Fuel - Supermarket or Branded?

[Whippy]

I wonder how much of the profits of the majors makes its way to the marketing dept 🤔

[anotherv60]

Here are my thoughts on this.

1)Fuel is highly regulated in the UK - it must meet minimum standards. The fuel supplied from the refinery will meet minimum specifications.

2) The branded/nonbranded fuel is all originally sourced from 1 of 7 refineries in the UK, in reality only garages that are equidistant from one of those refineries is likely to see different batches of the base fuel.

3) Each brand has to purchase a minimum specification additive package that will meet the minimum fuel regulations, however, each brand has their own "tank" of additives at the refinery which is then blended into the tanker delivery, this is where there is differentiation of the fuel.

3) At the pump the turnover of fuel tanks could matter, the quality of the fuel can decrease as its stored, therefore garages that have low turnover are more prone to having fuel quality issues - not to say they will, but its more likely. This is going to matter more as biofuel content increases.

4) If your engine cannot manage the extra octane or cetane level you will not notice a performance benefit.

5) For diesel engines, there is a direct link with fuel additive type and performance. This is known as Internal Diesel Injector Deposits (IDIDs). In essence due to the micron sized spray nozzles in modern high pressure diesel engines, small deposits build up and block them. There are many sources of these deposits:
5a) Metal pickup from the fuel tank and lines - small (parts per million) metal deposits clog the small injector noses. (if you have had a new tank or welding done on the fuel line - I would try to use the premium stuff for the first few fills)
5b) fuel quality causes small deposits to form - again small deposits, but due to the size of the micron sized holes these cause blockages.
5c) condensation products (from moisture - usually over winter months) accelerates deposit formation.
5d) you will notice an improvement in performance quickly if these deposits are clean up, often vehicles feel sluggish when they have this issue, but failure is expensive and can lead to replacement of the whole pressure line.

6) Not all the additive chemistry is the same - some is proprietary to solve the problems in 5a-c, and usually because they make more money per litre this will be found in the more premium brands. This is the most common failure mechanism of injectors in modern diesel engines is IDIDs. The chemistry that works is referred to "clean up" ie to clean it up and "keep clean" essentially use this and you won't have the problem in the first place, unfortunately this level of detail isn't widely available for consumers.

7) There is also a known failure mechanism liked to External diesel injector deposits - this is essentially a wear issue.

8) Performance boosts, some of the additive chemistry can actually effect the flow characteristics of the fuel into the engine, so you can receive a "power gain" which isn't really a power gain, your just burning more fuel per combustion cycle, depending on the sophistication of your engine you may or may not notice this.

9) Companies are going to try and charge as much as they can reasonably get away with for fuel. Its best to check your handbook and use what is recommended by your OEM as a minimum.

Here are some technical papers on the issues above.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10...658-15327-4_13

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...5709210650012X

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...xRwlPyWq1Ozh-b

[Robbie34]

Originally Posted by Bashy

Depends, does the Euro 4 have the DPF, ive been told on here that i have the Euro 4 engine, engine is the D5244T4

It was registered in Nov 2006, as far as i know, a 56 plate is a late (after September) 2006, early 2007, i could be wrong but that's how i understand the latest plate system, Vida says its says it's a MY07 as stated in my signature

DPFs were introduced in 2009.

[V8XCV]

Originally Posted by Robbie34

DPFs were introduced in 2009.

They were introduced with Euro V I think? My 2008 has a DPF

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by V8XCV

They were introduced with Euro V I think? My 2008 has a DPF

My understanding is if your car has a grey engine cover (euro 4), it has swirl flaps & DPF (P3 chassis).

If your car is from the P2 platform, it doesn't have a DPF.

New models (euro 5's) have DPF's.

[The Thong]

I’ve run diesels for years on Supermarket fuel, Shell etc etc and never had an issue. My 60 runs just as well on Shell as it does in any other diesel. Keep you car serviced and your filters changed and you’ll be just fine.

TT

[S60D5-185]

There is an awful lot of incorrect info being posted here re dates and platforms for DPF and Swirl Flaps.

The P2 platform ( S60, V70, XC70 ) with the E4 D5 engine ( introduced in 2006 with light grey engine cover ) has a DPF and Swirl Flaps.

The same E4 D5 engine was fitted at roughly the same time to the XC90

Obviously, DPF fitment continued on with later Diesels.

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by Robbie34

DPFs were introduced in 2009.

See S60D5-185's post above this one, told ya

I knows me own car, i find it wise to find out what I have before i voice myself on t'interweb.

[Robbie34]

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice...culate-filters

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by Robbie34

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice...culate-filters

You've misunderstood, it says they have to be fitted from 2009, that does not mean they can't be fitted before then