Not so long ago there was a discussion on fuel additives and Millers Sport 4 was mentiond. Today whilst looking through my Skoda hand book it say's we should not add anything to the fuel.Our VW engine is the 2.0 dsg 140 bhp on a 55 plate.On a recent 2200 trip i used the millers Sport and had what seemed a bit differant (for the better)performance .Our present mileage is 22574 and it seems that in our area they do not appear to have the upgrade diesel, so who is right, WV or Millers?.
Fuel Additives
- Thread starter Robert_374242026
- Start date
Hello Robert,
If VW state YOU should not add anything to the fuel, then by doing so you will have invalidated your warranty.
The jury is still out on whether these additives do make a difference. There is some mildly scientific evidence that suggests they actually reduce power output, but that was a comparison in one engine only, and others might perform differently.
The product you mention is not added to the fuel by the oil companies, they have their own formulations, which will not affect your warranty.
If VW state YOU should not add anything to the fuel, then by doing so you will have invalidated your warranty.
The jury is still out on whether these additives do make a difference. There is some mildly scientific evidence that suggests they actually reduce power output, but that was a comparison in one engine only, and others might perform differently.
The product you mention is not added to the fuel by the oil companies, they have their own formulations, which will not affect your warranty.
my alhambra has the vw tdi fitted and has run faultlesly and much better since using millers, it was me that brought the previous discussion you mention to light.
I have checked and double checked my seat handbook and it makes no remark as to not using any diesel additive, seems very strange as vw own bothe seat and skoda you would have thought that was good for one make would be good for the other.
Give skoda a ring and ask them to justify why you should not use something that gives you better performance plus keeps the engine cleaner and the emmissions lower, i bet they can't especially if you mention that seat allow the product to be used in the same engine.
I have checked and double checked my seat handbook and it makes no remark as to not using any diesel additive, seems very strange as vw own bothe seat and skoda you would have thought that was good for one make would be good for the other.
Give skoda a ring and ask them to justify why you should not use something that gives you better performance plus keeps the engine cleaner and the emmissions lower, i bet they can't especially if you mention that seat allow the product to be used in the same engine.
The Fithgear program on TV states after testing five fuel addatives that they reduced power by 2 percent and were just a waste of money.
Hi Allen,
The Fifth Gear test was a little bit misleading.
They tested some Octane improvers for Petrol engines, and whilst these additives are known to raise the Octane value - you also need to reset the engine to benefit from the raised Octane value - and whilst some car engines (or more correctly the ECU) will do this automatically, the programme just ran the car un-modified. So it's no surprise that no benefit was seen.
Likewise Diesel Cetane improvers will only really work on diesel engines that can automatically re-tune to use the higher performance fuel - and that means a Euro IV or IV+ generation engine. Older engines could reap the full benefit if the engine was (workshop) tuned to use the higher rated fuel.
The same proviso applies to the new "synthesised" petrol and diesel fuels, like Shell V-Power, and BP Ultimate.
Answering Robert's original question:
Driving a modern Euro IV+ diesel engined car, my preference is to use:
1. Synthesised fuel - like Shell V-Power, BP Ultimate or Total Excellium
2. Standard brand name fuel
3. Supermarket fuel - the Cetane rating is the same as the branded diesel fuel - but unless you know the source of the fuel, you can't assume that the pump lubrication additive pack (added at the refinery) will be as advanced as the branded fuel
Adding a third party performance additive could invalidate the engine warranty, but it would be an interesting technical argument for the manufacturer to refute that it's OK to use a 55 Cetane fuel but not a 51 Cetane fuel that has been raised to an intermediate index.
By the way, it's pretty easy to check if an additive has been used, even after many tanks of fuel - the Millers Sport4 additive in particular has a very persistent and recognisable smell.
Robert
The Fifth Gear test was a little bit misleading.
They tested some Octane improvers for Petrol engines, and whilst these additives are known to raise the Octane value - you also need to reset the engine to benefit from the raised Octane value - and whilst some car engines (or more correctly the ECU) will do this automatically, the programme just ran the car un-modified. So it's no surprise that no benefit was seen.
Likewise Diesel Cetane improvers will only really work on diesel engines that can automatically re-tune to use the higher performance fuel - and that means a Euro IV or IV+ generation engine. Older engines could reap the full benefit if the engine was (workshop) tuned to use the higher rated fuel.
The same proviso applies to the new "synthesised" petrol and diesel fuels, like Shell V-Power, and BP Ultimate.
Answering Robert's original question:
Driving a modern Euro IV+ diesel engined car, my preference is to use:
1. Synthesised fuel - like Shell V-Power, BP Ultimate or Total Excellium
2. Standard brand name fuel
3. Supermarket fuel - the Cetane rating is the same as the branded diesel fuel - but unless you know the source of the fuel, you can't assume that the pump lubrication additive pack (added at the refinery) will be as advanced as the branded fuel
Adding a third party performance additive could invalidate the engine warranty, but it would be an interesting technical argument for the manufacturer to refute that it's OK to use a 55 Cetane fuel but not a 51 Cetane fuel that has been raised to an intermediate index.
By the way, it's pretty easy to check if an additive has been used, even after many tanks of fuel - the Millers Sport4 additive in particular has a very persistent and recognisable smell.
Robert
Re my Skoda euro 1v vw 2.0 140bhp dsg , today i got the reply from Skoda and they do not reccomend any fuel additive, i did say the Millers Sport 4 and the answer is still no.So there you go folks.
Thanks Robert for comprehensive report, however i went on a Shell site looking for garages which sell the refind diesel but could not get into the neccesary site for the info.All our local garages do not seem to stock it.
Robert
Hi, I never seen Millers Sport 4 Additive, I had a little problem with my X trail while towing it was kicking out black smoke, So I put red X in wait for a good week or so, Not much diffrent, took it down to my local garage he put in a whole bottle of Wynn fuel additive , after a while then we went on hoilday and Bingo no black smoke, That stuff really do work and now found the car run lovely, Trevor
Robert,
This is the direct link to the Shell V-Power diesel web-site, and one of the sub-pages is a link to the filling station guide
http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=uk-en&FC2=/uk-en/html/iwgen/leftnavs/zzz_lhn3_2_2.html&FC3=/uk-en/tailored/shell_for_motorists/fuels/v-power_diesel_pkg/introduction.html
Likewise this is the link to the BP Ultimate diesel web-site:
http://www.bp.com/genericsection.do?categoryId=4005610&contentId=7009112
Both of these fuels were developed in partnership with European car companies.
Robert
This is the direct link to the Shell V-Power diesel web-site, and one of the sub-pages is a link to the filling station guide
http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=uk-en&FC2=/uk-en/html/iwgen/leftnavs/zzz_lhn3_2_2.html&FC3=/uk-en/tailored/shell_for_motorists/fuels/v-power_diesel_pkg/introduction.html
Likewise this is the link to the BP Ultimate diesel web-site:
http://www.bp.com/genericsection.do?categoryId=4005610&contentId=7009112
Both of these fuels were developed in partnership with European car companies.
Robert
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