Fuel consumption.

[maddogrc]

hmmm,

i always fill up from the local shell near the industrial area so thats got a high turn over (one side of the station is high roof/wide bays for trucks and the other side is for normal cars) and they always display their diesel cost on the big price board over here?

also i'm on 10c off each time i go there just using vouchers. they're a few cents more than some other places, but the 10c makes the difference. usually buying diesel at around 110.9 to 115.9 these days

 

[SOLID D22]

The price of diesel doesnt phase me as long as i fill up at truck stops, i have to drive past 5 close to home servos to get to a truck stop servo and it might sometimes be 3c dearer but does not worry me the least. I got nothing against shell myself but when i used to use optimax in my commodore it always went like crap and fouled the plugs and with my charger not one mechanic recommended shell, i know that was unleaded but i suppose it just stuck with me and i just keep following my way now.

Dont know about diesel but i know unleaded only has a life of 6 months max, now it will still burn after 6 months but it wont be at its RON rating, i know this cos at a charger club meeting we had a Bp spokesman come out and talk about the new bp ultimate fuel and we all asked questions and one was that most of our cars sit a long time in the garage till the next time they come out again, he said yes it will run and a very high chance of fouling plugs and best bet would be to put in 10l of fresh fuel to mix it all up.

 

[Old.Tony]

Diesel tends to get waxy and can clog injectors as well as the pump, rail and filter. I saw it recommended somewhere that you fire a diesel engine up at least weekly.

As for unleaded, I have an unleaded powered Honda Eu20si generator, when we come back from camping I always empty its tank into the wife's car and then buy fresh the day we're going away again. I learned my lesson with my Jaguar - my injectors were gummed up and it cost me $75 each to get them sonically cleaned twice. All 12 of them.

 

[KraftyPg]

Ok so going by the last few posts I'm getting the idea that fuel preference is more to do with the servo than the actual fuel which is good cause with all the comments about buying from one brand only I was beginning to think I was missing out on something.

 

[SOLID D22]

I was once running REALLY low on fuel so i had to pull into a united servo, i didnt like the idea of filling up there but had to so in went the diesel and some lpg. Sure enough a few days later boom, thats the sound of backfire you may hear some lpg cars make, it never made that sound before, it was out the exhaust luckily, when i came back from camping i rang the guys that installed the gas, first thing they said to me was usually thats a cause of dirty lpg, i told em i filled up at a united servo, that was a big no no.
It has never done it from other servos but he also did recommend to fill gas up at the supagas servos if i could as they and another place i cant remember the name, are the only servos that sell pure lpg as other servos have a high mixture of butane with the lpg they sell, this causes the converter to clog up slowly with a black sludge type of liquid, iv had mine cleaned out once already.

 

[KraftyPg]

Fuel can come in bad batches there is no doubt about it and that crappy stuff that went through Melb 6 months ago with the silicone that killed engines was a prime example but I still wonder just how many places refine their own fuels and therefore whether brand really comes into.

We've got two Shell servos/general stores down here that are actually owned by the same owner who runs the local United and despite their branding they get fuel delivered in United trucks and I bet they aren't the only ones in the country.

 

[Dave]

I only run mobil fuel through my Navara, Caltex it uses more fuel. Shell it uses more fuel.

BP is my second choice on fuel brand.

Dave.

 

[Jason]

I tend to run Shell or Matilda.

 

[SOLID D22]

I tend to run Shell or Matilda.

Iv never heard of matilda.

 

[Jason]

Just a QLD thing maybe

Matilda Fuel Online

 

[KraftyPg]

Ok so it really looks like preference for servos comes down a personal thing more than anything else, I can relate to that. So here's another fuel question, if price wasn't an issue and there was a choice of a leading brand name diesel and a diesel that was blend of up to 20% biodiesel is it worth using.

I'm not worried so much in who agrees Bio is going to save the world and who doesn't I'm more interested in whether people consider it a viable alternative on long trips.

There is a WA servo that uses blended bio and it's a major truck stop 1500ks east of Perth, so if long haul truckies are willing to fill their trucks at such a place and trust they will still make the haul into the big smoke would you trust it in your Nav?

 

[Old.Tony]

Based on the research pointed to in the Adding 2-Stroke Oil to Diesel thread, I'd be happy using up to 5% biodiesel but would hesitate at more.

That's part of why I'm using Caltex. The other main reason is that of the 3 servos that are nearby, the Caltex has the highest turnover of diesel. Price, despite me listing it first, is actually less a reason to go there.

If Nissan would state that I could run on higher %age of bio then I'd be happy to do it.

 

[SOLID D22]

Id hesitate too running on a fair whack of bio diesel. Just because some patrol guys i heard from there cars dont like it.

 

[KraftyPg]

I have always been hesitant too but the thing that does make me wonder is just how many trucks use this stuff.

I realise the average Kenworth engine capable of pulling 90 odd tonnes is a little different to my Nav's motor but one company I know of that does the Nullabor run and has over 130 trucks on the road (seems half of them are on the Nullabor) and fill up at these servos on a regular basis.

Surely if there was issues with the fuel itself they wouldn't use it. I wonder if any of the WA Nav drivers have been using this stuff, their servos seem to be fairly busy in the city areas over there.

Although having said price wasn't an issue, this time last year the road house out on the Nullabor was selling this stuff for over 20 cents a litre cheaper than the others were selling their leading brand stuff which was already about 30-40 cents per litre dearer than city prices.

 

[SOLID D22]

Are any of the trucks running on diesel gas?

 

[Old.Tony]

Warranty's important to me! So is the environment, so I'll email my dealer and get him to answer that question.

 

[KraftyPg]

Are any of the trucks running on diesel gas?

As far as I am aware no but that may have changed in the last 12 months. It could also have something to do with what's available out in the middle of nowhere. I'm not 100% sure on this but I don't remember every stop on the Nullabor having gas available and since truckies are a bit habitual and only stop places they can know they can trust maybe that has a bearing on whats available to them.

 

[maddogrc]

for the perth guys...

theres a servo in kwinana selling the bio fuel and dad decided to give that a shot.

results? car used up the fuel quicker and seemed to have lost a bit of punch?

he then swapped back to normal fuel and was back to normal

 

[jap55s]

i think, ill just use plain old diesel for mine.

 

[KraftyPg]

for the perth guys...

theres a servo in kwinana selling the bio fuel and dad decided to give that a shot.

results? car used up the fuel quicker and seemed to have lost a bit of punch?

he then swapped back to normal fuel and was back to normal

Is that the Peak On Rockingham Road? Thats not the same mob out of the Nullabor but it could be the same fuel. I filled up with unleaded at the Peak last year and there was a queue of trucks there.

I understand all engines handle different on different fuels and maybe small diesels just don't like it. A Kenworth pulling three trailers needs a tad more punch than I do and therefore I wouldn't think they'd be running the fuel if it didn't given them the punch. I'll be sure to make an effort and talk to a few of these truckies this trip and see exactly what they think given that it's probably a management decision more than a driver decision I might get a more balanced answer.