Cumbrian Shell V power - a rant

[fergus]

Green1man said:

The_Doc said:

The point about UK average non-premium petrol being RON 95 is well made, the US having averages around 87. We should just be happy with what we have. I do believe all the stuff about additives in Branded petrol.

The US fuel rating cannot be directly compaired to the U.K./EU RON ratings, I believe they use a different rating as standard. I think the US fuel could be inferior RON wise to U.K. but not by anything like the difference that 87 vs 95 would suggest.

Agreed. They use AKI (anti knock index) (average of RON+MON), whereas we use RON (alone) as the basis for our ratings. They're not directly comparable. *roughly* subtract 5 from the RON number to get to the US (AKI) equiv.

Dave Walker (of Emerald ECU fame) has written a book on Engine Management, which has a section on fuels and ratings, and explains how RON and MON are derived using a monster "research engine".

[fergus]

rigster2 said:

Of course, if a vehicle can sense the high octane fuel then it will deliver more performance from the high octane rated product.

They don't sense the fuel. They typically run a knock sensor/s on the side of the block and use the output from this to advance the ignition where the fuel will accommodate this and not detonate (higher RON).

[twoblacklines]

woollyjoe said:

Not my understanding of how the engine or the cleaners work (which is probably my ignorance). Can you explain? When I said "engine" - there is general benefit, but it is principally the fuel injectors which I understand to be in the cylinder - not the turbocharger.

Thanks

Ok so we know that vpower contains additives that either clean or eliminate carbon deposits.


On tdi cars, over time the turbochargers tend to get clogged up with the same carbon deposits.


Most tdi's have VNT turbos so at a set rpm point an actuator moves the vnt open so you get more performance out of the same turbocharger without the big lag. Simplified explanation. Well this vnt system gets stuck due to carbon and then when your car hits 2100rpm in my cars case, the actuator either doesn't open the vnt system or it opens at and won't close = limp mode = £1200 for a new turbo. You can bodge it with oven cleaner and wiggling the actuator, or you can rebuild for 80% of the cost of a new one.

Here you can see where the vnt has hit the actual housing


On top of that, the egr system recycles exhaust gas (which contains unburnt carbon deposits) and burns them at a high temp to SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT YO. Of course it isn't 100% efficient so the particles that don't get burnt clog up the EGR valve. When it gets full, they clog up the turbo also. You can have them mapped out but it is illegal like DPF removal.

[alanshaw]

I have new 718 Cayman, OPC advised it won't damage the car, just use normal unleaded it won't be a problem ! So I assume when they filled my car up it was normal unleaded, car seamed to run fine.

[bitchstewie]

alanshaw said:

I have new 718 Cayman, OPC advised it won't damage the car, just use normal unleaded it won't be a problem ! So I assume when they filled my car up it was normal unleaded, car seamed to run fine.

It won't damage it but respectfully it seems a little weird to spend all that money on a car that will benefit from V-Power but not use it for the sake of a fiver on a tank of fuel.

[stevemiller]

Another Shell fan and when I can I do, Penrith being the nearest to me. My son and I just completed the NC500, back yesterday. We filled with Shell V in Penrith and topped up at any garage that had super of whatever brand. Only once we had to use Gleaner 95 (adding some Millers to compensate) and could tell nothing between when driving and we did push on a bit.

On the diesel subject.

I took part in a charity drive of some 2500 miles round the uk over four days in a Jeep 2.5 diesel which we bought for £500. The car hand been looked after well but would have been run on the cheapest locals meaning it would have never seen any Shell. It drove well enough but when we added some fuel treatment and gave it some the amount of crap that we kicked out was alarming. The car them gave a smoother drive with a little more kick and slightly better mpg. Extreme example but reinforce's the argument about good fuel

[MartinRS2K]

The_Doc said:

Soooo. thread update.

The Shell garage in the middle of Carlisle has had its tanks filled-in and abandoned by Shell as they couldn't get an insurance requested guarantee that it won't flood out again. Nice to know eh?

So I buy SuperUL from Tesco's, where they have 99 RON and Shell on the A69 east of Brampton. Usually in a ratio of 3:1 visits.

Nobody is really interested in premium petrol in North Cumbria, should have worked this out really as there's no Porsche/Supercar/etc dealership nearby.

The point about UK average non-premium petrol being RON 95 is well made, the US having averages around 87. We should just be happy with what we have. I do believe all the stuff about additives in Branded petrol.

I live in Gretna and can get Shell on the M74 between Jcn 44 and 45 but miss the Hardwicke Circus petrol station as the M74 one is 14-16p more expensive per litre due to being on the motorway

I tend to use Tesco SUL mostly as it's cheaper, 99 RON and the car drives very well on it with no performance issues.

[Ady128]

briang9 said:

The Red Devil said:

My friend you are asking for trouble

complete nonsense

Thank you

[Ady128]

briang9 said:

INWB said:

Makes note to self - Don't ever buy a 991 from Ady128

and more complete nonsense

Thank you

[Ady128]

I had the 991 for 4 years with no problems and now have a Macan Diesel running on, yes, Morrisons diesel!

[The_Doc]

I had to expensively repair the Diesel Particulate Filter on my X5 after it finally clogged completely at 80k. BMW wanted £2,400 for a new part. I reconditioned it.

Maybe because I only filled it with Supermarket diesel

For the sake of 3p a liter I'm going to use a variety of sources, eg not only Branded or Supermarket

As for the Porsche, for the sake of 8ish pence a litre, on a £90grand car, I'm happy to spend.

[Digga]

MartinRS2K said:

I tend to use Tesco SUL mostly as it's cheaper, 99 RON and the car drives very well on it with no performance issues.

Without going out of my way, the best petrol I can get locally is the 99 Momentum stuff from the local Tescos and it certainly seems to work okay in my 996 turbo.

I am definitely going to look at better diesel for my DD, particularly since it's often only used for short journeys. The old man reckons his Jag XF diesel runs much better cold with the Shell premium diesel - he admits this could be his imagination, but I'm going to try it out.

[Heaveho]

I tend to only use higher octane fuel in my stuff. The van does the most mileage and the difference in mpg is significant enough to offset the initial extra cost. If it's been run on cheaper stuff previously, it takes a few tanks of the good stuff to start making a difference. Given this and the claims made for keeping the engine generally cleaner, I can't see the point in not using it.

However, I also don't hold with Fords 15k and Porsches even more ridiculous service intervals of 20k miles being ok, and ignore them in favour of 5k mile oil and filter changes on mine, so perhaps I could be accused of taking things to extremes!

The Evo's mapped for 99 ron. I monitor knock on that car, it's happy not only on both Tesco 99 and Shell Nitro, but also BP Ultimate, which came as a bit of a surprise, given it has a 97 ron rating.

[ooid]

I guess, very lucky to live only 10metres away from Shell station in London Always use V-power, on both cars. Never had an issue in the engine department that might relate to fuel consumption and usually do weekly long journes.