Unleaded or super unleaded?

[hard1]

Interestingly, and on the subject of Tesco (again) I understand from a contact in the refining business that:

"EN228 (Petrol) allows for 5% ethanol and most Tesco petrol has ethanol in it as does all fuel in France."

This would enhance the performance of standard petrol by raising the octane level.

On diesel: "Fuel specs - EN590 (diesel) allows 5% biodiesel to be blended in (without you needing to know). The biodiesel component gets a 20p/l duty reduction so at 5% it is 1p/l cheaper before blending costs (about 2p/l) so hence why Tesco Gloabl diesel at 1p/l more expensive. Rapeseed is the main diesel crop"


So the premium diesel product at Tesco would appear to be 5% BIO.

There was a school of thought that said that Tesco fuel products were either the same as everyone elses, or, that it was at best, a weak brew. The more we look into this matter it would seem that the opposite is true and that Tesco's products are superior to some of the major oil companies.

[Swifty]

Originally Posted by hard1

5% ethanol and most Tesco petrol has ethanol in it as does all fuel in France.

Seeing as I have just filled up at Esso for the run to Dunkerque, does this mean it will be quicker coming back

Tim'mers.

[rbw156]

Some interesting technical information:

www.smartsrus.com/What%20is%20Shell%20Optimax.doc

http://www.millersoils.net/pdf_downl..._explained.pdf

[CJL]

[QUOTE=hard1]
On diesel: "Fuel specs - EN590 (diesel) allows 5% biodiesel to be blended in (without you needing to know). The biodiesel component gets a 20p/l duty reduction so at 5% it is 1p/l cheaper before blending costs (about 2p/l) so hence why Tesco Gloabl diesel at 1p/l more expensive. Rapeseed is the main diesel crop"


So the premium diesel product at Tesco would appear to be 5% BIO. /QUOTE]

But my Audi handbook says don't even think about putting biodiesel anywhere near the engine otherwise it will throw its toys out of the pram!!!

Therefore I've been putting biodiesel in the car unknowingly! Thats not a very fair thing to do!

Chris

[codprawn]

[QUOTE=CJL]

Originally Posted by hard1

On diesel: "Fuel specs - EN590 (diesel) allows 5% biodiesel to be blended in (without you needing to know). The biodiesel component gets a 20p/l duty reduction so at 5% it is 1p/l cheaper before blending costs (about 2p/l) so hence why Tesco Gloabl diesel at 1p/l more expensive. Rapeseed is the main diesel crop"


So the premium diesel product at Tesco would appear to be 5% BIO. /QUOTE]

But my Audi handbook says don't even think about putting biodiesel anywhere near the engine otherwise it will throw its toys out of the pram!!!

Therefore I've been putting biodiesel in the car unknowingly! Thats not a very fair thing to do!

Chris

The makers are always over cautious - they say no bio because some people will run it on 100% veg oil.

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by hard1

So the premium diesel product at Tesco would appear to be 5% BIO.

There was a school of thought that said that Tesco fuel products were either the same as everyone elses, or, that it was at best, a weak brew. The more we look into this matter it would seem that the opposite is true and that Tesco's products are superior to some of the major oil companies.

No it aint buddy it comes out of the same tanks as every other supermarket! and Texaco and Gulf and Total.

Tesco are having a lot of trouble with bio doesel at the momnent they are piloting it in a few stations and are having to settle more claims for engine failure than they want to, Big research programme going on to try and iron the problem out!

[lc0021]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

No it aint buddy it comes out of the same tanks as every other supermarket! and Texaco and Gulf and Total.

Tesco are having a lot of trouble with bio doesel at the momnent they are piloting it in a few stations and are having to settle more claims for engine failure than they want to, Big research programme going on to try and iron the problem out!

Wow - whats the problem with biodiesel and engines failure ?? I understood that the reason many manufacturers warned people off biodiesel was that it can perish rubber pipes and hoses ???

[Rogue Wave]

It has ben narrowed down to the fuel disolving the lining of the storage tanks at the terminal........and therefore coming out kludgy they are working on it and will get it sorted.!

[Swifty]

So excuse me for being dim or missing something. How is it wrecking engines? are they being clogged up by dirt or sludge, or is the bio oil eating away at the plumbing?

As a point, what is the lining of these tanks made of? Bio must be pretty nasty stuff if it can dissolve a petro chemical plant!!

[lc0021]

bio diesel is already in use - certainly in several cities on the continent for public transport vehicles.

there's a lot of stuff about biodiesel on the web for anybody who interested in finding out - if for no other reason than to add new bullsh*t to what's already here...

re makers warranties - whatever happened to this :

quote:
1995: International Automobile Fair in Frankfurt: Communication of the CEO of the
VOLKSWAGEN AG, Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, to support Biodiesel and to assure the provisions of warranties for nearly all the Diesel models including the brands AUDI, SEAT, SKODA and VOLKSWAGEN
from construction year 1996 onwards, valid for all European countries and beyond


I suspect a lot of the negatives we hear about Biodiesel is scaremongering and bad propoganda from the vested interests....

interesting pieve of trivia though - only very recently, the price of crude oil has exceeded the price of vegetable oil - maybe simple economics will help turn the tide...

[Daniel]

Someone i know has been running his diesel on almost 100% veg oil, purchased from Tesco (or wherever) for over a year and over 15,000 miles. It's caused no problems, appart from starting when cold. £5 worth of "real" diesel per tank of veg oil seams to solve this. Yes the car does smell a little of a chip shop, but it still goes just as well.

[kowached]

Octane is not a measurement of power. Octane ratings are a measurement of the fuel's ability to resist harmful engine knocking or pinging, ie pre-detonation. An engine that has 13.5:1 compression requires high octane fuel so that the air/fuel mixture does not spontaneously ignite (under heat/pressure) before the ignition system triggers the sparkplug to ignite the mixture. It is the high compression in the engine cylinders that make the increased power, not the higher octane fuel (which is required to avoid pre-detonation).

With that said, even though I beleive that there is no power gain to be had by running higher octane fuel than what is required by the engine, I do beleive that the higher octane fuels have a superior additive package and are worth running through your fuel system every once in a while.

[Donnie144]

This came straight from Tohatsu they didn’t recommend me running anything other then reg unleaded in my TLDI’s because of the extra ethanol used in the supper to up the octane and decrease emissions. Their comment was that the seals in the outboard are good to about 10% ethanol anything greater will start to dry out and crack the seals in the fuel system.

[DaCosta]

Apparently, is you use Optimax (from Shell) your engine will run cleaner, quicker and smoother.

I have tried and tested this theory in my Aunties EVO, I ran what was in the tank down to virtually empty and put a scores worth of Optimax in. We received lots of information when we plugged the ECU into the laptop -

1. 3.78% more MPG
2. 2.4.....% increase in accelaration
3. 1.68% temperature gain - Hotter engine

The list went on and on about how much the car had improved.

I then heard that a supermarket had a Super Unleaded which has a RON rating of 99%, for those that don't know, this is good.

We tested this aswell and got more increase, but the temperature gian was slightly less than the Optimax, the engine seemed to sound as if it were running more freely too.

I thouroughly recommend Tescos Super Unleaded

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by DaCosta

Apparently, is you use Optimax (from Shell) your engine will run cleaner, quicker and smoother.

I have tried and tested this theory in my Aunties EVO, I ran what was in the tank down to virtually empty and put a scores worth of Optimax in. We received lots of information when we plugged the ECU into the laptop -

1. 3.78% more MPG
2. 2.4.....% increase in accelaration
3. 1.68% temperature gain - Hotter engine

The list went on and on about how much the car had improved.

I then heard that a supermarket had a Super Unleaded which has a RON rating of 99%, for those that don't know, this is good.

We tested this aswell and got more increase, but the temperature gian was slightly less than the Optimax, the engine seemed to sound as if it were running more freely too.

I thouroughly recommend Tescos Super Unleaded

It is not 99% - it is the octane rating. Not bad but only just better than the old 4 star. They used to sell 5 star petrol in this country which was I think 105 octane - during WWII spitfires ran on 150 octane!!!

[DaCosta]

Thanks for correcting me.

What about fuel additives?

There are some additives out there, that thicken the fuel up. The best time to fill up is in the cold too, as the fuel is thicker and you get more for your money as it expands when it gets warmer. Learnt that off Top Gear!!

[Searider]

Originally Posted by DaCosta

Thanks for correcting me.

What about fuel additives?

There are some additives out there, that thicken the fuel up. The best time to fill up is in the cold too, as the fuel is thicker and you get more for your money as it expands when it gets warmer. Learnt that off Top Gear!!

But I can't get enough in my tank in February to last me through the summer

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by DaCosta

Thanks for correcting me.

What about fuel additives?

There are some additives out there, that thicken the fuel up. The best time to fill up is in the cold too, as the fuel is thicker and you get more for your money as it expands when it gets warmer. Learnt that off Top Gear!!

There are various octane boosters out there - methanol and nitromethane help or even acetone(nail varnisher remover) but you have to be careful and often the engine needs the timing adjusted to take real advantage of it.

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Donnie144

This came straight from Tohatsu they didn’t recommend me running anything other then reg unleaded in my TLDI’s because of the extra ethanol used in the supper to up the octane and decrease emissions. Their comment was that the seals in the outboard are good to about 10% ethanol anything greater will start to dry out and crack the seals in the fuel system.

There are a number of different ways to up the octane rating of gas. Ethanol is one (ignites at a higher temp than pure gas); however, it's primary purpose for being in gas in the US is as an oxygenator. Oxygenated fuels burn more completely, reducing visible pollution.

A while back, the gas companies had the US gov't require MTBE as an oxygenator, which raised gas prices by about 15 cents a gallon for the added production costs. When they were about to be sued for MTBE polluting groundwater, they agreed to change to ethanol, but it would cost about 15 cents a gallon to stop putting MTBE in, and a bit more to start blending ethanol. All the while, the big oil companies were turning record profits. Go figure.

Higher octane fuels in most engines will not release more energy than lower octane fuels. As someone said above, they are harder to ignite, so have less of a tendency to detonate (pinging, knocking, dieseling, etc.) Most high performance engines will require it due to higher compression ratios. Engines that run very lean may also, due to higher heat levels. Normal engines may see a very slight change in power output due to changes in detonation timing, but it generally will not be large enough to detect without dyno'ing the engine.

The opposite, however, is very bad. Running low octane fuel in an engine designed for high octane will cause pre-ignition, which will prematurely wear valves, pistons, rods; pretty much all moving parts in the motor.

jky