Fuel conundrum
Turbo Mini Forums

Right.

Since going turbo we have religously run the van on super unleaded. Typically Esso 97 stuff.

Car runs fine on this if a little thirsty (always has been).
What we have always had is an occasional slight part throttle misfire at low rpm (sub 2200rpm)

We've been sprinting this weekend with it using our usual esso brew and a shot of millers cvl turbo.

On our trip home we needed fuel. Garage didn't have super so we decided to bash £16 of normal 95 unleaded in it and keep the boost down to 10psi max.

Well for some reason the car ran much cleaner at low rpm and felt suprisingly good for just 10psi??? It also appeared to be significantly better on fuel!?

Can anyone offer an expaination for this?

Edited by John on 18th Jul, 2011.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Could be psychological. How often do you drive on 10psi when on 97 octane? Maybe it's just as good..

I can only go to about 18psi in the Maestro when I can't find 97+ octane, and it does seem smooth. Mainly due to not having the extra 150bhp I can run.

I drove all the way to the sprint on 97 at about 6-10psi and it definately wasn't as smooth.

I was wondering if the higher octane stuff is more difficult to ignite or something along those lines?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Perhaps the sprint has flushed something out?

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

more calorific value in the 95 as less space is taken up by octane boosters.

Can you translate that into thick notherner speak Joe?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

could be the hi octane stuff has gone off - apparently it has a very short shelf life.

Keith had an issue a could of years back with fuel at MITP - bought a couple of days before and ran fine. Drained the tank and refreshed and all was fine again

95 octane may well make more power than 100 octane withe the boost wound down

Tesco 97 is shite! End of!

I said it before and I'll say it again, If you have any sort of decent engine, use nothing but V Power.

people talk about the quality of the oil they use and look for the best they can find, but when it comes to fuel, they fill the tank with the cheapest crap going. doesn'tmake sense to me

Whether its of any use, ive found asdas fuel shite, and Sainsburys fuel i think is the same as bps fuel? My car runs better on those than asdas, i have no tuned engine by all means, but even i can tell the difference there, i always stick 97ron in regardless.

Haha Tesco's can't be that bad, I ran mine on the 95RON all of Avon. I filled up with V power on the way home and it didn't seem to run as well?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fusion-Fabri..._homepage_panel

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

Apart from different octane ratings I've never noticed a difference with any of the brands. Must be down to the tune on different engines making them more sensitive to the differences I think. I've been lucky (for once!)

And the saga continues!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Morrisons is crap also.. used to cause my sup's to pull there timing alot. i find tesco or asda to give the best mpg cant beat shell though it runs alot better but cost about 2mpg more (volvo) john maybe its th 12.somthing afr on cruse?

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

fresh fuel ...if a garage does not sell enough it may have been there in the tank for weeks, months even

if you want the best john seek out some avgas but expensive !

Avgas is rubbish.

Avgas will kill your lambda sensor in no time, and likely foul the plugs up unless you fit a hotter grade. It's got that much lead in it!

Ignoring the fuel issue, on my way back from Avon the clutch started slipping on the sprint. So I turned the boost down to 5 or 7 psi. The clutch was fine then and it still drove nicely, in some ways better. Then on the commute for the next two days it used much less fuel. I think that the boost surge was so addictive that I was just driving harder. With the boot fun gone I drove more sensibly and hence better MPG.

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

i use v-power and i dont have issues.

Re different named fuels.

My wife,s cousins run the garage and filling station near to us and have been a Shell garage for 55 years.Last month Shell declined to renew their franchise on the grounds that their gallonage was too low. (More likely that they were competing with a Shell owned garage 2 miles away)

They now use a firm called Harvest Energy and all the pump heads and banners declare this,one of only 40 places to do so.

The twist is that Harvest Energy supply all the Shell stations in Scotland (with both 95 octane and V Power) as well as many other independently owned places in England, irrespective of the names on the pumps.

Their stock is sourced from wherever they can buy it most economically.

The A35 runs best on anything I give it, at 15 psi

Tesco Momentum 99 on my day to day car 1.8t is the stuff i use if i put v power in i get about 3-4 degrees of knock on the 99 momentum i get 0 degrees

Sorry for the post resurrection but I have an issue after filling us this morning. Now the shell station I use is always busy so I will discount stale fuel. I have been using V-power while running the engine in and have been very happy with the feel of the thing. But this morning I filled up with normal unleaded with some millers octane booster. The engine was much quiter and smoother but now it feels like im towing another car the drop in power is jaw dropping.

Edited by Mr Joshua on 22nd Mar, 2012.

Own the day

I need to fill up on high octane fuel before the rolling road tomorrow - and after reading this I now have less clue about what fuel to use than before!!!

I might just use boring old 95 ron unleaded and see what happens - especially when everyone says 98+ goes off in 2 days. I use my car maybe once a month and don't want to be draining the tank everytime I want to go out in it.

Any thoughts!

Re fuel going off, my dad religiously runs his m3 on v-power, he probably uses it a couple of times a month max, even less in winter, yet no matter whether the fuel is fresh or 2 weeks old it runs as smooth each time?

Audi s4 b5 - 470bhp & 486ft lbs

On 30th Apr, 2012 Brett said:
yeah stick the bit in and give it a wobble