Brand of petrol

[reactor_sa]

Each Petroleum company has their own formulated additives which is the only real difference in the brands. I doubt if there are huge differences in performance between all the brands. Myself, I fill up at Shell, purely because its in a convenient location. I wont actively try source a particular brand. I will however try avoid BP, but thats just a personal choice due to their eff up in the Gulf coast when their incompetency & lack of morals caused one the worlds worse oil spills (the Deepwater Horizon incedent).

EDIT: oh and Ferrari cant be all that wrong!

Same, as long as it's 50ppm I fill up. But avoid bp due to their ****ing up the ocean.
Not so keen either on sasol, I think they should at least be cheaper on diesel as it costs them less to make than other garages but they almost always charge more than the other garages.

[JungleBoy]

I recently filled up with 50ppm diesel from SASOL on my A4 TDI. I was on my way to Durban from Jozi.
Everything was fine until I reached Van Reenen pass (just after Montrose ) suddenly my car went into limp mode on down hill. At first I thought I was having turbo issues with intermittent power boost. Anyway I carried on like that until I got home. In the morning I went to Audi in Umhlanga and they test drove the car and confirmed the intermittent power loss but could only book the car for Monday as they were fully booked. Because I had to be back at work on Monday I decided to take my chances and drive back in limp mode. Strange thing is that as soon as I filled up with 500 ppm at the Shell in Montrose the limping was gone and did not return again. I was left wondering if it was 50 ppm or the altitude that was causing the car to limp. Anyway I'm driving back to Durbs this month end and I'm anxious to see if that will happen again.

The car is almost 5 years old and has never done this before regardless of where I filled up or which type of diesel I used.

[Johnone]

All petrols are basically the same.

The additives make as much difference as Lime juice or Orange juice make to water - the rest is psychological!

Depends on how much juice you add to that water

[RiaX]

Meh... All petrol inland comes from Natref (a joint Sasol/Total refinery) or Sasol. All petrol on the coast is supplied by the coastal refineries, Chevron, Caltex, Engen, PetroSA? and another I can't remember in Durban also a Shell joint venture with others. All the depos do is put in some additive and make claims.

Yes thats what I know and I thought that the petrol coming out of the pumps would be the same irrespective of brand name because they all come from one referinery

[snail]

Mythbusters did this test once and came to conclude that shell gave an extra 3-5kw of power compared to the likes of bp and other brands (tested in the same car, can't remember exactly what car it was), however I find that with constant driving bp gives me the best kms.

[RiaX]

Mythbusters did this test once and came to conclude that shell gave an extra 3-5kw of power compared to the likes of bp and other brands (tested in the same car, can't remember exactly what car it was), however I find that with constant driving bp gives me the best kms.

if you got the time please put a youtube vid of the episode here ?

[Bar0n]

I dont know if this is stupid to ask but if you like me then you probably never even considered this.

Everytime i need to put petrol in my car i just drive up to a garage and tell them to fill the tank without a second thought, normally I fill at my local garage but I wont go out of my way to be brand loyal with petrol. Though you see Total garages advertises better mileage and caltex claims to clean your engine ect ect. This is total baseless claims where is the evidence? surely petrol is regulated strictly and they all get their petrol from regional refineries so the oil and petrolium product maybe the same dispite the garage having a different name, for example SAPREF delivers petrol to anyone who wants to buy it, or am I mistaken with this?

With the regulations, if any, I suppose they not allowed to alter the formulation of petrolium too much. Though how would one know if their additives are not damaging to their vehicle?

So is their any truth to the 'brand' of petrol one uses ? or is this fraudulent advertising?

Actually it seems you have considered this on the PCF forums, in March 2011.

Hi there i dont know if this is stupid to ask but if you like me then you probably never even considered this.

Everytime i need to put petrol in my car i just drive up to a garage and tell them to fill the tank without a second thought. Today though after driving to so many garages to fill cause of the price increase i wondered are all the petrols supplied at the pumps the same? i think it isnt

So the next thing is from all our garages shell BP engen sasol ect which of them offers the best petrol?

http://forums.pcformat.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=39417

What's the point of reposting with almost the exact same wording?

[burn]

I was told its all the same stuff coming from a handful of refineries...

[chrisc4290]

In the UK, Shell sell 2 varieties of petrol. Cousin has a Honda Civic 1700 and she says she gets better performance (and conversely) better fuel consumption using the higher grade fuel. All her driving is in town (Leicester) and she does about 1200 miles a month

[The_Unnamed]

I personally fill up at a nearby Shell Garage. Its not the most convenient anymore (Since i take a different route to work) but i have been going there for a few years and it is nice once they start treating you like a regular .

[BTTB]

I recently filled up with 50ppm diesel from SASOL on my A4 TDI. I was on my way to Durban from Jozi.
Everything was fine until I reached Van Reenen pass (just after Montrose ) suddenly my car went into limp mode on down hill. At first I thought I was having turbo issues with intermittent power boost. Anyway I carried on like that until I got home. In the morning I went to Audi in Umhlanga and they test drove the car and confirmed the intermittent power loss but could only book the car for Monday as they were fully booked. Because I had to be back at work on Monday I decided to take my chances and drive back in limp mode. Strange thing is that as soon as I filled up with 500 ppm at the Shell in Montrose the limping was gone and did not return again. I was left wondering if it was 50 ppm or the altitude that was causing the car to limp. Anyway I'm driving back to Durbs this month end and I'm anxious to see if that will happen again.

The car is almost 5 years old and has never done this before regardless of where I filled up or which type of diesel I used.

Interesting problem. My bakkie went into limp mode when I used Sasol diesel here in Cape Town.
Without actually knowing what your problem is, let me tell you my experience and maybe you can draw some parallels?

My bakkie, a Isuzu KB300 Dteq LX is almost 5 years old, was manufactured in the latter part of 2007 and registered in 2008. The reason for mentioning the dates may be important as to what fuel was available then and what was going to become the norm in the marketplace. Back in 2007 I think it was only 500ppm diesel that was available, so manufacturers were still selling vehicles with Suction Control Valves (SCV) and possibly injectors that worked with 500ppm diesel, however the new vehicles being built at that stage were gearing up for 50ppm diesel and it is safe to assume the computer systems (software) were adjusted, but was the hardware also changed or modified, in my case the SCV.

My theory is that the new 50ppm diesel, especially Sasol's variant carries virtually no sulphur and sulphur is what lubricates the fuel injection system in a diesel motor, hence your problem in my opinion.
When 50ppm diesel came out it was stated that the Fuel Companies put in additives to compensate for the low sulphur levels so that your injectors and other parts can work properly. I am sure the Fuel Companies do add these lubricants, but how much and to what set of standards and who checks all of this.
In my case I suffered a form of turbo-lag on acceleration which came and went for about a year until finally one day it went into limp mode as you describe and the service light came on at which time I took the vehicle into the dealership and they stated that my SCV needed to be replaced with an upgraded version as the older SCV would stick because of dirt contamination. In actual fact GM released a Service Bulletin in this regard.
However I think that while in some circumstances dirt has caused these problems, I am of the opinion it is the diesel itself, as without the sulphur (which is removed with ultra low sulphur) the diesel has less lubrication and a working part like a SCV which works under high pressure, sticks or works intermittently.
If you think of it another way, it is probable that the previous versions of my vehicle carry the same SCV, but run on 500ppm diesel, but they don't go into limp mode?

The other problem could be your injectors, some of which I hear came out with a type of coating, think along the lines of a non-stick pan, I don't know how to describe it, but after time, due to less lubrication the injector coating will wear. A diesel injection system is far more complicated than a petrol one.

There is a solution to your problem if my theory is correct, by adding Jaso FC compliant Two Stroke Oil at a ratio of 200:1 will give your injection system the lubrication it needs. Sasol's 2SO is compliant.
In actual fact your vehicle may run better and use less diesel. Initially on your first tank of diesel you could add more 2SO, maybe a 500ml bottle or even more.

Fuel Companies will neither deny nor say that using 2SO will benefit your vehicle, they may state it will void your warranty.

However, look at it another way. When your vehicle is out of warranty, who is going to pay for new injectors as a new set can set you back thousands. Running with a 200:1 mix of 2SO will prolong your injection system.

When my bakkie went into limp mode and before GM replaced the SCV, I added a 500ml bottle of 2SO to my tank and the bakkie was fine, in actual fact it performed better than it had for a long time.

In the Cape my preferred diesel would be BP. Other parts of the country will vary as to availability from the refineries. I just find my vehicle is more responsive with BP and I get a few extra kilometres out of a tank.

Your dealer may not be completely open with you as to your problem, especially if the hardware that came with the vehicle wasn't 100% low sulphur ready. My 2cents

Disc brakes in the old days had asbestos until it was banned, petrol had lead until it was banned, each one of these components lubricated moving parts. Not sure if this is true, but did brakes squeak in the old days?

Hope this helps.

[R13...]

One of the problems with the Sasol process is that it makes diesel that has very little sulphur by default. I think they have to add sulphur to it because they don't use crude oil where the sulphur comes from.

[Aharon]

Interesting... I usually use Shell (the Ferrari theory ) in my Renault... but I put it in a rental VW and it absolutely chowed it. The fuel it came with seemed to go on and on and on.... :weird:

[RiaX]

Actually it seems you have considered this on the PCF forums, in March 2011.
What's the point of reposting with almost the exact same wording?

lol you doing background checks on me ? :/

anyways you can never have too much information, its still bugging me

[ToxicBunny]

That Mythbusters episode would have been testing fuel in the States.. not here...

Here, all fuel will pretty much be identical barring a few additivies.