Petrol tank alarm emergency action cautionary warning device

Re petrol stations I've always thought it was the same stuff wherever you bought it, and i just assumed the big supermarkets are able to sell it cheaper because (A) they are bigger (are BP & shell stations not franchises) and (B) they sell petrol as a sort of loss leader just to get us to shop at their stores. i do believe it is different with oil though

 

Oils are definitely not the same, don't touch supermarket stuff.

But petrol, nae difference in my experience. I ran a diesel Rover 600 from nearly new to 150,000 in less than four years, never had to touch that car once, same clutch, brakes, exhaust everything !!! Just ran up the motorway and back - on supermarket diesel !!! (Wife wrote the car off, and an Audi, 150k on the clock, not a mark on the body, interior or alloys, looked like a showroom car, until it tried to get in the passenger seat of the Audi !!!)

High mileage says way more about servicing and how it is driven, than about the fuel used.

Bentley - piece of German tat !!!!,coincidence - yes - no way did using any type of fuel make it go pop.

 

My last bike was a BMW R1100RS, it covered a little over 185,000 miles in five years and never had anything other than supermarket fuel in it.

My only costs were the usual service consumables, tyres and a new clutch at 130,000 miles.

The whole premium v supermarket fuel thing has been done to death and as stated it all comes from the same refineries. What is different are the additives that are put into it by various companies which are added when the fuel is put into the tanker prior to delivery.

I did try try my Merc SL AMG on premium grade fuel because people swear they get better mpg. I put several tankfuls through it covering most driving situations and it saw absolutely no improvement in mpg at all. Yes it's true that on some tankfuls I got a 10% increase in mpg but the same is true of supermarket fuel too and I put it down to driving conditions, the weather and me being a bit more careful.

I once followed a tanker from Tesco, it was leaving just in front of me. I was behind it in traffic right up to the point it pulled into the BP station about a mile from Tesco.

 

"Grangemouth (Oil Refinery) represents INEOS’ largest manufacturing site by volume of products. It is also home to Petroineos, Scotland’s only crude oil refinery and produces the bulk of fuels used in Scotland."

Yes, might add some additives as stated above by @Mr Toad, but it all comes from the same place.

 

[QUOTE="Mr Toad, post: 100665, member: 5303"

I once followed a tanker from Tesco, it was leaving just in front of me. I was behind it in traffic right up to the point it pulled into the BP station about a mile from Tesco.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps he wouldn't use that Tesco stuff in his own tank then, went to the nearest BP station to fill his lorry tank up!

 

Years ago my mate worked for Esso (as in European marketing manager or something, not in a filling station). He said that most UK bound petrol was bought at one of the five refineries in Rotterdam, so it's essentially all the same stuff with a different logo on the tanker.

 

Fuel isn't just fuel and some vehicles warrant/require top grade fuel and some don't.

I had a tuned R34 GTR and a trip to the supermarket petrol station would have been not only risky but an emergency last resort £5 worth. Even that would have meant crawling/driving off boost until I got to Shell for V Power. Putting high octane in your Honda Jazz would be pointless. Even BP Ultimate was pretty poopy and the car didn't perform. The Scrambler gets anything.

 

Back to the original thread - the reserve light on my SE Bonnie comes on at around 130 miles with normal riding.
With my old 790cc carbed T100 I used to switch to the reserve at around 135 miles but did manage 201 miles in total on reserve whilst desperately trying to find a petrol station in Germany!

 

Although higher octane can cost substantially more per gallon, it does not necessarily mean it is better for your car. Higher octane fuel is processed through additional steps that further refine the blend and cause it to burn more slowly than lower octanes. These additional processes are what contribute to the higher pricing, but that does not mean the higher octane will offer any advantage over other blends in many engines. Higher octane does not offer any better fuel mileage, increase engine horsepower, or make the engine start quicker. Higher octane only reduces the likelihood of engine knock or ping.

@OnlySon , your R34 had knock sensors, unlike most cars, so therefore it could make use of the higher octane fuels, but all of our bikes and cars generally don't. So don't waste your hard earned on it unless you are running one of these or similar - Mitsi EVO's , etc

 

How do you know he wasnt just popping in for a Yorkie ?
Did you watch him unload his fuel ?
You lot keep filling up with your supermarket shite to save threepence, leave the good stuff for me and my motors.
Laughing as I'm typing, all in good fun!

 

According to Haynes: Bonnie tank capacity is 16.6l, minus 3.5l reserve = 13.1l usable before reserve.

 

My engineering company use to service the pumps, valves etc at the large fuel storage facilities (tank farms).
One day we asked the question regarding Supermarket vs Service Station fuel quality. We were told that except for additives the supermarket stuff is the same. However, the service station brands buy from the top and middle of the storage tanks and when the levels are low in the tanks that is where the supermarket fuel comes from.
There are no filters as the fuel is pumped from the storage tanks to the fuel tankers so any fine sediment is in the lower section of the storage tank. Coarser sediment settles at the very bottom which is never completely drained except for when we did annual servicing. You would be amazed at the crap that we removed from those tanks - sludge!!

 

Tanker drivers who worked out of the now defunct Canvey Island site warned me against supermarket fuel 20 years ago. When in a rush no additives.

 

Well, well, at last some genuine knowledge regarding the reason why Supermarket fuel is unbranded and could very easily F***k up your engine.
As per my previous posts regarding this, use what you want in your engines, leave the good stuff for me!

 

Good info. John, thanks for that, never doubted that there was a difference, just couldn't prove it.

 

interesting, looks like I'll just use the supermarkets in an emergency,saying that we only have a Tesco fuel station and an independent "Jet" station and they are always the same price, so i always go to the independent if I'm filling up locally

 

Really!

With the amount of fuel the supermarkets sell/get through each week do you seriously think they have to wait until the tanks at the refinery are low before they are 'allowed' to buy the dregs?

If supermarket fuel really did f**k up engines the roads would be littered with dead cars.

Also, with regard to fuel quality, you need to look at ECU mapping. Companies are making a fortune remapping standard ECUs. Manufacturers mapping is so generic because it has to be able to function in countries where fuel quality is unregulated and really poor. This and a wide range of temperature and air quality/altitude etc..

Most modern cars will run on fuel that barely qualifies as petrol.

Then there's branding. Well that's the power of advertising over common sense, it all comes from the same refineries out of the same tanks with each 'brand' adding their own mix of additives. The extra you pay at the pumps goes to pay for the TV advertising and to keep the oil company CEO in the billionaire club.

 

All fuel must meet a minimum standard . There is no one out there selling fuel that is maxium best cant be improved " This fuel is FULL of good things"
So the range is between, legal and slightly improved. I am such a cynical bas