Anyone use fuel treatment / cleaner ?

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Originally Posted by Odysseyman

i don’t know about that one however I suspect it’s probably just additives rather than a different base fuel.

I’ve had a similar experience to you with in several vehicles, both with economy and performance, using BP fuel. Unless I can’t buy it, or Shell, as is often the case unfortunately in remote areas, I very reluctantly use other brands.

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I reckon you might be right there. Not a better base fuel, just the additives pack, which may or may not be worth much - certainly not in the short term probably. I found this article which seems plausible, and Club 4x4 appear to have conducted at least some research (claimed). Tends to infer limited benefit other than a bit of a clean up for the engine innards and less foaming.

Is Premium Diesel Worth It? - CLUB 4X4

Ultimately, I will likely continue with my approach as cleaner is better IMO and I've not found anything to say it will harm the engine, so I think I will do some more research and see if there are warnings against either premium diesel for our LR engines. I will report back if I find anything disconcerting for us.

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Originally Posted by Bewtiched

It would be interesting to know for sure if the "premium" diesel is the same base diesel with additives to make it "premium" or if it is a completely different and more refined based fuel ...

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Mate of mine worked for two distribution companies for a number of years.
Same base diesel, and additives added to differentiate.

Can't exactly remember the mix ratio, or if it would mean anything anyhow, but it's well under 1000lt per 8000lt base fuel as he recalls it.
So they'd pull the tanker up to the gantry, it's all automated, so he pushes some order number and the gantry fill the tanks as needed.
Only thing some operators have to do is open close hatches manually, otherwise it's all automated .. so no way to tell what the additive could actually be(say by smell).

BUT!, what happens, not all the time, but regularly, is that say the tanker needs to fill both regular station diesel tank and also the premium tank.
Most times they need to estimate how much actual capacity remains, as orders are taken day before, and demand after order is taken can vary .. so they sometimes have excess premium diesel(due to lower than expected demand), and more usually slightly more remaining capacity in the regular diesel tanks.
So they're told not to bring excess fuel back, and in some cases, if the station has no allowance to dump all the tankers capacity, the tanker may be diverted to another station on the way back to get rid of all load.
Otherwise it's a longer process to dump excess fuels at the terminals.

So what usually happens is that the regular diesel tanks can get a dose of the premium additives via the premium diesel.
But obviously this is a much more diluted additive to the regular tank, so don't expect it to be as premium as the regular premium.

Basically, if the station sells a premium diesel, chances are that the regular diesel may contain traces of premium too. Whether it makes any difference is another question, but highly unlikely too.

From memory, whilst diesels use the same base stock, petrols are all sources from different tanks ... so higher octane is a different fuel.
He never got the chance to get inducted into the Caltex depot, but they get their diesel from either Shell or Mobil. Same with BP(here in Melb/Vic).
Not sure if all the BPs get Mobil/Shell diesel, or if he only did overflow orders, but definitely many BP stations around Vic get either Shell or Mobil diesels.
He never did any Shells, only some rural Mobils, but those two definitely don't interchange their fuels(not in the years that he worked the industry).

What never made sense to me, is the price of Costco deisel, I got my last tank at 134.7, and everyone in the area for about 50sq klms other than some indies here and there are up in the high 140's low 150s .. so about 15cpl cheaper than all the majors in the area, and about 6cpl cheaper than the cheapest indie.
Costco gets Mobil fuel from secondary distributors, can't remember all the names of them, but Monaro Fuels comes to mind, as does Petrogas(Mobil offshoot).
One of the mobs he used to work for Petrogas deliver to Costco .. so you if buy Costco, you're just buying Mobil diesel .. just 15cpl cheaper!

Fuel has to meet certain minimum standards, I believe, so it is at least the same everywhere, plus additives.

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and thought about it in relation to this discussion so I dug it up. About 15 mins.

The Truth About Premium Diesel Fuel — Auto Expert by John Cadogan - save thousands on your next new car!

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Originally Posted by Dagilmo

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and thought about it in relation to this discussion so I dug it up. About 15 mins.

The Truth About Premium Diesel Fuel — Auto Expert by John Cadogan - save thousands on your next new car!

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Yeah saw that one on my journey. Interesting association he has drawn between buying the wrong diesel and sleeping with your wife's sister, but that is Mr Cadogan I guess... [biggrin]

Just be very aware that most fuel additives can be quite corrosive to engine bearings.

Do a forum search, I've written quite a bit about it in the past.

Yeah, and all those expensive creams and lotions my wife buys will keep her looking 21 forever right?

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Originally Posted by PerthDisco

Yeah, and all those expensive creams and lotions my wife buys will keep her looking 21 forever right?

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:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling:

Cheers Ean

Have you tried whitening cream? Very popular with Asian girls.

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Originally Posted by Dagilmo

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and thought about it in relation to this discussion so I dug it up. About 15 mins.

The Truth About Premium Diesel Fuel — Auto Expert by John Cadogan - save thousands on your next new car!

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Personally would put any credence into what he says!
For a self proclaimed engineer, where engineering is a science, he makes too many claims but has no data to prove the claims.
First rule any good scientific mind would follow is that when claims are made, have evidence to back those claims.

He's all huff and puff, trying to make an easy buck off the internets, being 'controversial' ... but not put in the hard yards for it.

eg. he makes stupid claims such as:

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Premium diesel’s alleged benefits are … fluffy … at best. It has an allegedly superior additive package that is allegedly designed to make your engine allegedly cleaner. Whatever that means.

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as an engineer, he should either put up, or shut up(lose credibility) .. where the proof of his claim?
Has he tested it.
He may well be spot on, but without data to back his claims, it's just meaningless drivel.

Too much of that kind of garbage content creation out there, only makes the internet a less valuable resource.

FWIW: I personally prefer truck diesel. It fills better in my D1. Not faster due to the high flow, just less foamy.
At work, we get BP delivered fuel .. I assume truck diesel because it doesn't foam. You can hold the flow full-on till the very last drop, zero foaming, so you don't get the click back.

In the D1, it's seriously annoying filling with consumer diesel(of any kind) takes 5 mins to fill the first 60-70 lt, then about 10 mins of spurt/click/spurt/click .. just to top up the last 10lt or so.
Not all that many easy to get too truck stations between work and home, but a min or two from work is a 7/11-Mobil servo where I usually fill if I'm not up a the Costco.
The consumer pumps use whatever it is, and gives me the grief with the slow last 10lt issue. So I started using the truck pumps, the attentdent gives me grief, and stops the pump, so I go in and give him a BS story of how I was just there about 15 mins ago filling the work truck . blah blah .. now a few of them remember me. They don't like cars hogging the truck pumps, but now I get through a bit more easily.
Even taking into account the time it takes from when he stops the pump, and me gettign back into it, it's still quicker than using the regular pumps and their annoying foaming.

And this Cardogan chap wants me to believe that car diesel and truck diesel are the same stuff!

I can tell you without a shadow of doubt .. BP and Mobil truck diesel are different products to their regular pump diesels(in terms of foaming)