Thread: Is one diesel better than another?

Have done tests with both diesel cars and found BP gave more mileage per L.
Its not a placebo effect at all.

We ran for 4 weeks from local BP on both cars. Did note down exact fuel consumption.

We did just for fun from local 2 other fuel providers and not only less miles but also less performance after 2 tanks of perhaps lesser brand.

The mileage could perhaps be due to incorrect bowser but surely that can't be way out.
They are regulated and checked quite often I presume.

For now, I use BP, even if they are currently poisoning our oceans.

BP Ultimate Diesel Big Guy or just Poverty Pack Diesel?

I'm definitely with Tombie2 and big_guy here.

My experience is definitely not placebo, but based on measurement and trial and error over nearly 2 years.

Our family car was a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2CRDi. Had it from brand new in Feb 2007. It was a novated lease car, so came with all servicing, fuel etc, and the fuelcard I got was a Caltex card.

So from day 1, it was filled up with Caltex diesel. And twice in the first 2000km I returned the car to the dealers, complaining that the car jumped and juddered at low(ish) revs (1500-2500 range) at any speed and gave 15-20% less than it was supposed to in terms of fuel economy. However, no fault was found.

I used 3 Caltex servos within a 15km range. Two were straight Caltex and one a Caltex/Woolies co-brand. So even though it is likely that all 3 are supplied by the same refinery and possibly even the same bowser, it eliminated the servos storage variable.

Occasionally I used a Shell or one of 2 Mobil servos, again within that same 15km radius, and in the first 10000km the difference was small but noticeable. Fuel economy would improve to 8ish l/100km from 9ish l/100km and the jumping and juddering was reduced but not eliminated.

In the second 10000km of ownership, we had a couple of pretty long trips, Brisbane - Sydney, and it was on these trips that the most obvious difference was shown.

On the first trip south, we got from west of Brissie to somewhere around Hornsby, I think it was, on one tank of Caltex - 71l used. About 925km down the Pacific Highway including one side trip on the way down for an overnight inland from Port Macquarie. (Not bad economy - around 7.6l/100km)
But having filled up at a Shell station near Hornsby, we got from there, into Sydney city, used it there for a couple of days, and got back to Brisbane again using the Pacific highway on one tankful.

So, used around the city, travelled 1043km up and down hills, and did all that on 73l of fuel. (That's right - 7l/100km from a 7 seat SUV). And not one cough, jump or splutter.

Was this a one off? No. It was repeated once more a few weeks later, though the second time was down the Pacific and up the New England highway. And given that it was a lease car, i have all the docs to back the words up.

Placebo effect. Pleh.

I don't think it's just about brands of fuel but also outlets. I also target high turnover sites - usually those that have truck-gauge fillers (with the added benefit of fast filling). In the Canberra region, Shell Tuggeranong diesel gives noticeably better performance than even other Shell outlets, so given I can get over 800kays to the tank around town, I wait until I'm in the area...

Originally Posted by Tombie2

I dont! When I was dealing with the boffins at Holden and Mitsubishi in Adelaide we often spoke of the engine troubles experienced in Perth!

Perths fuel was different, and often caused pinging and more problems than anywhere in the country.

Your fuel was different


As for placebo effect, I regularly drive to Adelaide, cruise on, highway mode... Then turn around and come home hours later...

Shell gives mileage on par with BP Ultimate, but Caltex gives less by a noticeable margin every time.

Caltex petrol here, if we put it in the wifes old Vitara, makes it run like a dog.
No placebo, continually observed...
I even fuelled it up because I had a docket once, dropped it home.
That evening the wife said "You put Woolies fuel in didnt you"...
The car was running like a dog.

A bottle of octane boost made it liveable for the week. But we wont put it in again.

As for fuel in our area....

United has a truck come to see it every few days branded "United" they also fill the Mobil station.
Shell has a "Shell" branded tanker..
BP has a BP branded tanker
Caltex has an unbranded tanker come to town.

I know one of the tech guys at Mobil Port Stanvac (now closed) told me they blended to clients requests....

Lol Tombie, let's clarify something here. Perth's fuel may be different as you claim, but I live in the Pilbara some 1600 klms away from Perth. I visit Perth probably 2-3 times annually and obviously use the fuel down there but have not had any noticeable issues with it. And it's my understanding that our fuel supplies in the Pilbara come direct from Singapore....I am referring to diesel only, I don't use petrol. I generally check my fuel consumption at every fill up so I can see that it's stable.

I have used mostly the same servo here for a few years (Caltex actually) and although I'm not an industrial chemist I can only relate to the experiences I have had over the years with my vehicle. My fuel consumption has remained largely the same per tank ever since I have owned the vehicle and the minimal changes would only be related to the standard issues that we all experience from time to time like headwinds, tyre pressures, and the manner of my driving etc. I have never had problems of a fuel related nature like blockages, injectors or the like. (I probably will tomorrow now that I've said that)

Working on the theory that if it aint broke, don't fix it, I have absolutely no reason to change either fuel brands or supplier. Sure I've used BP and some others when travelling long distance to Perth and elsewhere and I always check my fuel consumption between known points....never any major differences over about 6 years of owning the vehicle.

The only major fuel problems affecting local vehicles that I am aware of have both been from local BP servos, one at Karratha and the other at Wickham, and it appears that contamination in the servo storage tanks was responsible for both. In the case of Wickham it was apparently the result of "someone" off loading a diesel load into the petrol storage tanks or vice versa.....the other case was traced to one particular tank at the servo and BP reimbursed the owners of affected vehicles for the cost of repairs. Lots of repairs because it was probably one of the busiest and most commonly used servos in Karratha. So much for the adage of always use such servos, it doesn't always cover your butt.

So really from the facts as I have experienced them, and I can't be the only person either in this area or any other, I simply don't accept that some fuels are as bad as they are made out by some people. The two big issues that I see as possible variables are the housekeeping/hygene of individual servos and maybe that some engine models are "allergic" (in jest) to some fuels, they simply perform better on one type rather than another but it is more engine related rather than fuel content fault.....the latter being pure speculation on my part perhaps but I really think there is too much crap spoken about fuel differences in general. Certainly there is scope for some to be fractionally better than others, but not to the extent that it gets blown out to.

Midal you are correct, your fuel comes from Singapore via Port Hedland. There are only two terminals in Hedland, Caltex and BP, Caltex only have diesel facility ergo source their petrol from BP. Both terminals are restocked from the same ship simultaneously. All fuel from Nanutarra to Broome and the mines throughout the Pilbara comes through Hedland.

Originally Posted by B92 8NW

Best performance I find for a Tdi comes from Aviation Turbine or Kerosene prepared to Land Rover's manual for Africa.

Do tell!!!!

Originally Posted by land864

BP Ultimate Diesel Big Guy or just Poverty Pack Diesel?

Ultimate when they have it, they were out or changing formula or something recently.

Back to normal now.