Diesel quality at different Servos

[MrGenius]

Is there great variations between the quality of diesel between different petrol stations?
Like the way the el cheapo servo's put ethanol in their fuel or the octane ratings of unleaded fuels vary, do similar things happen at the diesel pumps?

I spose what im getting at is would you buy diesel from any old servo or just from the branded ones?

I searched the forum to see if this had been asked but didnt find anything.

[MYTTUF]

My misses drives the 80 all the time and loves to save a buck so she uses the Safeway save a docket deal. I haven't noticed any issues with power (it is a diesel??) or economy but prolly only tell in the long run.

[bj42turbo]

I only fill up at Named stations and always fill up at the same local one and when I go away I again try and fill up at the same one every time that way if I have have a issue's with Diesel I can narrow down where it come from.


Cheers Dazz

[carts]

Yeah. I run a turbo 2h and it does make a difference where I fill up.

These days i only go to the named servo's like shell. I have had problems in the past with the no name servos. If i get crook diesel she runs real hot and i lose power and the car appears to overfuel with the change in smoke content from my exhaust.

[ISUZUROVER]

Just because you go to X named servo does not mean you get X brand diesel.

Most states have 2 different refineries. QLD for instance has Caltex and BP. All fuel sold in QLD comes from one of those two refineries. If I remember correctly, Caltex supplies itself, Mobil, Woolworths and most of the independents. BP supplies Itself and Shell. But that is only the usual scenario - if one of the refineries has a shutdown (maintenance or breakdown) the other refinery will supply all the fuel. So there have been times where BP fuel has been sold at Caltex servos.

So in most states ALL FUEL will come from one of two refineries. That is a completely separate issue though than unscrupulous service station owners doctoring fuel though, or having old rusty tanks full of water and biological contaminants.

All diesel in Australia has the same sulphur content, however BP's diesel has the lowest aromatic hydrocarbon content and the highest parrafin and olefin content - so technically it is better diesel, however it is not good for rubber seals to see different aromatic hydrocarbon levels (hence all the issues a while back). So if you live in a state with a BP refinery, it is best to stick to either BP or non BP diesel for the long life of all the rubber bits in your fuel system.

[+dj_hansen+]

I find i get less smoke, better economy and a bit more perkiness from Mobil diesel. I was using shell before hand. I also put through injector cleaner every 2nd tank or so.

[bogged]

my car runs better on the local Shell than the 4 local Mobil, or the 1 BP servo's....
YMMV

[Monty]

Spoken to a truckie about it before who drives a tanker and he reckons it has to do with the low sulphur fuel that has started coming in.

I always use to fill up at cheap place at Claredon opposite Richmond servo, however I dont do this anymore and now stick to Shell servos with the save 4c a litre and car has been running a hell of a lot better since the change.

use to stick to the one shell at Dural but they have gone up in price so just stick to the Castle Hill one now

If you want to save money on fuel pm MQ080 for how tight can you be. He has all the answers

[+dj_hansen+]

MrGenius.. think u should just stick to Shell, Mobil or BP

[Shadow]

woolworths is supplied by imported diesel from china.

stay clear of that


and as someone else said, they can do anything to the diesel once they get it, add kero, heating oil etc....

just stick to your name servers, the price difference is usually only about a cent or two, and you do have a much better chance of getting bett6er quality fuel. The big names cant afford to have thier names tarnished by bad fuel incidents, the smaller named servers dont care?

[ISUZUROVER]

woolworths is supplied by imported diesel from china.

stay clear of that

No it isn't, that is a load of crap. Woollworths in QLD is supplied by caltex. Occasionally one of the refineries buy a tankerload of cheap fuel from asia if they can get it (and that is all the BIG refineries), but it is uusually very high sulphur and they have to blend it so that it meets Australian Standards.

[MYTTUF]

I'm guessing that Woolworths is Safeway and Woolworths are supplied diesel from Caltex who supply Mobil SO am I better of getting my diesel from a brand new Safeway servo (supplied from Caltex) saving 4 cents per litre OR getting from an older Mobil servo (supplied from Caltex) and paying full price????
I've heard it all before about fuel issues at independant outlets but in this day does it still happen??? It doesn't take much bad press to spread like wild fire about this issue and has any tests been done on the diesel???

[MrGenius]

Thanks for the replies, the dealer filled it up with $40 BP diesel @ $1.02 the day i picked it up and i did a bees dick under 400k on that. Have now got a full tank of diesel from Caltex servo will see how that goes.

[carts]

I think the best thing to remeber is, diesel gets fungi/algae in it if it sits long enough with the right conditions (i.e. has water in it). If you stick to a servo that has a high turnover of diesel, e.g. a truck stop on the highway, you have a much better chance that the fuel is not contaminated.

If you buy diesel from say a servo in the middle of the city that would have bugger all diesel sales, there is probably a chance that the diesel has been in the tanks for over a year and hence becomes crap.

On a recent trip back from Victoria to Sydney, I filled up from a small servo in Maryborough. The car was running at about 3/4 on the temp gauge on the way up the highway and it felt sluggish (even for a diesel). I then filled up at Yass at the big truck stop. Within about 10mins of getting back onto the highway, the car was running between 1/3 and 1/2 on the temp gauge and was performing well again.

Where the diesel comes from does make a difference. You have just got to find a local servo that you are happy with and then stick with them. If you venture from home, stop at the reputable high turnover stops.

[ISUZUROVER]

Good point carts. Filling up at a servo with a reular diesel turnover is a good idea.

MyTuf - in your state Safeway/Woolworths may have a different supplier, but as long as they have a regular turnover of diesel I think they would be the best option as they would have new tanks with a minimum of water and biological growth at the bottom of them.

Also, don't fill up at a servo if there is a diesel tanker unloading - it stirs up all the water and gunk that is at the bottom of the tank.

[MQ080]

If you want to save money on fuel pm MQ080 for how tight can you be. He has all the answers

- Monty what are you trying to say? I can’t decipher it between the lack of punctuation and grammatical errors.

[Bush65]

Alpine blend improves performance.

Have got to agree with those that suggest going to servos that have a large turnover of diesel.

[85bundy]

I run a small truck running approx 9500 km per month , i use bp because we get a small discount per litre. but to date ive had no probs with bp fuel.In my cruiser i,ll use any fuel but only from high vol truck stops as the quality is much better than your low vol, no name servo.

[MrGenius]

My local mobil seems to get a fair few vehicles thru the diesel pump so im gunna stick with them for a few weeks.
The current tank of diesel from Caltex is giving a bit higher fuel consumption and more fuel smoke is noticeable than the last tank from BP.