Firstly Im sorry if this is in the wrong section / already covered I tried to find the answer before I posted. I normally use v-power or T99 in my 250 however I was given vouchers for Sainsbury's fuel so I stuck a tank of their super unleaded in (from an empty tank) and now the engine seems to be louder on idle both cold and warm, than it does on either of the other fuels. The previous two tanks of fuel was v-power and the tank prior to that was T99. Its hard to describe the sound, I wouldn't say knocking but the general tick over is noticeably louder. It also doesn't "feel" any different when Im driving. Has anyone else found this to be the case and what would you suggest doing? Obvs avoid this fuel in future, perhaps put some Redex in or something? Cheers Damo
Hi. Supermarket fuels although 97 octane, do not have the additives that Shell, Bp. etc have. Hence, one of the reasons they are cheaper. I drove a Tanker for 48 years, and learnt all about fuels.
I only ever put the v power nitro from shell in my car i dont know if its the beat of the performance fuels but its all that realy available in my area if you don want the cheaper stuff
Using Shell, BP, or Tesco 99, you will get better fuel economy than using Supermarket fuel. My last 3 cars, Evo fq 400,Corsa VXR, and now R26R have proved this.
Only V power for me. I have a shell fuel card for my work van and I get quite a lot of points so it makes sense.
I had to fill up with Texaco super unleaded and the car felt like a dog. Rough idle and less responsive. Ran that until the empty buzzer and refilled with the usual v power. Within 50 miles the car was idling smoothly and power/response back again.
Yeah I noticed the mpg had gone down, nearly done 1/4 of a tank and on around 60miles from it. Vpower or T99 I'd be on 80-100 depending on how I drove /traffic stop start. Just sounds rough as hell. I won't be using that again lol. I'm tempted to have it Terracleaned too tbh
I've noticed this too. When I was back home over Christmas visiting my parents in Wales I went to fill up at the local Shell on my way home, only to find that it had changed to a Gulf! I was running on fumes so wasn't able to go anywhere else, and filled up with their normal Unleaded and it immediately felt different. Filled up again with V-Power a few days later and it was back to normal. Never again!
Tesco 99 for me, means I can fill up whilst shopping. Although I'd probably get better reward points using Shell there is not really one 'close' without me having to go out of my way to get there.
Yeah shell's reward scheme is shocking 300points = £1.50 tesco 300points = £3 which goes down nicely on fuel
What's your thoughts on Tesco's momentum? They show all their ingredients etc online which I thought was good. BP's always too damn expensive, £1.57-1.60 for tier top grade petrol. Infact, a while ago I read that BP supplied Sainsburys fuel, the article was a few years old however so I've no idea who supplies what now etc
absolutely fine, seems to be one of the highest ron fuels available and I get no rough idling or noises. 1.319p you can't go wrong
I'm sure I read somewhere that RSTuning recommend putting v power through it every so often if using Tesco 99 as your main fuel.
Hmm yeah i read something similar. I know when they map your car for performance, they set it up on higher octane fuel. When I had the S3 Revo recommended V-Power and set it up for it. Really am tempted just to whap some fuel additive in this tank to see if it helps. Probs wouldn't be worth it for one tank?
Yeah I will be doing. I can't get over the difference in miles to the tank between vpower/ T99 compared to this. Its stupid lol granted i've had to floor it to work today but still...
I find if I fill up with Tesco 99 it runs rougher than on Shell Nitro. But reading this thread makes me think it's all in my imagination. Lol. It defo feels crap if I have to put normal unleaded in it.
i know what you mean. its weird, my VXR didn't seem to like vpower, but was perfect on T99 and popped and banged more. Then my S3 ran awesome on Vpower (granted it was set up for that grade of fuel in the map) but didn't run well on T99... strange lol.
It's most likely the differences you're noticing is the wrong fuels being supplied at the pump. I've certainly been to a few dodgy shell garages where the vpower has caused an instant audible detonation (my mk1 clio was very cammy so sensitive to this) so I'm sure they were just selling 95 as 99. BP super is always bad so I won't use it. I find Sainsburys 97 is about the most consistent, even though they don't claim the highest octane. You will definitely hear the difference in engine note if the ignition timing is being wound back by the knock sensor due to crap fuel
