Premium fuels and fuel treatments. Worth it?

[Tomjones1995]

Hi everybody,

 

I'm just wondering what everybody's thoughts and opinions are on premium fuel (mainly the diesel) and the fuel treatments. My car is on roughly 128,000 miles and to the best of my knowledge it has never had any of them before. So my question is, do you think that my car would benefit from such things?

 

Thanks

[JWvrs25]

i tried some premium fuels, made less smoke but no gain in performance i could notice.

They tend to have more additives which can improve things but normally marginal.

Ive used tesco diesel and had lots of problems with excessive smoke but sainsburys regular fuel was fine.

Always a subjective matter fuel, i'm sure you'll get someone along in a minute saying its all a load of rubbish 'all fuels are the same i know that because i worked in tesco'

[Tomjones1995]

Hi JWvrs25, I've mainly used tesco fuel with no problems with smoke but I thought that supermarket fuel was a bit rubbish so my engine might benefit from the premium stuff to remove some of the carbon deposits that may or may not be in there

[DivineWind]

Premium tend to be better quality/cleaner that the supermarket Fare

 

I've always ran my previous cars on V-Power and more recently the Costco Ultimate, the cars were however mapped for the fuel.

If not mapped for the fuel then I think the only real benefit is them being cleaner and so imho better for the engine long term.

 

I'm currently using Costco Premium Diesel in current car (very little performance lol) but I'll continue on with it

[sepulchrave]

The base fuel stock is all the same since this is covered by strict standards, however additive packs vary and this is where 'premium' diesels come from.

 

Petrol is different because the octane number can be changed and the engine can 'self-tune' using the sensors. a diesel cannot do this.

[Tomjones1995]

So do you reckon its worth a go with the premium fuels or do you reckon it's not worth the extra 10ppl+? I mean I have looked at the forte and millers fuel treatment stuff but I was concerned with the whole Pumpe Duse system being so complex I didn't want to cause any damage.

[retro]

I used bp ultimate/Texaco supreme the last four months in my VRS.

 

I didn't think it would do anything but after a few fill ups I noticed it produced pretty much no soot whatsoever when I put my foot down, engine seemed to run smoother and I gained a few mpg on the daily commute to work, used to get 46/47 and saw 50mpg regularly after running on it for a while. It probably wasn't cost effective but I carried on using it as I liked what I was seeing.

[Tomjones1995]

1 hour ago, retro said:

I used bp ultimate/Texaco supreme the last four months in my VRS.

 

I didn't think it would do anything but after a few fill ups I noticed it produced pretty much no soot whatsoever when I put my foot down, engine seemed to run smoother and I gained a few mpg on the daily commute to work, used to get 46/47 and saw 50mpg regularly after running on it for a while. It probably wasn't cost effective but I carried on using it as I liked what I was seeing.

That's interesting because at the moment I'm only able to achieve similar mpg on my trips so maybe i'l give it a go for a month or so. I mean if you get an extra 2-3 mpg on each journey it's got to be worth the extra 10p or so per litre.

 

Thanks for the info

[KeithCheetham]

Research 2-EHN if you have some time, which is a cetane improver that is one of the component of most aftermarket additives.

[sepulchrave]

Please contact the member above, he's been selling this stuff as long as I can remember, I guess he imports it or buys it wholesale.

 

I have no idea why but more importantly neither does he. 

[Tomjones1995]

I wasn't really looking for a performance improvement, more on the cleanliness and improved mpg side of things really. Should I buy a cetane improver on its own or a fuel treatment or premium diesel?

 

I appreciate the help

Edited 6 August, 2018 by Tomjones1995

[Breezy_Pete]

Putting a bit more pressure in your tyres will be a far more effective way of improving mpg, and cost nothing if you already own a foot pump.

[Tomjones1995]

3 hours ago, Wino said:

Putting a bit more pressure in your tyres will be a far more effective way of improving mpg, and cost nothing if you already own a foot pump.

Funny enough I used to put 40psi in the fronts and 35 on the rear until somebody said it was too much pressure so I dropped them down 5 each. I did put texaco supreme diesel in on the way home yesterday and noticed a slight improvement in responsivness and mpg but that might be just wishful thinking, but surely considering the mileage and age of the engine (13 yrs 128k) the premium stuff should help clean it up a little? I had considered the forte advanced diesel treatment for a one shot treatment, what do you guys reckon?

 

Thanks

[Breezy_Pete]

16 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

the premium stuff should help clean it up a little?

 

Thing is, the muckiest parts are usually the EGR valve and inlet manifold, neither of which the fuel/fancy fuel/fuel system cleaner goes through.

[Tomjones1995]

4 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

Thing is, the muckiest parts are usually the EGR valve and inlet manifold, neither of which the fuel/fancy fuel/fuel system cleaner goes through.

 

How would I go about cleaning those out? I don't suppose it's an easy job for a novice like myself?

[alfalincs]

Without employing any particular science or method I occasionally put in a tank of Shell V Power into the Octavia Diesel on the basis of no more than it doesn't do any harm.....and just might....do a bit of good to the engine, if one believes even half the blurb. I normally do it before a long run, which is probably the worst choice of time, but I figure that even if it gives 2 or 3% better MPG then on a round trip of 500+ miles at mostly steady throttle on motorways, then its probably worth it, but I have no idea of the outcomes really. I notice no difference.

 

Tim

[Tomjones1995]

3 hours ago, alfalincs said:

Without employing any particular science or method I occasionally put in a tank of Shell V Power into the Octavia Diesel on the basis of no more than it doesn't do any harm.....and just might....do a bit of good to the engine, if one believes even half the blurb. I normally do it before a long run, which is probably the worst choice of time, but I figure that even if it gives 2 or 3% better MPG then on a round trip of 500+ miles at mostly steady throttle on motorways, then its probably worth it, but I have no idea of the outcomes really. I notice no difference.

 

Tim

 

This is the thing I find with these premium fuels is that, as you say, you don't know if it is in fact doing any good and justifying the extra 10p or so per litre or not. Though I can personally say it seemed to of made a difference in the short time I've had the diesel in my car though it could easily be just psychological. I have no choice but to use Texaco's version as I don't have any other petrol station in my area that offers such fuels within 25-30 miles of my house

[sepulchrave]

There are additional cleaning additives in the premium diesel and running a few tankfuls through will get it cleaner, but once it's cleaned up you can put the cheap stuff back in because it'll take a very long time to get dirty again. This could be why people report their car being smokey for a while after swapping to the premium.

[VWD]

TBH- I've never noticed any improvement in mine from any brand of supermarket stuff. In fact, Furby is a low grade lover. BUT, a few years ago , I had problems with EGR & shut off valve. At that time, my annual mileage was circa 2500 . It's now closer to 5000 and weekly I have a 10 mile Italian tune up. Since then , I notice on my MOT, that my emissions have reduced and car is more like a Skoda and less like an old Moggie 1000. The 70,or 80 horses now seem more like cheetahs rather than donkeys.

[SuperbTWM]

If it worked out cheaper to buy better fuel and get better mpg, everybody would be doing it.

 

In some garages I bet the premium petrol sits around for that long it has less octane in it than the bog standard stuff by the time it gets into somebody's fuel tank

Edited 7 August, 2018 by SuperbTWM

[Tomjones1995]

I'd have to agree with you with the fact that the premium stuff probably has gone a bit stale from sitting there longer than the regular and that it may or may not have any real effects on my engine and its mpg. So what I'l probably do in that case is just fill it up with the premium stuff just for a month or two to see if it will clean it up and then switch back to the regular. I mean I don't do that much start/ stop journey's to be honest and I'm driving roughly 12k a year.

 

Thanks again for your inputs

[sepulchrave]

Just to be clear, premium petrol is worth the extra money if your car will benefit from the additional octane rating.

Premium diesel is not the same, it contains a special additive pack which deep cleans the fuel system and combustion chamber over time, the cetane enhancer is a red herring because regular diesel engines cannot benefit from it.

 

Neither flavour of fuel will do any harm and might do some good but in standard road cars the benefits are frankly moot and the additional cost is all margin for the fuel company.

[Tomjones1995]

10 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Just to be clear, premium petrol is worth the extra money if your car will benefit from the additional octane rating.

Premium diesel is not the same, it contains a special additive pack which deep cleans the fuel system and combustion chamber over time, the cetane enhancer is a red herring because regular diesel engines cannot benefit from it.

 

Neither flavour of fuel will do any harm and might do some good but in standard road cars the benefits are frankly moot and the additional cost is all margin for the fuel company.

 

So what your saying is is that my car just being a regular standard engine may possibly be cleaned up by the supreme diesel but the difference will be minimal and not really worth the extra money?

[sepulchrave]

8 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

 

So what your saying is is that my car just being a regular standard engine may possibly be cleaned up by the supreme diesel but the difference will be minimal and not really worth the extra money?

 

Exactly that. You can have the same benefits from chucking a bottle of snake oil in with a tankful of regular diesel.

[KenONeill]

4 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Exactly that. You can have the same benefits from chucking a bottle of snake oil in with a tankful of regular diesel.

Also @Tomjones1995 - Seconded.