Car sounds rough after fueling...

Steve Smith said:
My brother will not put Tesco petrol in his motorcycles now after finding water in it on several occasions.


Steve.
Click to expand...

How did he find out?
 
I have ONLY used supermarket fuels in a variety of cars for the past twenty five years and I have never had any problems.
It cannot be luck, because the cars have been very different, from Alfas, BMW's to Mondeos, Mazdas and now a diesel Octavia (which has done 40K miles on supermarket fuel from England, France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy).
Then again, I do make sure that my cars have been maintained, which means oil, air and fuel filters at every service, plus running them on the optimal correct grade of oil.
 
Reading the ops statement I assume he was very low on fuel. Even though this is a new car he could of picked some crap up in the tank. I would take it back to BMW as its not worth getting it wrong.
I have never had any problems with any fuel & my 2 BMWs can't tell the difference were I get fuel from except the Shell Optimax which appears to give much better mpg and performance but then again this isn't standard petrol with a fancy detergent in it
 
The topic change to fuel types is nonsense. It's the grade that matters. There are different schools of thought out there for sure, but having owned Civic Type-Rs, MK2/3/5 Golfs and an Edition 30 a MK4 Golf GTTDI and all been run on supermarket fuel (Tesco) and always done at least one month with Shell Ultimate as comparison, I get less miles from Shell (10-20), but not enough to warrant the pennies for a minute increase in response.

I also have a friend who has had 2 Evo FQ 360's (9 and a 10) both with over 50 and 30,000 miles respectively and neither had issue and both run on Tesco Momentum as it was the only fuel graded high enough.

To the OP, before you book it in, take it for an hours drive on a motorway keeping the speed up and see if it reduces the issue, if not get it booked in, but beware that the diagnostics will likely be £100 per hour. You also didn't say which fuel or I missed it in any additional replies...if it is diesel, I'm presuming you know to let the glow plugs warm up before turning the key fully to start the engine?
 
nilagin said:
They may all be filled from the same gantry, but similar to how you can select the fuel you want at the forecourt pump, different mixes are selected at the gantry by the driver.
Click to expand...
How do you know this?
 
Give it a wash and a polish.
Always makes my car run better and makes it go faster.;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ST4
dTEA said:
The topic change to fuel types is nonsense. It's the grade that matters. There are different schools of thought out there for sure, but having owned Civic Type-Rs, MK2/3/5 Golfs and an Edition 30 a MK4 Golf GTTDI and all been run on supermarket fuel (Tesco) and always done at least one month with Shell Ultimate as comparison, I get less miles from Shell (10-20), but not enough to warrant the pennies for a minute increase in response.

I also have a friend who has had 2 Evo FQ 360's (9 and a 10) both with over 50 and 30,000 miles respectively and neither had issue and both run on Tesco Momentum as it was the only fuel graded high enough.

To the OP, before you book it in, take it for an hours drive on a motorway keeping the speed up and see if it reduces the issue, if not get it booked in, but beware that the diagnostics will likely be £100 per hour. You also didn't say which fuel or I missed it in any additional replies...if it is diesel, I'm presuming you know to let the glow plugs warm up before turning the key fully to start the engine?
Click to expand...
Running a single tank of the premiums likely won't make a difference. Either reset your ECu or run enough tanks for it to adjust itself.
 
nilagin said:
I can't vouch for other car manufacturers, but I see no reason for them being any different to Ford, but normal everyday engines will have been developed to run on a variety of fuel ratings, some not available in this country such as 91Ron and also the higher rated fuels, 97 and upwards.
Click to expand...

each car gets mapped for its destination, they do not have 1 map to suit all countries.

uk and Europe has 1 map, japan has a different map, and Africa will have a different map also etc etc
 
Last edited:
sx_turbo said:
each car gets mapped for its destination, they do not have 1 map to suit all countries.

uk and Europe has 1 map, japan has a different map, and Africa will have a different map also etc etc
Click to expand...
Sure about that? It's is why remapping has become so popular as tuning it specifically for the local fuel and environment has great results.

Anyway my point was that ecu (as mentioned a few times) have a certain amount of wiggle room on the ecu, if it's learned to handle one particular grade then it'll need to adjust over time to the new grade. Or you can usually disconnect the battery for 15 mins.
 
Last edited:
neil_g said:
Sure about that? It's is why remapping has become so popular as tuning it specifically for the local fuel and environment has great results.
Click to expand...

yes,

maps in Europe sold cars are the same, the petrol used is pretty much the same,

the reason why tuners in the uk are popular is because the OE manufacture has to account for a lot of different variables for all countries in Europe, spain for example has a completely different climate to the uk, but the 1 map has to cater for that difference.

japan have 97 and 105 ron petrol, and again they have a drastically different climate, so they will have a map for there climate.

America only has fuel that is 91 ron and again a massively different climate, so they will have a different map.
 
sx_turbo said:
each car gets mapped for its destination, they do not have 1 map to suit all countries.

uk and Europe has 1 map, japan has a different map, and Africa will have a different map also etc etc
Click to expand...
I work in Ford's powertrain development. The engine's are tested on a variety of fuel ratings so the data can be used to map pcm's to be able to run on a variety of fuel ratings available in a particular market.
sx_turbo said:
America only has fuel that is 91 ron and again a massively different climate, so they will have a different map.
Click to expand...
America's ratings shown on their pumps are different to European pump ratings. Europe pumps show RON where as the figures found on American pumps is an average of the RON & MON ratings. 91 in America is higher than 91 Ron which can be found in other countries.
 
nilagin said:
I work in Ford's powertrain development. The engine's are tested on a variety of fuel ratings so the data can be used to map pcm's to be able to run on a variety of fuel ratings available in a particular market.
Click to expand...

so what I said then
 
sx_turbo said:
so what I said then
Click to expand...
Different maps for different countries around the world will also take into account the climates and elevations that they will have to run in not just fuel availability, so no, not necessarily what you said.
 
TCR4x4 said:
You've known a few?

I know a doctor but I couldn't tell you how to remove a kidney.
Click to expand...
And?????????????????????????

So if all tankers fill up from the same gantry, how do you think they can select the different fuels such as 95 Ron, 97 Ron, 99 Ron etc,?
 
Last edited:
The reason ECU tuning is big is the good gains due to tolerances and response that turbos can get from a remap. These do push the internals to limits along with any drivetrain elements (one reason the higher BHP Evos don't offer automatic us the weakness if the clutch.)
 
nilagin said:
And?????????????????????????

So if all tankers fill up from the same gantry, how do you think they can select the different fuels such as 95 Ron, 97 Ron, 99 Ron etc,?
Click to expand...

Because there are different pipes colour coded for all the different fuels. There aren't however pipes labelled "morrisons", "tescos" or "sainsburys".
 
supermarkets tend to buy fuel from whoever is cheapest, it may just be on some occasions these were the likes of BP/shell. other occasions however who knows. maybe their regular supplier was low on supply.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Because there are different pipes colour coded for all the different fuels. There aren't however pipes labelled "morrisons", "tescos" or "sainsburys".
Click to expand...
The likes of Esso, BP, and Shell will have their own additives added at the time the driver fills the tanker. Supermarkets will just fill up with the standard fuel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top