Im using Shell diesel in my Fabia. Has anyone tried Tesco etc????

I should think Shell/BP are the best for diesel fuel. I use Shell religiously.

I should think Shell/BP are the best for diesel fuel. I use Shell religiously.

Likewise, just think shell is the best but everyone has there own opinion, use to have a diesel car and used to always put the v power diesil, great stuff....

Hi Threadbear,

You may already know but with the CR engines the high pressure injection pump depends on the diesel fuel itself to lube the bearings etc. One of the weaknesses has been that supermarket fuel has a lot less of the lubricants needed by the pump. As such many manufacturers have found problems with the CR fuel pumps when run on supermarket fuel. Ford, Vauxhall and Fiat were the first to have identified supermarket fuel as a big culprit for premature pump failure in the past, with Ford still looking at suing some supermarkets for the many pumps it has had to replace due to poor pump lubricity even when the vehicles were under warranty. I don't know the absolute current state of play with Tesco diesel. it may have improved, but with cr pumps costing thousands to replace, I wouldn't risk it. The pump should last the life of the car, and many individuals will say they ran their cars fine on it for X years...but many have had considerable expense in sorting out a pump problem too. Just a few short years ago pumps ran at lower pressures and were under less stress. Todays pumps run under a greater load, operating at the very limit of fuel based lubricity so it could be more critical now, more than ever to avoid supermarket diesel.

Edited 1 July, 201115 yr by Estate Man

What sways you's toward shell as best? When I bought my car mk 1 fabia vrs I filled it with v power and on start up the car smoked fairly heavily for a second or two, then after changing to bp ultimate the car doesn't smoke at all, and looking at the data sheets of the two the bp ultimate is much better but only the shell has a lower sulphur rating which is better for the environment which I'm not really worried about lol plus I can't see how more smoke is better for the environment lol

Ive never seen any difference at all ............except the price!!

Dont be made a fool of!!

It really doesnt make any difference, that Ive ever noticed!

Ive never seen any difference at all ............except the price!!

Dont be made a fool of!!

It really doesnt make any difference, that Ive ever noticed!

That is pretty much my experience too, I have used Shell Fuelsave, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Carrefour & 1 tankful of Texaco and not noticed any difference at all (including economy)

EDIT: the OP was asking specifically about the CR TDi

I get better mpg but it doesn't count for the cost but I don't mind paying for it when I know how clean it's burning and that it ls good for my engine. Bp done tests on compression etc and it's much better

All fuel sold in the UK and indeed throughout complies with EN590 - the latest spec being EN 590:2009. EN590 specifies a minimum lubricity requirement.

Any manufacturer thinking of suing a fuel supplier for failure of their substandard designs is on a hiding to nothing.

All fuel sold in the UK and indeed throughout complies with EN590 - the latest spec being EN 590:2009. EN590 specifies a minimum lubricity requirement.

Any manufacturer thinking of suing a fuel supplier for failure of their substandard designs is on a hiding to nothing.

That is of course correct concerning the standard the fuel must meet, but whilst it lays down a standard for lubricity it is a very basic standard (WSD 1.4 @ 60c). The main thrust of EN590 relates more to Cetane level and the sulphur and other mineral levels. In any case the standard is widely recognised in the trade as lagging behind what is required. Therefore, high pressure cr pumps benefit from 'proper' fuel from Shell, BP etc who use considerably better lubricants to replace the sulphur and they also use better cleaners too than the supermarket fuels that only just seem to comply with the basic lubricity standard.

Edited 2 July, 201114 yr by Estate Man

That is of course correct concerning the standard the fuel must meet, but it is vague about the lubricity and relates more to Cetane level and the sulphur and other mineral levels. In any case the standard is widely recognised in the trade as lagging behind what is required. Therefore, high pressure cr pumps benefit from 'proper' fuel from Shell, BP etc who use considerably better lubricants to replace the sulphur and they also use better cleaners too than the supermarket fuels.

I work for one of the 3 big supermarkets dont be fooled by thinking the fuel is not as good as shell/ esso many a time are pumps are filled up by BP lorrys

I work for one of the 3 big supermarkets dont be fooled by thinking the fuel is not as good as shell/ esso many a time are pumps are filled up by BP lorrys

i've also seen this, im convinced fuel is fuel. much like washing powder is washing powder, all made in the same factories

That is pretty much my experience too, I have used Shell Fuelsave, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Carrefour & 1 tankful of Texaco and not noticed any difference at all (including economy)

EDIT: the OP was asking specifically about the CR TDi

I know..I have one

I work for one of the 3 big supermarkets dont be fooled by thinking the fuel is not as good as shell/ esso many a time are pumps are filled up by BP lorrys

I bet it wasn't BP fuel in it! The additives for BP are very different and more expensive than the stuff put in Tesco fuel. Trust me. This would be a case of tanker shortage on Tesco's part and they had hired a competitor to deliver, or a wrongly treated batch of BP fuel.

Trust me. This would be a case of tanker shortage on Tesco's part and they had hired a competitor to deliver, or a wrongly treated batch of BP fuel.

Trust you? Why? Are you a doctor?

Edited 3 July, 201114 yr by xman

Does this difference in fuel quality apply only in diesel or for Ron 95 petrol too???

Trust you? Why? Are you a doctor?

Sadly not a doctor or any kind of fuel expert, but amongst other things, a motor tech working at dealerships that sold fuel (mostly BP & Texaco)... just learned a thing or two, that's all. I've also visited the fuel depots where the tankers fill up on several occasions and I learned how the fuel is treated. It isn't all the same as many folk think...it's only the same after refinement, meeting EN590. It then gets altered to the individual fuel company standards at the fuelling depots where the tankers fill up. To save money some supermarket stuff is treated with secondary clearners and often no lubricity enhancers, in direct contrast to the better brand fuels. I can say from personal experience, and I understand from my colleagues still working in the trade that this is still largely the case, that when you look in an engine that's covered 50,000 miles on supermarket fuel and one that's done a similar mileage on branded fuel, there is a difference in what you see with the amount of brown sticky carbon in the supermarket fueled engine being considerably more than in the branded fueled engines. But the public don't get to see that and performance degradation takes place over a long period of time so they think everything is ok. Sometimes it is of course if the engine is used on long fast runs all the time as like reps might use there cars, but mostly the engine suffers more than it has too. Bear in mind I'm talking about diesel but from what I have read, petrol is a similar story although Tesco has moved to improve some of it's blends. How good they are I don't know.

Nice to see you back posting xman.

Dont think diesel cars are generally quite as sensitive as petrols. Ive ran my CR 2.0 140 diesel Golf on allsorts and its always been fine. That said I do tend to fill it with BP all the time as its my nearest filling station, though I dont use Ultimate in it, the diesel variant makes very little if any difference to the way the car performs

All fuel is supplied to each forcourt by whatever storage facility has the best price, stock leveles etc.

I have delivered fuel for years and take the same product from the same tanks as ESSO, BP Shell delivieries etc. I deliver for 3 major supermarkets reguarly.

The only different is the specific branded fuels (Optimax, ultima, 99Etc) these are stored at specific facitilities in seperate tanks.

Occasionally i have even had a load on for the supermarket which has been diverted to a Fuel retailer as there has been a stock issue etc.

The only pepople who want you to believer the difference is the fuel companies, but are also in a position where they need to also supply the supermarkets as there is always more fuel in the UK than demand.

The system is very simple when you look into it.

The only fuel i ever buy diffenrent is the 99 from tesco, as my impreza is always mapped to run this as the supply for me is more reliable than V power.