Contaminated petrol courtesy of Tesco

Associate
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I had it happen with diesel from Asda to my Civic diesel. Went into "limp home" mode on the way to work.
Got to Honda dealer and £90 later they diagnosed stuffed fuel filter. I was the 4th car they had looked at in a couple of days. All filled at Asda with diesel.
 
Soldato
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Like I said it must run cleaner my DPF doesn't clog up anywhere near as fast. I get about 6 months between regens Vs every month on plain diesel.

I don't think you know how regens work. They happen almost every journey provided the conditions are met, not evey 6 months

It burns cleaner, that's worth the small price premium. Much cheaper than dealing with EGR or DPF issues as the Yeti will be out of warranty next year.

No it doesn't.
 
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I've used tesco fuel for 15 years/ 180k miles without fuel quality problems, but I guess it can happen.

I wonder what safeguards are in place to stop the dregs of the tanker getting into the forecourt tanks and the dregs of the forecourt tanks getting into your own fuel tank when you fill up?

Its funny, I have an aversion to V power, goes back some years to when I was seeing a bird who worked part time at a petrol station, a shell one.
I often used to go in for an hour or two on Sunday evenings waiting for her to finish. She always said the last fuel she would use was Vpower, it was in a smaller tank and hence her boss insisted it was down to the minimum before he would fill it up. So they often, particularly at weekends ended up sell below the level they should, basically going dry if needed. Again the boss, wouldn't put a not available sign up if they could still physically pump more out.
 
Caporegime
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I don't think you know how regens work. They happen almost every journey provided the conditions are met, not evey 6 months



No it doesn't.
Dpfs have pressure sensors to measure dpf loading. They don’t have a fixed dpf regen cycle. They are only run if needed as they use a lot of fuel.

combustion is cleaner with higher cetane fuels and hence less soot generation. DPF will not get blocked as quickly. This better combustion is also aided by the more premium fuels having more additive and keeping injectors cleaner so fuel spray is better.
 
Soldato
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I've used tesco fuel for 15 years/ 180k miles without fuel quality problems, but I guess it can happen.

I wonder what safeguards are in place to stop the dregs of the tanker getting into the forecourt tanks and the dregs of the forecourt tanks getting into your own fuel tank when you fill up?

I doubt very much there would be any "dregs" to worry about. Fuel tankers and tank containers are cleaned regularly - in some cases (for tank containers at least), after every delivery, after returning to a depot. Even if they're not, they will be loading the same product (source: I work for a company which provides logistics software to the intermodal industry - including the company which operates Shell fuel tankers).

This is a bit like the urban myth that if you run your fuel tank very low, you'll end up "sucking up all the crap" and destroying your engine. The reality is your fuel tank is probably the cleanest part of the vehicle - there isn't just detritus hanging around at the bottom of it. Evidently there are occasionally issues with contaminated fuel causing problems for people (hence the thread), but they are very rare. I wouldn't worry too much about the dregs in you fuel, it's not like the tanker delivering it is the office coffee machine getting gummed up :p
 
Caporegime
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Its funny, I have an aversion to V power, goes back some years to when I was seeing a bird who worked part time at a petrol station, a shell one.
I often used to go in for an hour or two on Sunday evenings waiting for her to finish. She always said the last fuel she would use was Vpower, it was in a smaller tank and hence her boss insisted it was down to the minimum before he would fill it up. So they often, particularly at weekends ended up sell below the level they should, basically going dry if needed. Again the boss, wouldn't put a not available sign up if they could still physically pump more out.

Sounds like a lot of crap.

The stuff at the bottom is the same as the stuff at the top.

These things are built with filters. As is your car. Your car should have a fuel filter in it.

So I don't see any issues here personally if the above is true. If anything if he is doing that then at least you know it's being cleaned out then replaced. Whereas another place might have a lot of crap in the bottom for years then you are the unfortunate one who takes it all out in 1 go.

But then you have to ask. Where do you think the fuel comes from. If you think of a straw in a cup when you suck it out. It's the stuff from the bottom that you are sucking out. You wouldn't suck from the top as you would need to lower the straw as you suck which makes things far more complicated.

So are these fuel tanks sucking from the top or bottom? I'm guessing bottom. Which is why I go back to BS.
 
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I doubt very much there would be any "dregs" to worry about. Fuel tankers and tank containers are cleaned regularly - in some cases (for tank containers at least), after every delivery, after returning to a depot. Even if they're not, they will be loading the same product (source: I work for a company which provides logistics software to the intermodal industry - including the company which operates Shell fuel tankers).

This is a bit like the urban myth that if you run your fuel tank very low, you'll end up "sucking up all the crap" and destroying your engine. The reality is your fuel tank is probably the cleanest part of the vehicle - there isn't just detritus hanging around at the bottom of it. Evidently there are occasionally issues with contaminated fuel causing problems for people (hence the thread), but they are very rare. I wouldn't worry too much about the dregs in you fuel, it's not like the tanker delivering it is the office coffee machine getting gummed up :p

Not sure if modern tanks have eliminated most of the issue, aren't most plastic now? So the only opportunity for crud is whats added. Where as when they were metal (steel i think) then far more opportunity for self contamination.

I think that things have changed and what was once a known issue is basically living on myth now.

I know for sure my mates old VW failed after his GF ran it dry, even after filling up it was running rough. Fuel filter was nigh on 100% blocked, mate changed that and it was running fine again (well as fine as ever). Was it timing of filter getting blocked or was it that last pint or so of fuel.
 
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Sounds like a lot of crap.

The stuff at the bottom is the same as the stuff at the top.

These things are built with filters. As is your car. Your car should have a fuel filter in it.

So I don't see any issues here personally if the above is true. If anything if he is doing that then at least you know it's being cleaned out then replaced. Whereas another place might have a lot of crap in the bottom for years then you are the unfortunate one who takes it all out in 1 go.

But then you have to ask. Where do you think the fuel comes from. If you think of a straw in a cup when you suck it out. It's the stuff from the bottom that you are sucking out. You wouldn't suck from the top as you would need to lower the straw as you suck which makes things far more complicated.

So are these fuel tanks sucking from the top or bottom? I'm guessing bottom. Which is why I go back to BS.

Its a fair while ago and I think it was quite an old station anyway. From memory it was to do with there definatly being some crud known to be in there. The minimum was something like 5 or 10% of the capacity.
The tank was supposedly sumped or something, so when you went down to the correct level it would pull the decent fuel and not affect this area, when you went low you could draw than and hence end up with crud.
I think the other issue was to do with metering as well

Your right though if it was consistently run low the issue would be far less than one that was done as a one off. Although never wold be better than anything ;)

I assume modern fuel station tanks have also moved on from old metal tanks as well.
 
Soldato
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I know for sure my mates old VW failed after his GF ran it dry, even after filling up it was running rough. Fuel filter was nigh on 100% blocked, mate changed that and it was running fine again (well as fine as ever). Was it timing of filter getting blocked or was it that last pint or so of fuel.
Fuel filters are a consumable part, and are supposed to be replaced periodically for this reason.

Unless you've got proof of contamination (many cars would have been effected), I expect it's equally as likely to be because of condensation in your fuel lines / tank caused by the cold temperatures.
 
Soldato
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Not sure if modern tanks have eliminated most of the issue, aren't most plastic now? So the only opportunity for crud is whats added. Where as when they were metal (steel i think) then far more opportunity for self contamination.

I think that things have changed and what was once a known issue is basically living on myth now.

I know for sure my mates old VW failed after his GF ran it dry, even after filling up it was running rough. Fuel filter was nigh on 100% blocked, mate changed that and it was running fine again (well as fine as ever). Was it timing of filter getting blocked or was it that last pint or so of fuel.

My MGB tank was full of crud at the bottom. The filter was like an hourglass :D

Evidently it's a problem on old cars, but my point was mainly that the likelihood on modern vehicles is very low. I'll happily stand corrected if turns out to be a common problem, but my point was that there's very little chance of deposits in your fuel from the methods used to transport and store it, so in most cases, the bottom of your tank is going to be pretty clean. I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
 
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Evidently it's a problem on old cars, but my point was mainly that the likelihood on modern vehicles is very low. I'll happily stand corrected if turns out to be a common problem, but my point was that there's very little chance of deposits in your fuel from the methods used to transport and store it, so in most cases, the bottom of your tank is going to be pretty clean. I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

I would agree on modern cars, there was definately an issue in the past, when it changed though and what the source(s) of the main issues were how knows.
Could have been fuel, transport, stations tanks, car tank, or any combination of. Certainly we know petrol tanks on cars rusted, so for sure some of the issues were from there

Fuel filters are a consumable part, and are supposed to be replaced periodically for this reason.

Unless you've got proof of contamination (many cars would have been effected), I expect it's equally as likely to be because of condensation in your fuel lines / tank caused by the cold temperatures.

A lot of / most (not sure if most is correct) fuel filters for petrol are full life now though, attached to or with the fuel pump. Diesels seem to have "old fashioned" ones to be replaced still more than often.
 
Soldato
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I don't think you know how regens work. They happen almost every journey provided the conditions are met, not evey 6 months



No it doesn't.
I think you will find it's you that doesn't know how they work. When the DPF load on mine reaches a certain level and the engine is warm enough the car uses an injector in the exhaust to perform a regen which lowers the DPF load.

Mine most definitely does not always regen as the load slowly goes up no matter what sort of driving you do only a regen lowers it.
It goes up faster with standard fuel, stop start driving, idling and lower revs for instance.
5th gear at 70mph is cleaner than 6th great at 70mph.

Don't believe me off your laptop or phone into your car if you can and watch the DPF load figures.
 
Caporegime
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I think you will find it's you that doesn't know how they work. When the DPF load on mine reaches a certain level and the engine is warm enough the car uses an injector in the exhaust to perform a regen which lowers the DPF load.

Mine most definitely does not always regen as the load slowly goes up no matter what sort of driving you do only a regen lowers it.
It goes up faster with standard fuel, stop start driving, idling and lower revs for instance.
5th gear at 70mph is cleaner than 6th great at 70mph.

Don't believe me off your laptop or phone into your car if you can and watch the DPF load figures.

The way your describing it is exactly how my 6-series used to do it. It would build up over time and do one when required and when the conditions allowed. Because I used decent fuel it rarely required one.
 
Soldato
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VAG DPFs work similarly. They work based on a soot level threshold as well as distance/time since last regen, and will perform a regen depending on which threshold it hits first.

Lots of long motorway driving means you're likely to hit the distance/time threshold. When i used to do a lot of motorway miles, mine would perform a regen every 475 miles (once a week) and rarely used to trigger based on soot threshold. For those doing lots of short miles, it's likely to trigger on soot threshold.
 
Soldato
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I love the idea of my local oily rag dealer running a fuel contamination test like something out of CSI/NCIS.
I spent the last 3 weeks specing up and pricing a Lab for a refinery, believe me they haven't got the gear.

Unless they are testing for something truly obvious (water so bad you can see it in the sample or particulates so bad you can see them) they aint finding anything.

I'm sure the car threw an error code related to fuel, but as people have said unless a lot of people at the same filling station have the same problem then I would imagine they are going to say its not their fault.
 
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