Has everyone been following the news on this, that a rouge delivery to Tescos/Morrisons petrol stations has been knackering people's lambda/O2 sensors?

A bit worrying this isn't it, especially since nobody is admitting fault. More info here: BBC NEWS | UK | Drivers tell of 'contaminated' fuel fury

I'll be thinking twice before I get fuel from a supermarket over the next few days! Diesel powered car drivers need not worry apparently!

Martin

I'd rather go for branded fuel anyway rather than supermarket stuff. This seems proof enough!

I never put supermarket fuel in mine, even though it is up to the required standars, I use Shell Diesel Extra.

I think that fuel comes from only two places in Britain, one of which is Grangemouth. So Supermarket fuels are exactly the same as "Branded". Some Brands like Shell put in additives, but it's doubful whether Supermarkets do.

Definitely a mystery since fuel companies are claiming no fault found.

Diesel owners should worry !

Ive said it before and i'll say it again no doubt but when you buy a litre of diesel for 91.9 pence or so what do you expect to get? High quality diesel from the major oil companies is probably 99.9% diesel oil but try having supermarket diesel analysed ! Diesel soaks up water like a sponge which is why your diesel filter has a tap under it to take the water out. How many of you regularly drain the water, 20k mile service ain't enough! Supermarket diesel comes from any surplus on the market. Who controls the quality?

There are that many threads on this I have lost count. Try doing a search.

IT'S ALL THE SAME. IT ALL COMES FROM THE SAME PLACE!

So, a dodgy fuel tanker has landed and it's stuffed a few cars up. It was bound to happen sooner or later no matter where you get your fuel from. Branded, unbranded, the only difference are the additives put in by the tanker for some forecourts which can't effect the overall quality of the fuel anyway, adding something isn't going to remove contamination. Apparently it's not only Tescos and Morrisons that are having issues, there are sheel and Esso forecourts that have had issues as they are all supplied by Greenergy.

BTW 91.2p per litre is expensive. My local Shell, which uses the same tanker as the SAINSBURYS a mile from it charges 89.9p as does the Sainsburys.

FFS, stop worrying and drive your cars.

Supermarket diesel comes from any surplus on the market. Who controls the quality?

Utter cods***

It all comes from the same tanks at the same time. The quality controls are exactly the same, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to sell the fuel. Brand is very important and the supermarkets have far more to loose by punting dodgy gas.

There are that many threads on this I have lost count. Try doing a search.

BTW 91.2p per litre is expensive. My local Shell, which uses the same tanker as the SAINSBURYS a mile from it charges 89.9p as does the Sainsburys.

FYI unleaded = 86.9p / litre round here...

I was refering to the price of Diesel

SWMBO complained about the car not starting and having to rev it and it stalling for the first few minutes of her drive, furby 1.4MPI.

I filled the car up last at Sainsbury's.

I have driven it today no problems nearly an empty tank now.

on the way home I shall visit the local Shell and fill the furby with thier best high octaine stuff to bump up the overal rating see if this cures it.

There are that many threads on this I have lost count. Try doing a search.

IT'S ALL THE SAME. IT ALL COMES FROM THE SAME PLACE!

So, a dodgy fuel tanker has landed and it's stuffed a few cars up. It was bound to happen sooner or later no matter where you get your fuel from. Branded, unbranded, the only difference are the additives put in by the tanker for some forecourts which can't effect the overall quality of the fuel anyway, adding something isn't going to remove contamination. Apparently it's not only Tescos and Morrisons that are having issues, there are sheel and Esso forecourts that have had issues as they are all supplied by Greenergy.

Decron - I know there are plenty of threads with people saying its the same fuel etc ... but these same threads also contain others stating that it is not the case & that additives are different etc. Personally I don't know which is the truth and unless you are actually a scientist that has analysed them all I respectfully suggest that neither do you.

Re: your comment that Shell & Esso have been affected - where did you hear that? I haven't heard anything to that effect :confused:

I've got this quote from the BBC Website:-

The oxgygen sensor of my Peogueot 406 HDi stopped working after using contaminated fuel from a Tesco petrol station in Bedford. It cost over

Over in the thread in "General Car Chat" (perhaps they should be merged), is this quote:

Someone said on the TV that the tanker that brought the fuel to our country had carried some chemicals in it, and it was not washed out properly before being filled with the fuel.

I have no idea if the above is true, but if it is, it means the fuel came in on a clean product tanker and was not refined in the UK. So I don't see how "it can all come from the same place."

Decron - I know there are plenty of threads with people saying its the same fuel etc ... but these same threads also contain others stating that it is not the case & that additives are different etc. Personally I don't know which is the truth and unless you are actually a scientist that has analysed them all I respectfully suggest that neither do you.

Re: your comment that Shell & Esso have been affected - where did you hear that? I haven't heard anything to that effect :confused:

You may have got the wrong end of that post.

The fuel comes from the same tanks at the depot, using the same tankers. Our local Shell is supplied by the same tanker as the Sainsbury's, additives aside there is going to to be no difference in the base quality of that fuel, if the supermarket stuff is going to be contaminated so is the branded stuff.

I have used all types of diesel in various cars and it's all the same, none of it is better or worse long term, and I am talking about 300000 miles over the last 7 years.

Now for the real interesting bit I used to work for FRAM FILTERS, as a lab tech. We would regulary test the filters, membranes and mediums to destruction and there was a study into various "brands of diesel" and the effects it had on the medium over a test cycle (About 2000 miles on a test rig). The whole point of the test was to verify the effectiveness of the medium but it also showed something else;

There was next to no difference in the fuels in terms of water and particulate content between 4 brands (Two supermarket, two others). Additives might have been present or not but thats not what this is about.

Supermarket and branded petrol and diesel are the same.

I work in Texaco oil refinery and as was mentioned, it is all the same stuff. (different crude oils used may make a slight difference between brands but they have to be to a standard)

It is blended up in batches which are tested by the lab. It either goes off by road tanker or by ship/pipeline to the depos. I reacon that is was contaminated in the depot possibly by a tank that was not clean?

Obviously V-power, BP ultimate are unique.

Also diesel doesn't soak water up like a sponge. Any hydrocarbon (petrol, diesel etc) will not mix with water and they will separate out very quickily.

And I have even seen a few shell tankers coming in to Texaco to fill up!

...and people who buy BP are not actually buying BP anymore cause they just sold their last oil refinery in the UK to a company called Petroplus.

I wonder whether the original press speculation about ethanol in the petrol wasn't correct. Ethanol is a form of ethyl alcohol and this mixes with water better than petrol. It's likely that a greater amount of water will collect at the bottom of tanks, including those at the depot, that are filled with a petrol/ethanol mix. Dirt (a major constituent of which is silicon) will collect more easily in this situation - let's hope its not another Buncefield.

American auto tests on blended ethanol fuel showed that as little as 10ppm silicon contamination caused engine damage

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/ecita_ctte/completed_inquiries/2002-04/fuelquality/submissions/sub1b2.PDF -

Also, apparently, in combustion, ethanol produces more acid products and these attack butyl seals and the seals fuel senders on some cars were found to be damaged after use - pages 118 and 140 refer.

This all of course could be a grand spoiling measure against the recent and growing investment in bioethanol ! Schhhh, you know who !

Nick,

1/03/07

http://www.britishbioethanol.co.uk/IsolatedStorage/94175874-67b5-4c33-9f38-380233f14049/ContentAssets/Documents/Bioethanol/Media/Greenergypressreleasefinal.pdf

Nick

1/03/07

Very interesting about the Ethanol and water mix. I have worked in a chemical plant making industrial alcohol very similar to ethanol and it mixes very nicely with water, so well infact that there is a lot of distillation to remove the water during manufacture. so as you said if the water mixes with the ethanol at some stage it will most prob end up in your petrol tank!

We send a lot of our petrol from work to california due to their strict regulations and there was a big problem with traces of caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) in the fuel which ended up causing a lot of problems in the fuel tanks of american cars (apparently components are made of different materials over here).

I suppose you could say that its a whole different take on sugar in the petrol tank !

Nick,

1/03/07

Re the fuel being different at Tesco and Sainsburys than from roadside petrol stations :-

On News 24 it repeatedly said that tankers from Tesco / wherever were seen filling up at the refinery, from the same storage tank.

Looks like Decron is defo correct.

My wife's diesel C4 suffered a near immediate loss of power after putting