Supermarket Diesel

[saucedoctor]

I tried Tescunts diesel in my W221 3.0 turbo diesel and it was noticeably down on power, and a bit smoky at the exhaust.

[Isaac Hunt]

Supermarket Diesel used to clog up and knaff up the EGR on my X-Type.  Switched to BP standard and never had a problem.  The Transit guys swear by a litre of low ash two stroke oil in with a tank full of diesel, but i never tried it in my Transit.

[UltraWomble]

Cant say I have noticed any difference between "branded" fuel and supermarket fuel.

C8 has done 60000 miles on about 95% Tesco / Asda / Sainsburys diesel and the other 5% on Esso from Truckhaven in Carnforth.

[cort1977]

This I worked with a couple of guys who used to work at one of the local refineries. All fuel is the same base stock but the additive package is different. Supermarket fuels had the legal minimum of additives where as the brand name ones had more. Saying that I always fill up with petrol/diesel at my local ASDA as it's on my way to work and nothings broken so far.

 

I received my ATEX training from a guy who did also did service station tank inspections he said he would never buy supermarket fuel as their tanks were always a disgrace.

 

This is exactly correct - source: I work for Chevron.   The government sets a standard for fuels in each country, suppliers can put in additional additives or detergents if they want but they don't make a whole heap of difference.   It's all marketing BS really.   Small and independent garages may buy fuel via a 'jobber' who acts as a broker but it all comes from the same refineries.   Supermarket tanks may be rusty but with the amount of turnover most of them have I wouldn't worry about it too much, the rust will accumulate at the bottom.

 

For all the apocryphal stories about how bad supermarket diesel is there has never been any objective evidence produced, it's all just shouty people on forums giving their opinions (not like us well informed types on here).  

 

As an aside apparently people waste billions each year filling up with higher octane for cars that don't require it.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-drivers-waste-billions-paying-for-premium-gas-aaa-says-2016-09-20

[stripped fred]

I always fill up at supermarkets as I am tight and I've never had an issue. You can always add a bottle of redex or equivalent now and again but that's another area of discussion altogether!

[Pillock]

I've done about 80k over four years, first year was a mix of whatever was cheapest but three years I've been using exclusively Sainsburys diesel (because Nectar points - up to 178 quid on my card since Jan!) and the only problem I've had with any of the three cars I've used in that time is the Focus shat its DPF at 105k..... which is exactly when it's expected to shit itself, whether you're using supermarket fuel, the tears of angels, or butter. Not noticed any other problems at all.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

A mechanic friend has claimed for years that supermarket fuel doesn't have as many additives added as standard named fuel. Having said that, he's religious, so what he claims may be incorrect. 95% of the time I completely ignore his suggestions and use Tescos as it's usually slightly cheaper than some of the big standalone names.

[Kiltox]

I would also say that probably a good 60% plus of motorists fill up with their shopping so it can't be that bad

[hpi_matrix]

Has anyone conducted there own MPG tests, my daily (pez) does a pretty consistent mileage (commuting) and I get best MPG using Esso Standard petrol (compared to Esso Ultimate, BP Normal/Ultimate & Sainsbury's Normal/Ultimate).

 

The results are possibly skewed, as filling up with Ultimate subconsciously makes me drive like a knob.

[Pillock]

Yeah, I don't get s regular MPG so can't try that. I got 69.8 on the last tank but 61 before that and I'm on for 59 this tank...

[cros]

I once conducted a very scientific test that proved supermarket fuel is diluted; don't know what they put in it but for tractors I think its Ribena. Anyway, I used to have a Perkins 4203 powered LWB landrover with which I towed a trailer carrying a Fordson tractor. This was just within the legal weight limit. On shell fuel it could get up the steep hill out of Toft in 3rd (low range) but it was down to second on the stuff from the supermarket. I don't think you'd notice these things in today's cars, none of which produce as little power as the not very Perky. (60bhp, albeit at very low revs).

You could put it down to different air density, wind or whatever but it persuaded me to buy full fat diesel for which the poor bastard stuck behind on that hill was probably most grateful.

[Richard]

I got about 400 miles to a tank of supermarket diesel in my Escort and the range steadily increased to about 550 after I stopped using Tesco diesel.

[Cavcraft]

The supermarkets buy off whoever is the cheapest, iirc they get a deal for a month and go with the best price. That can/will include the big players, as well as imported fuels. I'd be genuinely surprised if the (storage) tanks are constantly dirty inside, the only issues I'm aware of were with earlier forms of bio fuels where the actual fuel (road) tankers got incredibly shitty inside, so the quality of the fuel was hit and miss.

[colino]

Fuel standards, for both petrol and diesel aren't particularly onerous,  Get their octane/cetane and temp ranges right and they will comply.

Supermarkets sell more than half of all UK fuel, they are generally newer stations, have newer tanks and they are also generally smaller capacities because their wise retail buyers know how to exploit shifting prices.

With points and carburettors now binned, cars are designed to operate in different climates and conditions straight out of the box, their internal magic pixies accommodating all the changes and even the variations in fuel for different territories.

With personal experience of anything from a highly strung Audi to a Zastava that should have been strung up , I don't wear that drivers really notice any difference on only what their cars are running on.

Then again, the market for snake oil has never really gone away and peoples perception of the improvement in their cars performance tends to be directly proportional to how much they've spent on it.

[alf892]

A mechanic friend has claimed for years that supermarket fuel doesn't have as many additives added as standard named fuel. Having said that, he's religious, so what he claims may be incorrect. 95% of the time I completely ignore his suggestions and use Tescos as it's usually slightly cheaper than some of the big standalone names.

I think this is where a load the non information comes from........the bloke is a mechanic so he has a valid opinion on the chemistry of fuel??

 

Its mainly guess work and urban myth

[stephen01]

what ever is cheapest, where I'm passing, depends how desperate I'm for some diesel..

[danthecapriman]

At work we have our own diesel pump which we are told to use when possible in preference to our BP fuel cards. Apparently it costs about half the forecourt price than BP does so it's bound to be cheapo fuel with very few additives etc in it.

I've been running my 60 plate Sprinter on it for about a year now.

On average a tank full of BP diesel would give me about 400-450 miles depending on driving style and how much trailer towing I've been doing.

Using the cheapo depot diesel it returns about 350-400 miles, again depending on driving style.

So there is clearly a difference in mpg but if the fuel is significantly cheaper then does it really matter? I've not noticed any other I'll effects on the van or the way it drives though.

I do give it a good Italian tune up on the motorway now and again regardless just to give it a good blow out anyway.

[Junkman]

It's all a big conspiracy.

There are secret underground oil refineries were inferior quality fuel is brewed exclusively for sale in supermarket filling stations.

All other stations get their's from their own refineries, i.e. BP from their exclusive BP refinery, Shell from their Shell refinery, etc.

 

That there are merely 6 oil refineries in the entire UK, that chuck out fuels to be distributed to every filling station in the country,

is merely an NWO lie and must not be believed.

 

Furthermore, it's the most deregulated business there is, so there are no standards whatsoever that the fuels must comply with.

[sierraman]

Could be said 'lugging' a diesel in the highest gear possible to attain 75mpg does more harm than anything else. I'm convinced they need a good hard boot on a regular basis.

[castros_bro]

My uncle once drove a bin lorry so he knows about these things an he said all truck drivers carry their own cans of additive in case they fill from a supermarket pump they mix some in.  He gave me a jerry can of additive and recommended 1L of additive for every 5L of Supermarket wanky diesel an he said I'd get about 20% improvement.   I dunno what a  20% is but the Focus doesn't need to be filled so often so its true. Bloody wanky supermarket rip - offs tin foil hat wearing daily mail readers.

[Craig the Princess]

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/tainted-fuel-contains-silicon

 

I haven't bought supermarket petrol since the 2007 silicone contamination problems. For about a saving of 50p or 60p a fill up it doesn't seem to be worth their lower standards.

[Cavcraft]

It's all a big conspiracy.

There are secret underground oil refineries were inferior quality fuel is brewed exclusively for sale in supermarket filling stations.

All other stations get their's from their own refineries, i.e. BP from their exclusive BP refinery, Shell from their Shell refinery, etc.

 

That there are merely 6 oil refineries in the entire UK, that chuck out fuels to be distributed to every filling station in the country,

.

Assuming you're being serious, that's not actually true at all.

[320touring]

Assuming you're being serious, that's not actually true at all.

I'd wager there is a modicum of sarcasm in there..

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I have used Tesco diesel pretty much exclusively for the last 10 years, so that's about a million miles in various Merc and BMW Dizzlers- I've never had an injector or pump problem.

What I do do, is to throw Redex additive/ cleaner in a couple of times a week. I buy it in bulk whenever Tesco's reduce it to £2. In fact at my local Tescos, one of the girls puts a case of it to one side for me.

[worldofceri]

I can't tell who is being serious and who is being sarcasmic any more.

 

I do know that using stolen fuel increases performance by about eleventy hundred bhp.

[Guest Hooli]

BTW I have just filled up my (pez) Mondeo at ASDA - does that mean it's doomed?

 

it does if you put desiel in

[AMC Rebel]

My uncle once drove a bin lorry so he knows about these things an he said all truck drivers carry their own cans of additive in case they fill from a supermarket pump they mix some in.  He gave me a jerry can of additive and recommended 1L of additive for every 5L of Supermarket wanky diesel an he said I'd get about 20% improvement.   I dunno what a  20% is but the Focus doesn't need to be filled so often so its true. Bloody wanky supermarket rip - offs tin foil hat wearing daily mail readers.

I used to work on a bin lorry.

[castros_bro]

I used to work on a bin lorry.

 

 

[panhard65]

Being in the motor trade I have heard the supermarket fuels are shit thing many times. I myself haven't really noticed any differences except one tankful of Diesel from  Morrisons in a megane diesel increased fuel consumption by about 5mpg. The next tankful it was back pretty much to it's usual mpg. I have tried the super dooper fuels in my Porsche and to be honest I notice no difference at all other than the cost. My other half on the otherhand had always used supermarket fuels in her 807 until earlier this year when she started to use Costco premium diesel. Her mpg went up to 27 instead of the 24 average she had been used to for 3 years before the switch so maybe there is something to it.

[Richard]

When the last competitor to our local Tesco closed about 15 years ago they hiked their prices to near-Stracathro levels, and even then they couldn't be bothered to maintain working air and water facilities. That's what made me stop using them, then I realised that real petrol stations aren't really any more expensive and they are usually much more user friendly.