Which is the best diesel for the PD engines?

I notice quite a drop in performance with Jet diesel, is the car intelligent enough to know the difference between different quality fuels?

Also how do I reset my ECU and is this necessary on a diesel to take into account new mods?

People seem to swear by Shell Diesel Extra and BP Ultimate, but I've never really noticed a difference between them and Tesco diesel. Tesco Global Diesel (bio-diesel) worked very nicely in the car and made it run smoother, but it's not worth paying a few extra p per litre, imho

Saying that, I've never heard good things about Jet!

Chris

Also how do I reset my ECU and is this necessary on a diesel to take into account new mods?

Reset by disconnecting the battery for an hour or so. Not really necessary as the ECU "learns" so will adapt to any changes....

Chris

Depends on the kind of mods - some will require a remap to make the most of them, others wont

Thanks guys.

I would like to try resetting my ECU. Will disconnect my battery tonight, however I am a little worried about immobiliser (the basic standerd one). There are three wires to my positive battery termainal (the negative is too hard to remove) do I disconnect all three?

Also how come different diesel makes so much difference, does the car learn and adapt power accourding to diesel quality? Do garages sell diesel additive to boost performance?

Regards all!

Depends on the kind of mods - some will require a remap to make the most of them, others wont

I know this is true of petrols where Octane ratings at the pump are shown, but wasn't aware it was done with diesels..... :confused:

Chris

I mostly use shell now, only use others if I really have too.

Tesco city diesel will make the car run alittle rougher and smoke abit more

BP Ultimate will make it run smoother but I get less miles out of it.

Shell just seem to have the best of both worlds plus it's cheaper than tesco's stuff.

I notice quite a drop in performance with Jet diesel

For a minute there I had this image of you running your car on kerosene :eek:

Although it will run, I wouldn't have recomended it long term :P

I honestly find that my VRS runs fine on what ever I stick in it (Although a few people on here would heartly disagree...). I tried running Ultimate for a week but it didn't convince me.

Thats said Diesel seems to vary in quality not just between every manufacturer but it also a specific garage can vary, some smoke more, some drop power a little and some are exactly the opposite, it's not easy getting consistant Diesel IMO but it always does the job. As I have said there are different opinions on here but you have done the right thing and your are finding out for yourself.

Now heres food for thought. Have you considered BioDiesel?

I thought Jet fuel, petrol especially, was notorious for having a high sulpher content? Would that make a performance difference?

I always fill up from sainsburys as the missus takes sainsburys vouchers as part of her wages, £10 voucher for £9.50. Use to run my 306 xsi on sainsburys super and the vRS runs on thier city diesel, both fuels seem very good.

With petrol engines, the more Octane content, the more you can advance ignition timing & the engine will run better/efficient.

I used to run a Octane booster in the Corrado for track days. I could advance the ignition & found it produced quite healthy gains.

Diesel engines, on the other hand, don't have ignition, but the more Cetane content the better it will burn.

I know this is true of petrols where Octane ratings at the pump are shown' date=' but wasn't aware it was done with diesels..... :confused:

Chris[/quote']

Sorry my comment was related to the mods rather than the fuel quality - i.e. such things as FMIC, hybrid turbo, that kinda thing.

There is probably a little impact of cetane ratings for diesel ut I'd be shocked if the impact was as much as the difference between regular unleaded & the RON100 stuff.

My car is run on Esso derv, Shell derv (std) and some BP, sometimes BP Ultimate.

Mostly Shell though, and it works fine

I find Shell gives me less smoke, apart from that not much difference. Although the Morrisons stuff gave me about 20miles more per tank but smoked a hell of a lot more. I stick with shell now. But the price seems to have just jumped, so I'll have a look around next time I'm filling up.

Hi,

Ive tried a quite a few different places for diesel and shell seems to be the best for the vrs.

Waitrose - cheap diesel, less mpg than normal and seems to be lacking power. Couldnt get much more than 55mpg on a long run at 70mph.

BP - not too bad, more expensive, good mpg and ok power.

Morrisons - cheap diesel, good mpg, smokey, ok power.

Shell - no smoke, seems to rev a lot more freely and more responsive, excellent mpg, returned 50mpg on a long run thrashing it, 90-100 all the way.

Shell for me from now on.

Just my 2p

Rich

mine doesn't really seem to like tesco's city diesel, whereas shell and bp's premium diesels are noticeably quicker. the bp stuff is

definatley agree about more smoke from tesco city diesel, first time i filled up from tescos last week and wondered why i kept looking in rear view mirror to see smokey haze , now i know why

ran my car on tesco city diesel since day 1 and very little smoke.

Some cars are more smokey than others though, no clue why really.

@HellFire - did you tweak the EGR down?

Hi

I have been testing diesels a bit more over the last couple of months. Findings are as follows.

BP Ultimate and Shell Diesel Extra are favourite. Seem to rev out better on these. Fuel economy OK and engine seems smoother.

Tesco City diesel seems to run quite a bit rougher / harsher than BP Ultimate or Shell Diesel Extra. You hear the change as the fuel fill up reaches the engine, it is not a subtle difference. Fuel economy about same as others. Does not rev out well.

Sainsburys seems to run smoothly and revs out reasonably well, but down about 2 - 3mpg.

All above tested over consecutive 4 tank fulls in turn. About the only advantage of running 2.5 tankfulls a week.

Of course it will all change when summer diesel is on tap.

Chris

Ran mine originally on Asda sludge, but the local shell dealer is the same price so I switched around 6 months ago to Shell Diesel extra, not noticed any difference in performance but there is less smoke. Shell points are stacking up nicely to, will soon be able to get the wife a new kettle, and pretend I bought it

www.petrolprices.com can be handy once your happy with a brand.

I've been putting shell diesel in for my first two tanks as it isn't any dearer than tesco rubbish. I haven't seen any sign of a premium shell diesel at either of the petrol stations I have visited though. I'll have a specific look out next time!

I've been putting shell diesel in for my first two tanks as it isn't any dearer than tesco rubbish. I haven't seen any sign of a premium shell diesel at either of the petrol stations I have visited though. I'll have a specific look out next time!

you can use petrolprices.com and setup a profile for "Premium Diesel" m8, then it will show you the cheapest in your area, it's free to sign up as well.

Shell diesel extra seems to give less smoke than most, good mpg too and it's cheaper than the supermarkets in Leicester! No brainer really!

you can use petrolprices.com and setup a profile for "Premium Diesel" m8, then it will show you the cheapest in your area, it's free to sign up as well.

This site seems to disagree with the Shell website about where they stock Diesel Extra. Do Shell stations that stock it always advertise the fact it's diesel extra, or is it just marked as diesel? :confused:

Chris

Can't find Diesel Extra here (Oxford, not looked too hard admittedly).

The Sainsbury's forecourt uses Shell & appears to be the same whether you're at the Shell pump with Sainsbury's shop or at the big Sainsbury's which has Sainsbury's fuel. Same colours as Shell etc so likely to be the same fuel too