[DenisPC9]

Greetings all from Perth

I picked up my i30 CRDi last Tuesday and am still on my initial tank.  What I am wondering is, which distillate suppliers provide the good quality fuel.  Given the finer tolerances of the CR engine, I am wondering if all or any of the distributors are all up to the mark of their distillate quality.  I have owned and driven diesel engined vehicles for the past 30 years, so I think I have a passing familiarity with their performance etc (I hope  )

With my old Elantra (which I gave the heave ho to get my i30) I used use the United fuel outlets here in Perth as they mostly had better prices than the mainstream gougers.  How do they measure up as regards the quality of their distillate fuel.  I know its no use asking the fellow I pay for my fuel.

One of the reasons I ask is that some years ago when I lived in Sydney and owned a Discovery Diesel, I used to fill up at a certain truckstop just south of Marulan and started to have no end of trouble with the engine running on and occasionally giving other problems.  I spoke to the LR people at Hurstville and their head techo said that they advised their clients not to use that particular Servo but had been warned off by the Servo lawyers.  So I never used them again and never had that problem again.  This, despite filling it up at all sorts of Servos all over NSW, Vic and SW WA.

Any qualified comments?

[Dazzler]

Welcome to the Club Denis..

If you haven't got access to the higher grade Caltex Premium Diesel (vortex) in WA I have found BP to be the best (A couple of cents dearer due to no Supermarket docket discounts) but mine performs more responsively than with any other standard Diesel..

[SRT Metro]

Hi Denis and welcome to the club! 

[Lakes]

Hi Denis & welcome, my i30 CRDi has had no problems runing on Mobil, BP or Caltex Diesel & useing ChemTech Diesel Power aditive. but runing on Caltex Vortex premium Diesel it runs at its best, seems more responcive to me. but have not noticed an economy gain. i read that West Australia has BP Ultimate Premium Diesel. so do a check on outlets that stock it. it will cost a few cents more. i think its more a long term insurance too, as i think it keeps injectors cleaner. if i have not used the Vortex Premium diesel for a while then go back to it i can normally start to notice a gain 250k latter, & after second fill up just feels nicer and more responcive. it's not a big gain, just i can notice.

[DenisPC9]

Hi Denis & welcome, my i30 CRDi has had no problems runing on Mobil, BP or Caltex Diesel & useing ChemTech Diesel Power aditive. but runing on Caltex Vortex premium Diesel it runs at its best, seems more responcive to me. but have not noticed an economy gain. i read that West Australia has BP Ultimate Premium Diesel. so do a check on outlets that stock it. it will cost a few cents more. i think its more a long term insurance too, as i think it keeps injectors cleaner. if i have not used the Vortex Premium diesel for a while then go back to it i can normally start to notice a gain 250k latter, & after second fill up just feels nicer and more responcive. it's not a big gain, just i can notice.

Thanks for all the responses.  After "Tank 1" (out of which it appears (so far) I will get approx 700 - 800km.  As I am up to 600km and the gauge is down to the 1/4 mark) I will try a couple of tanks of the one brand then a couple of tanks of another.  As I am retired I have all the time in the world to get really pedantic but I am a lazy sod so couldn't really be bothered unless it was of real interest and this could be.

As most of WA is "pancake land" as in flat as, I think my (fuel) consumption should be fairly consistent.  As an aside at Quiz Nights one of the consistent questions was "What's the highest mountain in Western Australia?"  This also brought forth consistent hoots of laughter from me, as said "mountain" (Mt Meharry) is 700 metres high (?) 

I take your point about the Injectors.  In a previous life I owned a VW Golf Diesel.  Back then (late 70s early 80s) it was straight fuel injected, no turbo charger, hence it wasn't the nippiest beast on the block.  But in the late 1970s there used to be petrol strikes etc and you used to see cars queueing up for hundreds of yards and they had "odd" and "even" days.  It was great to cruise past the queue and roll up to the bowser, fill up and drive off.  Much to the chagrin of all those in those long hot summer queues 

Getting back to the injectors.  I had the Golf religiously serviced according to the manufacturers schedule.  But around 250K km every now and then the vehicle would surge forward, blow heaps of white smoke and suddenly lose all power.  After about 10 minutes, you could restart it and drive off as if nothing had happened.  So I saw the VW agents in both Canberra and several in Sydney but no-one could tell me what was going on or why it did that.  Eventually I went around to a Diesel Engineer with a huge yard and workshop full of monster trucks and prime movers, somewhere in Fyshwick and poured out my tale of woe.  He came back with answer straight away.  According to him as Diesel (as it was produced then) was slightly corrosive and after 100K the Injector Nozzles should have been replaced as over time the Distillate would slowly enlarge the bore and let more fuel through.  Thus giving a slow but incremental increase in power.  When I went back to VW with this info, they were (or at least acted) dumbfounded.  They had never heard of this.  I told them to ring XZY as his firm did major maintenance on Diesel trucks for the ACT and southern regions of NSW and he actually had certificates up on his office from whatever university to state that he was an Mechanical Engineer (or whatever they are - this is going back to the late 1980s) plus the extra ones for Diesel accreditation.

So I kept a wary eye out and asked a lot of Qs during my sojourn with my Disco but the Landrover people hadn't heard of this either.  So I dunno if I had a lemon set of Injector nozzles but that was an issue with the trucking industry or that distillate then was a lot crappier?

[2i30s]

my retired parents spend around nine months of the year pulling a three plus tonne caravan around Australia behind a 200 series land cruiser and told me that in western Australia  and the northen territory you need to ask before filling your tank with diesel because most service stations are 100% bio diesel and the pump doesn't state the level of bio your pumping in,so ask first.

[Lakes]

I remember the petrol strikes, was a pain, did you know that is why we have self service pumps now, as was hard for service stations to control customers with fuel limits & so on when there was restrictions. from strikes or from middle east suplys. so they came up with self service. they saved heaps on staff needed and the price still went up .
before self service do you remember you could drive in the servo, stay seated in your car, ask them to fill up, check water check oil, put so many pounds of air in the tyres, then you payed and they bought the change back to you while you relaxed in compfort of your car. you got a full service for free.
i drive diesel trucks once in a while. and the ones we have at work that don't get used all the time are the old style diesel's, we don't seem to have trouble with ours but i have seen that problem you had many times with trucks, we just get fleet serve they service them and service injectors, the newer diesels are electronic controled, can still have trouble, but they pump in the diesel at higher pressures. the fuel is different to the premium diesel does not foam as much.
your full tank from new sounds like mine i went 900k on first tank but dealer did not fill right up, the gauge read full, but i could have got 15 L or 20L more in it, found that out latter, i fill right up every tank now.

[eye30]

Why do I always get my hands full of diesel residue on my hand from the diesel pumps but none from the petrol pumps?

They say they have gloves or paper towels but I can never see them.

[DenisPC9]

Why do I always get my hands full of diesel residue on my hand from the diesel pumps but none from the petrol pumps?

They say they have gloves or paper towels but I can never see them.

Get the "little woman" to do it, problem solved 

[Lakes]

Why do I always get my hands full of diesel residue on my hand from the diesel pumps but none from the petrol pumps?

They say they have gloves or paper towels but I can never see them.

You trying to tell me your smelling like a diesel mechanic just filling up?
the pumps i use are clean most service stations here do a clean up morning & night and are new in most cases. in the bush you would get that happen.

[Dazzler]

Why do I always get my hands full of diesel residue on my hand from the diesel pumps but none from the petrol pumps?

They say they have gloves or paper towels but I can never see them.

 

Not too bad down here but I keep a pack of moist baby wipes in my glove box for that reason..

[Nick Riffed]

Why do I always get my hands full of diesel residue on my hand from the diesel pumps but none from the petrol pumps?

They say they have gloves or paper towels but I can never see them.

 

Not too bad down here but I keep a pack of moist baby wipes in my glove box for that reason..

And for that reason only...wink, wink