Supermarket Fuel

[Mike_5041040]

Just lately I've spoken to a couple of people from work, both praising the fuel they have bought from non supermarket souces. They claim their fuel consumption is much improved, performance improved and the engine even 'sounds' better.

I wondered if anyone else had experienced the same improvements and if there was actually any chemistry to account for these claims ?

Mike

 

[cokey1970]

Hi Mike.

I'm not sure whether you are referring to supermarket fuel or otherwise as your message title and text difer.

Anyhoo, my father and I have found that we got more MPG using fuel from Sainsbury's as opposed to the other spermarkets. I drive a Kia Sportage and my father, a Citroen Picasso.

At the moment, I'm using Asda diesel and it will be a week or so before I find out the result.

Martin.

 

[Mike_5041040]

Hi Martin, sorry if I didn't make myself clear.

What I was trying to ask is whether or not people achieved better results from fuel purchased from Esso / Shell etc rather than Tesco / Asda etc.

Regards, Mike.

 

[Guest]

The majority of fuel in any given area usually comes from the saem refinery. So many supermarkets can be stocked up with fuel from Shell, BP etc. However sometimes the supermarket will buy on the spot market if it can get a good deal.

There are lots of opinions as to whether supermarket fuel is as good as your local oil company, and personally I think it is matter of personal choice. Some swear by the 'improved' versions on offer, others state they are a waste of money. In most cases the price offered either by the supermarket or garage is the same as they wil compete in a local area. However, at the end of the day any fuel supplied by anyone has to meet minimum standards, so should be acceptable for all vehicles on the roads.

 

[Bri-C]

Hi.

I can hopefully shed a little light on this for you.

Yes it is the case that both the major companies shell,esso,bp etc. do load their tankers from the same basic stock as the supermarkets.

However when the driver enters his code to load, the system automatically injects the companies own additives at the defined rate to the basic fuel as it enters the truck.

Therefore all companies can load from their local depot and only the additives need to be stored for each company.

The same as soft drinks at a bar really.

Shell tends to be better I find at the moment but they do change their additives periodically.

Regards Brian..........

 

[Essexeddie]

I get better results from non supermarket fuel.

People have short memories if they recon that its all the same fuel. Remember all the cars breaking down not long ago after useing supermarket fuel.

Edd

 

[Guest]

It is all personal choice. Yes, there was an issue with a batch of fuel delivered to a supermarket, but it could just as easily been a forecourt garage chain. I suspect if you look at the quantity of fuel sold each day by supermarkets, then an awful lot of people are quite happy. I also do not recall any motor manufacturer stating not to use supermarket fuel.

 

[Diane1]

Hi Guys Bri, is quite correct, it is down to the additives added to the fuel. He should know he worked with the stuff long enough. Yes we all get our fuel from the same people.

I might to the gentleman refering to the silicone incident, that sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons and Tesco all had cases where people said they has silicone in thier tanks. However what is not know'n was the more than several independants were hit aswell.

Tesco were the only ones that advertised the fact and put steps in place to help effected customers. However you get good and bad in all, as quite a few customers tried it on and tried to pull i have had my car contaminated by your fuel stunt, which effected my PFS and staff. We had to close for two days and i had to send staff home (without pay) while i had a petrol chem person investigate my pumps, only to be told, nothing wrong with your pumps or tanks- no contamination at all.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Hi Guys Bri, is quite correct, it is down to the additives added to the fuel. He should know he worked with the stuff long enough. Yes we all get our fuel from the same people.

I might to the gentleman refering to the silicone incident, that sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons and Tesco all had cases where people said they has silicone in thier tanks. However what is not know'n was the more than several independants were hit aswell.

Tesco were the only ones that advertised the fact and put steps in place to help effected customers. However you get good and bad in all, as quite a few customers tried it on and tried to pull i have had my car contaminated by your fuel stunt, which effected my PFS and staff. We had to close for two days and i had to send staff home (without pay) while i had a petrol chem person investigate my pumps, only to be told, nothing wrong with your pumps or tanks- no contamination at all.

a couple of paracetamel tablets worked wanders

 

[colin(bridgend)]

The question now Diane is will Shell, Esso or Texaco take my 5p per litre off coupon that I had today.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

All previous answers have related to petrol - does the same hold good for diesel fuel?

 

[Bri-C]

Ok Diane now I'm scared!! or confused or something.

Yes I maintained loading systems for one company and forecourt systems for another, although not in recent times, but I suspect mistaken identity is the real reason for "He should know he worked with the stuff long enough".

Unless your memory is much better than mine.. (Wouldn't supprise me)

Regards Brian.....

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Colin

Id just like to say this argument will go on for some time .

I can tell you we run a deawoo musso 2.9 and can assure you compared to supermarket fuel the old girl flies on Shell. I now try to use Shell when we can get It.(engine runs sweater as well)

A source does tell me the Asda nearly always use Mobil so at our Asda@ 91.9 pence per litre guess what

Regards Stewart

 

[colin(bridgend)]

No Asda as yet in Bridgend we have only got this blasted Tesco - two of the blighters. Mind you staff aren't bad even though it is expensive compared to Farm Foods, Iceland, Wilkinson, etc. but they don't sell fuel.

 

[richard_5112360]

iv recently started using non supermarket fuel and found a slight improvment in mpg,as for morrisons fuel,its like there food,i wouldnt touch it!!!.

 

[Oldfogey]

I have several neighbours who work in various aspects of this business, from the oil rig, to the refinery, to the retail - branded and supermarket.

The same tanker, on a single run, fills up the local branded garage, Tesco, and ASDA.

Sometimes the tanker will be branded, sometimes independant, sometimes even supermarkets own - though it is apparently very rare for an ASDA labelled tanker to fill up Tesco's station!

BP do not own a single refinery in the UK. They buy all their fuel on the spot market, just like the supermarkets.

Other branded forecourts will mostly obtain their fuel from the brand refinery - but this is not guaranteed if there is any disruption to supplies (eg when the M$ was closed for 36 hours), when they will just fill up with whatever is available.

All you are guaranteed at the pump is that the product meets the legal specification stated. The rest is pot luck and advertising hype.

 

[Surfer]

It is a "no win" as Tesco in their wisdom make you pay the discount of 5p per litre by increasing a number of "essential" or popular items in the shop by exactly 5p1 Any one else noticed this/ We try and avoid Tesco's as much as possible. Quote example 500ml Pepsi Max

 

[cokey1970]

I believe that Tesco have their fuel supplied from a company called Greenergy of which they are a minority shareholder.

Looking at the Greenergy website, it states that they supply other retailers but doesn't mention any names.

www.greenergy.co.uk

Martin.

 

[Willy_5041515]

Honest John in the Saturday Telegraph Motoring Section always recommends Texaco and Shell Optimax, petrol and diesel. I definitely get better mpg with Texaco diesel - up to 10%. Two friends had repeating problems (misfiring, erratic running, etc) with Sainsbury's petrol and I suggested they try using only Texaco for a while. Problem solved and they have never gone back to supermarket fuel.

 

[robert_374309348]

There are standards to all fuel marketed. Mostif not all the fuel sold by supermarkets is collected and purchased from oil company majors. It is the same fuel as is sold by the major oil companies. In fact there is so much inter company business that it could be said that refined fuel eminates from the same refineries. You may be buying Shell which could have been refined and stored by say Texaco. Additives have been added to certain company's products prior to delivery to the retail outlet, more so in the past but if there is any fuel improvement could be questioned.

 

[Steve_5090070]

Hi Mike,

I have recently swithched to BP diesel after using supermarket fuel for the past 6 mths. I drive a Nissan X Trail and started having problems with the car 4 or 5 weeks ago. It really struggled when pulling the van and even struggled when driving solo uphills. After speaking to a few people about this they suggested I get an additive to put into my tank which will help clean the injectors and start using Top brand fuel. I did this and the result is car back to running great and fuel consumption gone back up to around 38mpg. I for one will never use supermarket fuel again.

cheers Steve

 

[Oldfogey]

Funny that you should choose BP, Steve. As I pointed out earlier, BP do not own any refineries in this country, and are thus in exactly the same position as the supermarkets - they buy their fuel on the spot market, and as a result it may or may not have any extra additives.

Personally, I would suspect you picked up some fuel with slight contamination, which affected the injectors; once cleaned out, performance returns to normal.

After all, you did say you had noticed deterioration in the last few weeks - so I assume it had been running fine for a good long time before that!

 

[Roly1]

As several have already stated: it's really all down to the additive package. Personally I just buy fuel wherever I happen to be when I need it. I do a very high mileage mostly on motorways and can't really notice a difference. Running round locally I find the car is noticeably smoother on Texaco diesel.

 

[JTQ]

My experience is that the additives I have used and premium fuels have differing effect in different engines.

They all seem to have a very positive effect on the subjective parameter of "refinement" and the more quantifiable "consumption" of our VW Golf 1.9 TDI PD. Whereas I really cant find any differences in Land Rover Defenders and both the Euro 3&4 engined Disco 3s I have owned.

I also find Shell regular diesel treated with Millers additive performs the same as any of the premium products I have tried, and at a significant saving.

I now consistently use Millers Sport 4 in the Disco as it is a euro4 engine and Millers Power Plus in the Golf.

Just more comfortable with the thought of its injector cleaning and system lubricity and is cost is small in the overall cost of vehicle ownership.

I have no issues about using supermarket diesel but as a "cheap" Shell is my nearest station that's what we usually buy. Whilst towing on the continent its nearly all supermarket that gets used and it is where we get our best fuel economy, but I feel thats much more to do with the long mileages involved in each towing session.

 

[Steve_5090070]

Funny that you should choose BP, Steve. As I pointed out earlier, BP do not own any refineries in this country, and are thus in exactly the same position as the supermarkets - they buy their fuel on the spot market, and as a result it may or may not have any extra additives.

Personally, I would suspect you picked up some fuel with slight contamination, which affected the injectors; once cleaned out, performance returns to normal.

After all, you did say you had noticed deterioration in the last few weeks - so I assume it had been running fine for a good long time before that!

it could have been a bad batch like you say, or it could have been a steady build up of additives blocking the injectors. either way ill stick to the BP garage untill its proven either way.

Steve