My sister ALWAYS fills up at Tesco - is that bad?

[Barakka]

The supermarkets don't have their own refineries, they just buy it from the same place that BP, Shell, Texaco etc do it's just the same stuff in different pumps surely ? Only the premium stuff is any different - I fill my car up at Tesco, Asda, wherever is cheap never had a problem. I know the Tesco where I used to live used to Always have an Esso tanker deliver the fuel.

[kalniel]

Tesco and Esso seem to be linked in lots of places - my local station used to be an Esso but is now Tesco Express with Esso fuel.

[99Flake]

I have not trusted supermarket fuel since working at a BMW dealership. We had an E46 M3 come in with the customer complaining of poor performance, ran all the diagnostics on the car and couldn't find anything, car was in for days.

Wasn't until we opened the glove box and found receipts for Sainsbury's fuel (98 RON) that we twigged.

Pulled the injectors apart and they were gunged and sooted up to hell.

[Vimeous]

I don't trust supermarket fuel since the debacle last year when a group of customers suffered engine issues after a bad batch of fuel was delivered to various Tesco outlets. Admittedly though I don't know the full details.

That said I've no doubt the majority of bulk purchased fuel will be fine but by using that approach to buy in fuel they also guarantee inconsistancy in supply and therefore quality.

To give you an analogy.
Tape drives are more reliable when used with the same brand of tape for their lifespan. Varying tape manufacturer can cause drive failure if the coatings used are significantly different.
With manufacturer fuel there is a better chance of consistancy than bulk-buy, any refinery/additive fuels from resellers.

I prefer to be as consistant as possible so it's just lucky my local Shell is cheaper than all the local supermarkets!

[Howard]

I'm pretty sure engines are designed with tolerances in mind for varying fuels. I've never had a single issue or noticed any difference in any of my cars and I've filled up at all sorts of different petrol stations. I try and avoid the really run down looking places though

[dangel]

They had a fuel scare out here a few weeks back and it affected Tesco and Sainsbury's as _apparently_ they had the same supplier..

[SilentDeath]

Sainsbuys is usually cheapest here, also most convenient with the best location for most people. However I think I will start boycotting any station that makes use of huge speed bumps.. that just leaves a horrible Total garage.

I suspect the only noticable difference comes from the amount of ethanol used. Lower being better unless you have an engine designed for it. That siad I dont know anyone that has had fuel related problems..
In high percentages its supposed to rot fuel lines and natural rubber parts, I would expect long term use at 5% will have a similar effect unless the car is designed for it.
Since its cheaper, most places add as much ethanol as they are allowed (eu law?).
Ethonal also increases RON although has less energy, so without higher compression ratios the fuel performs worse? I suspect high RON fuels just have more ethanol.

[kalniel]

Since its cheaper, most places add as much ethanol as they are allowed (eu law?)

Add it where? Do you just slosh it in the underground tank or do you have to carefully measure it and have it tested beforehand? If so it's probably cheaper just to use the stuff you get from the refinary.

[Vimeous]

An aside regarding ethanol in forecourt fuel:

This year it is likely the govenment will push for a mandatory 5% ethanol content in forecourt fuels as reported last year.
This will enable the govenment to hit their commitment a the european directive to reduce vehicle carbon emmisions by 5%, the target date of which I cannot remember.

As has already been mentioned increasing the percentage of ethanol in fuel will cause additional engine wear in some cases due to the increased acidity. However as far as I know the govenment believe the 5% level to be safe.

There was an article published in Autocar last year on this topic as I'm sure there have been many others. It was pointed out that modern common-rail diesels which run extremely pressure levels are particularily vunerable to increased internal corrosion.
Engines can be converted for use with higher ethanol levels. Indeed E85 fuel contains 15% ethanol and is used extensively in Sweden which is why Saab and Volvo already produce cars capable of handling that fuel type.
Autocar pointed out it may cost as much as £1k to convert a vunerable engine to run with higher ethanol content such as the 5% proposed.

TBH I need to know more about the future plans before condeming or supporting a blanket increase in ethanol content for forecourt fuels. Regardless there's undoubtedly a market for E85 and the cars to use it we just need the distribution.

[kalniel]

There was an article published in Autocar last year on this topic as I'm sure there have been many others. It was pointed out that modern common-rail diesels which run extremely pressure levels are particularily vunerable to increased internal corrosion.

But why would you put ethanol in diesel? I can understand putting it in petrol.

[dkmech]

We have diesel fuel samples sent to us (the oil analysis lab i work in) on a regular basis. Some of it originated from companies who have their own tanks (since they have fleets of vehicles). Some of those had a fair amount of moisture in them, some had general dirt and grime, some had bacteria... Quite interesting to see the amount of crap that can be in a fuel sample. Needless to say a lot of those are from 3 month old cars where they had to change half the injectors.

[UseItNow]

So who would you recommend filling up at? BP, Esso, Total, Texaco? Any others, I'm not so bright today!


I have so many supermarkets nearby......Morrisons, Asda......



Or should I not be too fussy?

[Barakka]

I think a lot of it comes down to your circumstances...

My car is a 2 year old diesel with 74k on the clock (so well worn in) and it's a low-tuned engine so will probably tolerate more variance in quality than something at the opposite end of the scale (e.g. 3 month old high-tuned petrol engine). Also, mine's a company car so if it breaks i'm not paying to fix it, so I fill up wherever is convenient/cheap.

[Stringent]

I always used either BP or Shell. Either their V-Power or Ultimate if I have the money (hence me spending £60 recently on a full tank!). I do notice better performance and more mileage out of them (the better grade stuff as well).

[beanbandit]

The supermarkets don't have their own refineries, they just buy it from the same place that BP, Shell, Texaco etc do it's just the same stuff in different pumps surely ? Only the premium stuff is any different - I fill my car up at Tesco, Asda, wherever is cheap never had a problem. I know the Tesco where I used to live used to Always have an Esso tanker deliver the fuel.

Correct none of the super markets have their own refineries. They all buy their fuel from the same place that Shell/BP/Esso etc get theirs from. The only difference between them is the additives that is put into them. They all go to the same fuel depots.

I don't trust supermarket fuel since the debacle last year when a group of customers suffered engine issues after a bad batch of fuel was delivered to various Tesco outlets. Admittedly though I don't know the full details.

That said I've no doubt the majority of bulk purchased fuel will be fine but by using that approach to buy in fuel they also guarantee inconsistancy in supply and therefore quality.

That was nothing to do with the supermarkets, it was down to the storage company, i believe silicon got into the system. The same thing could happen with any storage supplier, it was just unfortunate that the fuel was destined for the supermarket trade.

If i remember rightly BP/Shell/Esso buy in their fuel, they don't just use their own brand. I actually proved this to a workmate when he came out with some total BS saying that supermarket fuel was a poorer grade. There is so much BS written about this subject, mainly coming from hearsay, forums, car mechanics and oil barons.

[Saracen]

I have not trusted supermarket fuel since working at a BMW dealership. We had an E46 M3 come in with the customer complaining of poor performance, ran all the diagnostics on the car and couldn't find anything, car was in for days.

Wasn't until we opened the glove box and found receipts for Sainsbury's fuel (98 RON) that we twigged.

Pulled the injectors apart and they were gunged and sooted up to hell.

Interesting. I've been driving M3s for well over 10 years, filled up at Tesco the vast bulk of the time and never had a problem.