Off topic; diesel fuel

[Todd JacksonMember]

Hi All,
Just got a quick question, is diesel fuel diesel fuel?
I have just taken delivery of a diesel Navara and am curious.
I had a high performance petrol car and was told by the dealer to only use 98 octane from BP. I didn’t ever put ‘supermarket fuel’ in her
Is there something similar I should be aware about with diesel??

Thanks for your help
Cheers
Action

[Mick DMember]

I have a turbo diesel Nissan Patrol and just put normal pump diesel into it. The only thing I have done is replaced the expensive standard fuel filter with a “Japadaptor” water trap that takes a standard cav style filter element. About $100 to set up but will save you a packet in the long run. Water and diesels don’t get along all that well.

[WayneMember]

Hey Action,
Just use common sense. Don’t buy cheap, no name servo fuel……it can have anything mixed in with it to make up the volume. Have seen Diesel fuel that was so high in heater oil content that it would solidify (wax) in the coldest part of the morning and then not restart until the heat of the day returned it to norm.
Personally, my trucks have only used BP Diesel from a servo that is well frequented by trucks and sell heaps of fuel (Padstow/Milperra). I haven’t had a problem.
Crash

[dennis da menaceMember]

i just bought a new VW transporter and the manual says to avoid cheap diesel for the same reason as Crash says.
i guess it waxes more often in germany as it snows a lot over there.

also the cheap servo’s (ie; not the ‘shell, bp, mobil, caltex’s) tend to sell fuel with a much higher sulphur content to help water it down. its not real good if your new car has a particle filter in the exhaust as it will block up quickly too.

i swore i’d never buy a diesel…ever!
but i couldnt be happier with mine.

i filled it up yesterday and had 1085km on the odo… from 75 litres.

awesome

[MalMember]

I have a diesel Navara auto and have only ever put Caltex, Shell or BP fuel in and never had an issue. I get about 750km to 75L around my local area. A bit more on the longer trips.

Enjoy the new wheels Action, they’re a nice bit of gear.

[ScottMember]

I don’t think it matters, my D40 Navara has been out through the centre getting diesel from any servo when I needed it and it just got back from an east coast to west coast and back to east coast towing a caravan, same deal filling up at any servo when it needed it, no diesel dramas in 160,000km and four years.

Our VW T5 transporter has been out to the centre towing an enclosed trailer three bikes, no dramas with any diesel we used either.

[Ron BirrellMember]

My company only buys shell fuel who don’t use bio fuel which is made from vege oil. However I own 2 desiel cars and buy Woolworth’s fuel which has 2% bio fuel and haven’t had any problems. There are trucks running around using only bio fuel. I am unsure of the results. TB could answer that one. All I can say is buy your fuel from a reputable retailer to ensure you get clean fuel.
I change my oil and oil filter every 5000 kms and my fuel filter every 10,000 kms. Buy fleet guard filters. They are a quality brand and cheaper than genuine. A water trap is a good idea. I change my oil this often as Jap desiels soot up very quickly.
As for heating oil it is a blend of 35% kero and 65% desiel. Every fuel company supplies alpine desiel or winter mix in colder months. Winter mix is a blend of 35% heating oil and 65% desiel. This is to stop desiel in colder areas from waxing up. Which means the wax in desiel freezes and forms beads and blocks fuel pumps and injectors which is there to help lubricate these components.
I hope this helps.
By the way I am very happy with my choice of engine and I hope you will be too Action

Buzz

[Todd JacksonMember]

Cheers boys,

I’ll steer clear of the cheapies.
I’ll get myself a “Japadaptor” water trap (as per Mickmeld) and ensure very regular servicing including fuel filter (as per Buzz)

Thanks
Action

[Eric SmithMember]

Yeah not all diesel is the same. Woolworths fuel in Wellington is so bad we closed our star card (caltex) account and went to BP. The woolies fuel reduced fuel efficiency from averaging 10l/100km to 12 or 13l/100km. Shocking. Only seems to be that specific servo, but thats the only caltex in town now, so BP gets our money. This has been checked on three vehicles, diesels, can’t speak about petrol.

Sent from my phone using fat fingers!

[StuartMember]

Not all name brand fuel is the same, Shell BP share facilities throughout Australia, in Sydney & Melbourne it is made by Shell, Brisbane & Perth BP, however the locally made fuel does not meet local demand, therefore a large majority of name brand fuel is imported from Singapore, India, China & any other place it can be bought for the right price to satisfy local demand.

Don’t be fooled by thinking you are buying name brand as it could be anything made anywhere. Yes it meets Australian Spec.

This will be a bigger issue as the Shell Refinery is closing in Sydney and most of the fuel supplied to NSW through these brands will be imported from who knows where. Caltex are reviewing there local operations & may follow Shell, then all NSW fuel will be imported, possibly a small amount from local refineries although we’ll never know.

Shell also recently sold their only coastal tanker supplying Australian Cities with Australian fuel so soon we will be a mass importer.

[James RookyardMember]

Agree with Buzz. Heating oil stops waxing in winter. I have been caught with summer diesel in my overhead farm fuel tanks in winter, it won’t run out of the tank on the coldest days till about lunch time. My mate worked for Mobil in the early 90’s. When winter came around they blended heating oil with the diesel at the depot.
I wouldn’t use bio diesel in a modern diesel engine. Diesel motors and fuel injection systems are very expensive to repair.

[Dwayne OMember]

We have a 2010 deisel Holden Cruze that has a deisel particle filter in the system & it had been smoking & stinking quite a lot (apparently due to the burnoff process when it cleans itself)

Not sure what servo the missus uses but on the last service the dealers found that an exhaust bracket was loose & they say that wa sthe rason for the excess smoke :blink: (it was pluming up from under the sides of the wheel arches and rear of the bonnet at times) :laugh: Got some funny looks at traffic lights

[DeanMember]

Funnily enough I sold a retread to an Old Bull today and we were talking about Diesels as I am in the market for a new low kay 4×4 duel cab He works for a company that deals with diesel fuel tank certification testing repairing etc and he mentioned that the fuel they retrieve sometimes over 10 years old, they put through a 2 micron filter bank add some Biocide and other additives. He gets heaps better mileage using this fuel than the stuff that comes fresh from the Bowser. So I would say that the better the filters you have the better these newer diesels are going to perform. Especially the vehicles with the Piezo electric injection.

Ps anyone selling a late model manual 4×4 twincab under 40000 km and sub 30 price tag short listed MN triton and ford ranger Toyota hilux.

Ollie

[murph the surfMember]

Have hard stories about bad fuel not going to well in common rail injection diesels. :ohmy:
These newer diesel engines are definately the way of the future but if you run into injector problems it can be bloody expensive. (I’m pretty sure a mate mentioned somewhere around $1300/injector) Imagine having to replace them on V8 Landcruiser. :sick:
I’ll stick with chugging around in my 4.2TD Nissan for now
Cheers
Murph

[Bob DowsettMember]

My 2c worth

common rail and shit fuel = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Bio diesel comes in the same category

if your going to use any of the above extremely overspec your filtration system and buy a box of filters regularly

[Author]

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