Has anyone tried a well known brand of V-Power diesel fuel, and is there any advantage in fuel economy, good running and emissions? At between 12 and 14 pence per litre over the cost of regular diesel it should be good but all I can determine is that it is regular diesel with the addition of a little old fashioned upper cylinder lubricant or Redex or similar, that is if the company remember to put it in the fuel tanker prior to delivery to the local filling station.

J

Edited as I missed a few words from the last sentence.

In my opinion NO.

I have seen no evidence that it does anything other than empty your wallet faster. Surely if these diesel fuels were so much better the manufacturers would advertise their benefits really hard - but they don't. Its all a con based on motorists fears of large bills in the future.

Auto express (The Sun of the auto world) says this ... https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/fuel/101266/...ium-petrol

"Because diesel engines don't ignite fuel to create power (fuel is added to the air that is compressed instead), premium diesel doesn't usually feature a higher octane rating. Instead, this more expensive super diesel will feature chemicals in its mixture that are designed to shift soot deposits and other oily build-up from within the engine's fuel system.

If you drive an ordinary mainstream car, then there's not much point in paying extra for premium fuels. Your car has been set up to work properly using standard petrol and diesel, and fuel companies have created their regular gas to work effectively in your engine."

But then finishes by sitting on the fence
"However, if you drive a diesel car, there's no harm in running a tankful of super diesel through the engine every 1,000 miles or so. This should clear out any oily or sooty deposits from the engine and fuel system, and will help your car to be more efficient and economical when running on regular diesel, as the fuel system will be clearer. In the long run, paying an extra 5-10p per litre for super diesel every now and again could help to avoid costly future repairs if your diesel engine packs up."

Really- that's not "every now and again" that's every 4th tankful - where is the evidence for this? Jules

Good evening, I always try and fill up every time with shell V max diesel and yes it is a little more expensive, Our annual jaunt is as follows, We always go to Switzerland caravan in tow, fill up at Dover- Shell V max, right to the brim, this would get us to the border between France and Swiss as no shell garages in France, our route, Our caravan a single axle 1400 kgs mpg 38-42 at 55mph. Last year although coming home from Switzerland while in France I had to put fuel in as Swiss side had V max France NO.
Once the nozzle is in the tank who knows what it is? and also Esso in France. Not so much Shell.
This was a poor awful mistake as whatever the diesel was ruined my injection system.
As I put a question into this forum “ Poor cold starting not winter yet”

Eventually I found the culprit which was the egr valve, when I stripped it apart it was choked with carbon an awful mess. To add I had virtually run my car on V max but the egr valve is was cream crackered. I think from the France fill up and also as it were running awful may have not used V max so often

Last week and also my wife’s car a Ford Fiesta which from new now 10 years old 85k and always used shell V max decided to remove the egr valve to have a nosy. Well the egr valve was in perfect condition and noticed that the slight carbonisation just rubbed off to bright aluminium with a finger nail.

I don’t think Shell would not sell V max as standard diesel, just think of the backlash if they were caught.
My freelander 2 has now been rebuilt, fuel tank removed and fully drained, pipes blown clear, new egr valve, fuel filter, engine oil and filter, air filter, throttle body, map sensor also maf sensor. It’s running excellently to add tho a recently fitted Mann/ Harman oil catch tank.
Driven about 450k and getting 52 mpg solo, 45 mpg towing on shell v max.
I think it’s excellent fuel and don’t mind paying the extra.
Hope this is encouraging?

Sorry forgot to say that I didn’t check the injectors at all as I’d heard horror stories of them being welded through poor design to the cylinder head and expensive repairs trying to remove them. Would have crossed that issue another time.

After all my dismay and effort I can say in my own experience shell v max does for me what they advertise. Smooth running, low emissions, less engine wear

I don’t mind paying the extra for diesel probably all in the mind but my freelander runs far better than its ever been, should do its cost me a fortune but not as much as a new one

Pity the egr valve is located where it is as in 30,000 miles I would have removed it for a look, the Swiss holiday has not been mentioned, I prefer to stay here since my encounter with French Esso diesel.

For petrol. In Australia we have crap petrol. I have noticed both with previous car Seat Ibiza 1.4L & Freelander, the extra I pay for RON98 works out about the same for the extra km you gain.

Previous car I initially used RON91 & every few years had fuel related issues. When I switched to 98 the problems never came back.

I buy 98 where I can travelling around Australia. When I have to buy 91 in the outback I notice a noticeable drop in range & that's even with topping up with 98 from the spare 50 litres I carry.

So I think with only 91 in the tank range would be pretty poor.


If you can, do the same sort of driving with about 3 tank fulls of each fuel & write down the trip computer notes on the back of each receipt. Zero the trip computer after taking notes & filling each time. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Maybe you just use standard diesel and add your own additive. There is a whole thread/argument on the merits/demerits of adding 2 stroke oil to each fill up. https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic22434.ht...stroke+oil

I only ever buy that V power fuel (But then I had £7,500 of damage done to my previous BMW from contaminated supermarket diesel - 'Every little bit of water and silt did not help!').

If you use the V power associated app you get discounts of up to 3p per litre, the odd free coffee etc and 10% on all in-shop items so it makes the price slightly better.

As far as benefits of V-power are concerned, since I moved over to V power my wife's FL1 EGR valve requires much less cleaning and my FL2 pulls like train!

I keep my cars for a long time and, for me, it is worth it. FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone

There is definitely a difference in the quality of diesel fuel brands, I had a new V70 D5 in 2004, at 96k an injector went down and was replaced as tick over was rough.I always went for the cheapest diesel I could buy.

Can`t remember the mileage but started with a rough tick over on idle again,did`nt bother with repairs car was not worth much just went up and down the M40 100 miles a day 52-55mpg

I then switched to BP normal diesel by accident (perhaps cheapest at the time) and it ticked over fine,I tried other fuels and MURCO and GULF were fine, the worst was normal SHELL it did not like that at all and returned to a rough tickover

I sold it to a mate at 170k for £1600 I told him what fuel to use he thought I was mad, he then used it again as a cumute car took it up to 300k no bother

Going back to garages we don't know what goes into the holding tanks.

When my freelander had its MOT in August the testing station man said Tesco now owns ESSO don`t if its true or not but a lot of Tesco filling stations are now ESSO,so dont know what we are getting I have noticed its not ESSO tankers that deliver the fuel in some instances

I wonder what fuel taxi drivers used in their Mercs

Just filled up yesterday with BP Ultimate 1.22 per litre car seams to run better but may be my imagination

I have used ESSO on a regular basis since before lock down and now have problems

I know Jules disagrees with this theory but thats my experience with my Volvo
Richard

@ Richard
"I sold it to a mate at 170k for £1600 I told him what fuel to use he thought I was mad, he then used it again as a cumute car took it up to 300k no bother"
I infer he used ordinary fuel for the next 130K ?

The motor and fuel industries spend millions on engine research. Why have they not shown us the evidence for these "super diesel fuels". Jules

This is ALL the Shell UK website has to say about its latest version of V Power diesel fuel.

"New compared to previous Shell V-Power formulations. Boosted compared to Shell's regular diesel fuel for cleaning functionality. Helps to clean key fuel system components such as fuel injectors from the build-up of performance robbing deposits. Actual effects and benefits may vary according to vehicle type, vehicle condition and driving style. No guarantees provided. See shell.co.uk/vpower for more information"

No scientific references are provided.

Sounds, to me, a bit like those pseudo-science shampoo adverts which proliferate on TV.

It makes no mention of any benefit to exhaust or EGR systems.


The above link just throws up an error page.  Jules

Last edited by jules on 25th Sep 2020 10:16 am. Edited 1 time in total

jules wrote:

In my opinion NO.

I have seen no evidence that it does anything other than empty your wallet faster. Surely if these diesel fuels were so much better the manufacturers would advertise their benefits really hard - but they don't. Its all a con based on motorists fears of large bills in the future.

Auto express (The Sun of the auto world) says this ... https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/fuel/101266/...ium-petrol

"Because diesel engines don't ignite fuel to create power (fuel is added to the air that is compressed instead), premium diesel doesn't usually feature a higher octane rating. Instead, this more expensive super diesel will feature chemicals in its mixture that are designed to shift soot deposits and other oily build-up from within the engine's fuel system.

If you drive an ordinary mainstream car, then there's not much point in paying extra for premium fuels. Your car has been set up to work properly using standard petrol and diesel, and fuel companies have created their regular gas to work effectively in your engine."

But then finishes by sitting on the fence
"However, if you drive a diesel car, there's no harm in running a tankful of super diesel through the engine every 1,000 miles or so. This should clear out any oily or sooty deposits from the engine and fuel system, and will help your car to be more efficient and economical when running on regular diesel, as the fuel system will be clearer. In the long run, paying an extra 5-10p per litre for super diesel every now and again could help to avoid costly future repairs if your diesel engine packs up."

Really- that's not "every now and again" that's every 4th tankful - where is the evidence for this?

I use Shell whenever I can and the car does seem to run quieter and smoother. I only do about 6000 miles per annum and at 33mpg means I use circa 180 gallons/annum which equates to around £100 over and above Tesco et al. Hardly breaking the bank and furthermore helps keep the internal gubbins clean. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

After my Impreza was remapped I always endeavoured to use V-Power on the advice of the mapper and on the rare occasion when I had to use a lesser octane, I never fully filled. Never missed a beat in the years I had it.
When I first bought the Freelander, I used V-Power pretty much every fill , but now tend to buy whatever's going but run a tank of V Power through say one in four though must confess I don't seem to be getting better mpg or performance. Suppose I've just gone with the sales pitch of it being a better fuel?

Nodge68 wrote:

Whoever wrote that doesn't have a clue about how a diesel works...
Yes I agree - the motoring press is full of unreliable information


As to the question of premium fuel being better? Well it depends on how the engine is being used.

Diesel fuel is dirty stuff when it's burnt, so does produce lots of carbon fouling, especially in the combustion chamber and exhaust system. This is especially so when the engine is used at low power outputs, for extended periods of time, motorway cruising being an example of that. Under these conditions, the gas velocity through the combustion chamber and exhaust is low, which gives the carbon deposits (soot) a chance to cling on to surfaces, and slowly build up. In this instance, premium diesel fuels help as they normally have decarbonisation additives to reduce this build up, which helps maintain engine efficiency and power.

If however the engine is used at full power for much of its operating cycle, then the gas speeds through the engine are higher, which prevents the carbon fouling, and actually cleans out carbon built up in a previous low power operating cycle.

Thanks for all the replies. With so many different driving situations it looks like horses for courses.

When the car was new I ran it on ordinary diesel for a few thousand miles and then changed to Shell V-Power which I have been using ever since and it seemed to run a little smoother but on the odd occasion I used ordinary diesel it did not seem to be so smooth. The problem is I have no scientific way of proving a difference and the mind is a funny thing and most of us will believe what we want to believe. When I next need fuel I will try half a tank of ordinary Shell diesel and see if there is a difference, although as I have said I can't prove anything. I contacted Shell to ask how they justify the additional cost of V-Power and if I get a reply I will post it here.

Re the perks of the Shell loyalty scheme; you do get the occasional £3 off the cost of fuel and offers on coffee and eats etc. but the objective of the scheme is primarily to get you into the Shell filling stations to buy the high profit margin coffee and (usually unhealthy) food and snacks etc.

J