Supermarket fuel (no not again)!
Discussion
Long story short. The company car is back (again) for EM light on and flashing glow plug light. All running fine just the odd flat spot and miss fire.
First question the main dealer asked "have you been using super market diesel"?
I've heard all the horrors but I thought this question irrelevant?
First question the main dealer asked "have you been using super market diesel"?
I've heard all the horrors but I thought this question irrelevant?
I have never had trouble with supermarket petrol or diesel.
The only time I had fun trouble was when I filled up at a small Indy garage in the wilds of Stratford.
It was winter, and for the following week or two the car just wouldn't start well.
Once I'd been able to refill about half the tank with Asdas finest it started again just fine.
The only time I had fun trouble was when I filled up at a small Indy garage in the wilds of Stratford.
It was winter, and for the following week or two the car just wouldn't start well.
Once I'd been able to refill about half the tank with Asdas finest it started again just fine.
I heard from a trusted garage that serviced a mondeo tdci taxi fleet that Tesco diesel would eventually perish one of the o ring seals as it as lots of bio content. Don't know how true that was but you never spotted one of their taxis in Tesco - they always used the Shell next door even though the fuel was dearer.
I don't use supermarkets for fuel so it's not that but it got me thinking about the various debates on the quality of the stuff if a main dealer asks a question like that. It's just, and only just inside warranty so they may be looking to wriggle?
All said, it's a uk supplied car so should be able to use uk supplied fuel that has to meet a certain grade to be sold here. I'm interested to see what they say today.
All said, it's a uk supplied car so should be able to use uk supplied fuel that has to meet a certain grade to be sold here. I'm interested to see what they say today.
The car is in warranty...
Ask the dealer why they are asking you this question and that and that if they think using supermarket fuel causes problems with their cars, to please detail the issues (potential or actual) in writing.
Have any manufacturers ever said not to use supermarket fuel? I would have thought that based on their global testing, there is fuel out there far inferior to Tesco offering! And that's before we get into the debate about ISO standards and it all coming from the same refineries
Ask the dealer why they are asking you this question and that and that if they think using supermarket fuel causes problems with their cars, to please detail the issues (potential or actual) in writing.
Have any manufacturers ever said not to use supermarket fuel? I would have thought that based on their global testing, there is fuel out there far inferior to Tesco offering! And that's before we get into the debate about ISO standards and it all coming from the same refineries
Edited by Matt UK on Tuesday 15th April 11:14
I used to work for a car manufacturer in their customer svc dept and whenever we were contacted about fuel pump failure (which then normally led to a whole new fuel system being needed) the car had generally been run on fuel from a Supermarket and the majority of them were either in Scotland or NI. Make of that what you will, those two facts were generally consistent when the car suffered a fuel pump failure.
eybic said:
I used to work for a car manufacturer in their customer svc dept and whenever we were contacted about fuel pump failure (which then normally led to a whole new fuel system being needed) the car had generally been run on fuel from a Supermarket and the majority of them were either in Scotland or NI. Make of that what you will, those two facts were generally consistent when the car suffered a fuel pump failure.
That is very interesting, but I would love to see an OEM back out of any Warranty claim.Dare I ask who you worked for?
I won't say who it was. It was very rare to find the fuel was contaminated, if the car was in warranty, it was difficult to find a cause so it was honoured. But the location and fuel used were a very common factor.
Generally we were only contacted when the car was out of warranty which is when it became difficult trying to explain they need to spend a couple of K on a whole new system as the pump breaks up sending bits of s
t down the fuel lines and injectors 
.
Generally we were only contacted when the car was out of warranty which is when it became difficult trying to explain they need to spend a couple of K on a whole new system as the pump breaks up sending bits of s
t down the fuel lines and injectors .This was in our recent car club newsletter, reprinted from the FBHVC-supplied article:
"Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
"Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
It's my understanding the ISO fuel specifications are published. It's up to fuel vendors to ensure their fuel meets the spec. And it's up to car manufacturers to make sure that their car will run ok with fuel that meets the spec. This should not 'go wrong' because it means that either the fuel isn't up to spec (scandal!) or the car won't run on spec fuel (scandal!). So until there is contrary evidence I'll assume this is ill informed scaremongering.
droopsnoot said:
This was in our recent car club newsletter, reprinted from the FBHVC-supplied article:
"Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
Ah, that might explain something! I filled up at an Esso station recently and when I pulled out my Tesco Clubcard/Credit Card the sales assistant casually remarked "oh, you get points with that". I thought she meant points through the Credit Card purchase, but I'll have to check and see if I've got Clubcard points as well."Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
droopsnoot said:
This was in our recent car club newsletter, reprinted from the FBHVC-supplied article:
"Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
On the basis that Tesco, Sainsbury's et al don't have their own refineries it's hardly surprising that they sell other major oil companies' products. However, they tend to take the basic spec fuel and serve it up whilst I am given to understand that the major brands have their own 'secret' additives (detergents, boosters etc) which are not provided to the Supermarkets."Supermarket petrol
A recent invitation to receive Tesco Club Card points when purchasing fuel from an Esso petrol station led to a conversation which revealed that Tesco sell Esso petrol and diesel, hence the Club Card arrangement. As one of the Big Three fuel retailers in the UK, Esso have always been keen to protect their quality image, so the sale of Esso fuel by Tesco is an interesting development which might go some way to refute the popularly held myth that supermarket petrol is of lower quality than that sold by the oil majors."
I have no further background on this.
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