[TMP]

So I filled up with BP Ultimate today… I didn’t really see any mpg improvement with Shell V Power last year and thought I would try BP for a few tanks.
BUT it just bugs the hell out of me not knowing if Premium D gives a power increase (or not) - especially when you compare to well established proof for petrol e.g. Imrans@Evolve 335i dyno’s

So, how could we prove this once and for all?. I am open to suggestions and maybe some volunteers to try…..

My thought on a approach is:

1) Run a few cars on Premium Shell & BP diesel for at least 3 tanks (do diesels need to adapt to premium fuel like petrol’s do?)

2) Go and Dyno them

3) Now the tricky bit, the above dyno should be done on near empty tanks. Then we go and fill up with regular D and Dyno again (logic here is ecu will have to immediately adapt to lower grade fuel, hence you should see lower Dyno output)

Or maybe I should just not worry and stick to regular D with the odd tank of premium

[Dave_3]

If you can't feel any difference why bother ? Not being cheeky.

I can feel a marked difference (I am not talking about flat out power runs - more smoothness, quietness, part-throttle response and economy), so I buy the better stuff. But if you personally feel or sense no difference than why bother with the more expensive Diesel, even if it can be proven to give a quantifiable increase ?

You're perceived driving experience will be exactly the same, other than the knowledge that it should be better.

If I could tell no difference I'd put the cheaper stuff in myself.

If you have been runnning it on good fuel, why not try the inverse and run on really cheap fuel for a while to see what it runs like ?

D.

[xenon]

If you're simply talking about specific power output then even if you get a small bhp increase it will be in the order of a few percent and not something you would ever notice on the road, where day-to-day factors (temperature, atmospheric pressure etc) would have more of an influence.

What you might notice, as Dave has said, is a perception of smoother running and possibly an increase in economy sufficient to offset the extra cost.

I can't tell the slightest difference in mine but then I don't have a 335.

[milesr3]

Run 2-3 tanks of the same premium diesel and then switch back to regular stuff. I was forced to put regular Esso diesel in mine a couple of weeks ago after running it exclusively on V-Power. The midrange torque and part-throttle response was noticeably worse.

FWIW BP claim up to 8.2% power gain from Ultimate diesel:
http://www.bp.com//sectiongenericart...tentId=7009069

I'd expect our cars to be at the top end of that.

[dxb335d]

In all honesty, you would have to do it all in a day (dyno runs), draining tanks and the like.

I have run regular denzil two years ago for two months and the car felt flat as a pancake. So went back to premium denzil

[HighlandPete]

A lot of the "I'll try a couple of tanks" experiments just don't get the same results as running continuously on a premium fuel.

Easier if the engine is nearly new and obviously in top condition, but what if you have some carbon build up and injectors are not giving top performance? Where is the benchmark for a comparison?, until the engine cleans a bit, if it does. Keeping parts clean and cleaning an engine, are two different things, IMO.

I run my car on BP Ultimate when filling locally, can't always get it in the remote parts of the highlands, so soon notice the difference when the tank is filled with standard stuff.

The engine feels lacking, not as smooth, mid range is not as strong and economy always is less on standard diesel. Even start and idle are less refined. I do think one of the best tests is the steady speed cruise where combustion is at its best, my car runs on a much lighter throttle.

FifthGear did a dyno test on different diesel fuels and the premium fuels gave more bhp.

It does appear the higher the performace the diesel engine is, the more the differences show. Like premium fuels typically do in petrol engines.

HighlandPete

[Carrera RSR]

Originally Posted by TMP

So I filled up with BP Ultimate today… I didn’t really see any mpg improvement with Shell V Power last year and thought I would try BP for a few tanks.
BUT it just bugs the hell out of me not knowing if Premium D gives a power increase (or not) - especially when you compare to well established proof for petrol e.g. Imrans@Evolve 335i dyno’s

So, how could we prove this once and for all?. I am open to suggestions and maybe some volunteers to try…..

My thought on a approach is:

1) Run a few cars on Premium Shell & BP diesel for at least 3 tanks (do diesels need to adapt to premium fuel like petrol’s do?)

2) Go and Dyno them

3) Now the tricky bit, the above dyno should be done on near empty tanks. Then we go and fill up with regular D and Dyno again (logic here is ecu will have to immediately adapt to lower grade fuel, hence you should see lower Dyno output)

Or maybe I should just not worry and stick to regular D with the odd tank of premium

You've clearly got too much time on your hands to

1. Think about it
2. Plan it
3. Execute it

I'd suggest getting a busy job, wife, child and the only fuel issue on your mind will be 'have I got enough to get me to work in the morning as I haven't got time to stop and fuel up!!!'

[Matt2008]

Since getting my new 335d in Nov i've always put BP Ultimate in.
Whether it makes any difference i have no idea but putting bog standard diesel in just feels wrong to me.

[toxicnerve]

I use the bogo stuff! Guess I might as well be putting in crude oil

[toxicnerve]

What is DIN EN 590?

I assume this is standard Diesel? That's what the manual says to use...

[ElegantSpoon]

I only ever use BP Ultimate so can't comment on normal diesel. A article in Audi Driver made me use BP ultimate. They had a audi V8 and ran four cylinders on normal diesel and four on BP Ultimate and monitored the ware and condition of the injectors and the pictures showed a massive difference!

[grey man]

I have read that the 'premium' diesels burn cleaner - and so have less soot particles to remove. This means that there are less soot removal cycles of the DPF - and it should last longer. Not sure if its true, but I always use BP ultimate

[TMP]

Originally Posted by Carrera RSR

You've clearly got too much time on your hands to

1. Think about it
2. Plan it
3. Execute it

I'd suggest getting a busy job, wife, child and the only fuel issue on your mind will be 'have I got enough to get me to work in the morning as I haven't got time to stop and fuel up!!!'

LOL, I am afraid I do have busy job, wife and child(s)....(2nd one just 8 weeks old, but he has just started sleeping thru )

However I am cursed with needing to that what I spend my hard earned cash on is giving me the most in return

And back at ya, if you have time to read and respond to a post on Premium diesel

[TMP]

Good point about trying 'lesser' fuels - I only ever use Shell Standard, so maybe this is a good level of fuel to start of with.

I did see the BP website and at least they do post % BHP and mpg gains for Ultimate, unlike Shell.

Will give it a few tanks of Ultimate to see if I see if I do get a economy/ smoothness improvement. Doing about 500 miles this week, so will see there are any early signs of cruising improvment.

But as above do really want to know what specific improvemnt I am getting.

[chris330D]

At the risk of getting ridiculed I have put in Tescos finest diesel. tried V Power and it felt a bit faster but to be honest the car is not exactly slow and 10p per litre is better spent on beer/wine IMHO

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by chris330D

At the risk of getting ridiculed I have put in Tescos finest diesel. tried V Power and it felt a bit faster but to be honest the car is not exactly slow and 10p per litre is better spent on beer/wine IMHO

QFT

[F32Fleet]

Hello from across the pond. Have any of you guys consider using a diesel fuel additive in addition to your Premium diesel?

In the US the VW TDI and other diesel guys are big on lubricity (not really an issue for you like it is for us), cetane, and keeping the injectors clean.

In the U.S. the big players in this market are Powerservice, Stanadyne, Amsoil, and Opti-lube.

http://powerservice.com/dk/

http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/acb.aspx

http://www.stanadyne.com/view.php?id=74

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Socom

Hello from across the pond. Have any of you guys consider using a diesel fuel additive in addition to your Premium diesel?

In the US the VW TDI and other diesel guys are big on lubricity (not really an issue for you like it is for us), cetane, and keeping the injectors clean.

In the U.S. the big players in this market are Powerservice, Stanadyne, Amsoil, and Opti-lube.

http://powerservice.com/dk/

http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/acb.aspx

http://www.stanadyne.com/view.php?id=74

A lot of guys over here (VW included) use Millers, one of the UK's leading products, an additive typically used with the standard fuel, as cetane improver and cleaner/lubricity enhancer. Their latest product can be used with DPFs. Premium fuels have an additive package to do the same thing.

Here in the UK the damper atmosphere and many short trips don't help our engines at all. So helping reduce the muck and deposits in our diesel engines is a good idea.

HighlandPete

[TMP]

So, first tank of BP ultimate in...

I am defo feeling the placebo effect....is it running smoother, not sure....ooo thats smooth, but than it always was

Mpg seems similar to previous Shell Standard:
I got a 43.5 driving it hard over to Leeds and 47.8 driving at 70mph coming back ( Both run on busy M60/M62 )
Coming back from Swindon I got an impressive 46.5. Impressive becuase I was stuck in stop/start for around an hour all the way up from M5/M6.
Turns out i got a better brim to brim reading than the trip comp. (usually they are both spot on) by about 1.5 mpg

Anyway, I have filled up again with BP ultimate going to do so for a few more tanks.

Thought this was quite a cool link/video to explain higher cetane http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarti...tentId=7009145


Still surprised that there is no real proof of BHP difference in our Beamers tho' .....

[TMP]

Originally Posted by Socom

Hello from across the pond. Have any of you guys consider using a diesel fuel additive in addition to your Premium diesel?

In the US the VW TDI and other diesel guys are big on lubricity (not really an issue for you like it is for us), cetane, and keeping the injectors clean.

In the U.S. the big players in this market are Powerservice, Stanadyne, Amsoil, and Opti-lube.

http://powerservice.com/dk/

http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/acb.aspx

http://www.stanadyne.com/view.php?id=74

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

A lot of guys over here (VW included) use Millers, one of the UK's leading products, an additive typically used with the standard fuel, as cetane improver and cleaner/lubricity enhancer. Their latest product can be used with DPFs. Premium fuels have an additive package to do the same thing.

Here in the UK the damper atmosphere and many short trips don't help our engines at all. So helping reduce the muck and deposits in our diesel engines is a good idea.

HighlandPete

This is interesting......and I have never considered it and problably would'nt unless I could see concrete proof.....

Is it also fair to say, this isnt actively used by peeps on here?