney via Richmond and 1 week Sydney driving)

Premium Diesel:

• Caltex Prem D in Five Dock - 728km's @ 7.42l/100km's (Sydney -> Grafton)
• Caltex Prem D in Gold Coast - 255km's @ 9.33l/100km's (Spirited driving around GC & Brisbane mountains)
• Caltex Prem D in Gold Coast- 773km's @ 7.23l/100km (Gold Coast -> Armidale via Casino hills)
• Caltex Prem D in Armidale - 763km's @ 6.73l/100km (Armidale -> Dubbo)

Now obviously some standard got mixed with premium which skews the figures a bit, and the driving conditions weren't the same for all tanks of fuel, but here are the average consumptions:

• Standard Diesel - 1193km's @ 7.97l/100km
• Premium Diesel - 2520km's @ 7.35l/100km

So it seems on the premium diesel you can get about 1.1km extra per litre of fuel (0.63l/100km) than standard diesel with the Cetane booster (Moreys Diesel Engine Smoke Killer) when doing relatively open road driving. I would assume the difference is even bigger when you don't put the Cetane booster in standard diesel, but that's an experiment for another time. Comparing consumptions for city driving is another experiment I would like to do if I have the time and/or inclination.

I hope that helps answer some peoples questions as it sure has for me.

[yowie]

Were told by the dealer to only use BP diesel, so mostly BP Ultimate, tho I've not paid close attention, and to not put additives. That was May 09.
So far so good. Av 5.5 on trips, and 7.1 around town where there is usually some freeway. 17,000ks of that, no complaints except when you cant find a car nozzle and have to spend forever trickling in from the truck pump

[yowie]

Well, we got 778ks from the last tank mostly city this time, and couldnt find anything else at night with the dial reading 60 km to empty, (took 52 litres exact, so probably not quite right), I blinked and put it's first load of Shell in.
Sounds the same. Will see if there's any other difference.

[kahle81]

Forgive me if this sounds rude - I know car enthusiasts will always be car enthusiasts but thinking that one petrol or diesel product is better at one servo than the other is simply crazy. I am a chemical engineer and I have worked in refinery laboratories and trust me, just go to the servo where it happens to be cheap on that day and fill up. You can go home happy that you have some of the best quality normal automotive fuel in the world.

[Jmac]

To add to that you can have a great batch from your " favorite" servo and your pride and joy will be a cut snake and fill up again at the same bowser and be down on power. hit or miss if you ask me but still wouldnt fill up at a dungeon of a servo even though i would rather give the money to the privateer.
Surely we have some of the best sweet crude in the world but we export it, am i right or wrong???? would love to hear more, ive invested lots of my spare time gong to BP seminars held by the IAME but still feel lost with it all. Iwill still attend these seminars to learn more after all the internal combustion engine is like us crap in crap out.
Jmac

[neil]

Forgive me if this sounds rude - I know car enthusiasts will always be car enthusiasts but thinking that one petrol or diesel product is better at one servo than the other is simply crazy. I am a chemical engineer and I have worked in refinery laboratories and trust me, just go to the servo where it happens to be cheap on that day and fill up. You can go home happy that you have some of the best quality normal automotive fuel in the world.

I do recall one of our members near the blue mountains having issues with
black smoke, it even went as far as VWA, adviced the dealer to advice
the owner to use BP and the black smoke issue was resolved.