Fuel Filter and refusal to honor warranty!

Gloomendoom

I know of several people who have had filter waxing problems this winter who exclusively use fuel from the big brands, Shell, BP etc.

One was told by his dealer that the problem was supermarket fuel. He said the look on the service manager's face was priceless when he slapped down a stack of his weekly fuel receipts, all from BP.

photome

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I know of several people who have had filter waxing problems this winter who exclusively use fuel from the big brands, Shell, BP etc.

One was told by his dealer that the problem was supermarket fuel. He said the look on the service manager's face was priceless when he slapped down a stack of his weekly fuel receipts, all from BP.

That cant be true because the dealers say otherwise including some of the motor traders on here:eek::eek:

mattyprice4004

This is one of the (many) reasons I'll avoid modern common-rail engines for as long as possible.

Good old direct injection - running on 50/50 veg oil / diesel mix all this and last winter.

Alexwild

I had a similar problem with my Megane 1.5dCi about a year ago. I filled up with Tesco diesel (as I always had done for the clubcard points) and the next morning I lost all power above 2000rpm. With a max speed of 20mph I managed to nurse it to the local Ford stealer in Horsham who also deal with Renaults and nabbed a pool car to continue on my way to Stockport (a Fabia vRS no less - 180bhp is a stupid figure in that sort of car, good fun though!). I phoned them up later to be told it was contaminated fuel and that they had 3 diesel Mondeo's and a Focus in all with the same problem, all requiring new fuel filters and all having been filled up the day before at Tesco! I never saw the bill as it's a company car but the dealer, whilst not saying I shouldn't fill up at Tesco's, said there was no point trying to complain as they'd say it wasn't their fault.

I've used BP ever since and the car does run noticeably better and gets a good 30-40 miles extra out of a tank. I now only use supermarket fuel if I need to put a drop in a hire car!

Paradigm

Alexwild wrote: »

I phoned them up later to be told it was contaminated fuel and that they had 3 diesel Mondeo's and a Focus in all with the same problem, all requiring new fuel filters and all having been filled up the day before at Tesco!

Did they tell you what it was contaminated with? I'll bet they didn't & charged each customer a hefty whack for changing the fuel filter

plane_boy2000

I drive past a Shell and an Asda station on my way to / from work. I used to use Asda, mainly because I could pay at the pump so it was quicker, but noticed that although the Shell station is 1 - 2 ppl more expensive I always get slightly more miles out of a tank, and although its subjective, I think my car runs slightly better.

I've found this with my last few cars and my Mrs car, so I've no idea what additive is different at Shell, but it appears to make a difference.

KTF

plane_boy2000 wrote: »

I've no idea what additive is different at Shell, but it appears to make a difference.

Its called 'placebo'.

Nilrem

Paradigm wrote: »

So if they're meeting the legal requirement what exactly is the problem?
EN 590 is a Europe wide standard that has been in force since 1993, if supermarket diesel fuel meets this standard but "some" engines have problems & need extra additives to run properly then shouldn't we be looking at the engine manufacturers & asking why they are designing engines that don't operate correctly on the standard grade fuel?

Aye, engines should be made to work with the legal standards - and IIRC the EU has higher standards than several other large parts of the world...

If the engine isn't able to cope with fuel that meets the legally mandated standards, it's not fit for use in this country (and only an utterly !!!!!! company would allow an engine that can't cope with EU fuel to be used in an engine*).

It shouldn't require you to find a specific retailer in case your engine doesn't like the legal standard fuel, especially as in some areas you can go quite a distance before finding a non supermarket owned station (especially if you don't know the area).

Having said all that, it wouldn't be the first time something has gone into production with the manufacturers knowing that it's not fit for purpose, if they can blame it on a third party easily (I suspect most people don't keep fuel receipts unless it's for business purposes).


*Besides anything else, if it can't cope with the fuel in the EU, it's likely to have even more problems in other parts of the world where "quality" fuel is harder to fine and the "normal" fuel might be of lower quality.

Ratboy

B O R I N G ! ! !

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah!!!!

Waffled off from various people; 'Well, I'm told in the press that Supermarket is bad, and I filled up there 3 weeks last Tuesday, or was it a Thursday, no, a Monday...

I also read on the Internet, various people agreeing with me, as to, I filled up, can't remember where or when, but my car has suddenly used a lot of fuel (forgetting that track day/motorway run etc)..

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BP ESSO TEXACO SHELL et al...

BUT in the UK we are being ripped off twice; because we, in the UK get 95, 97, 99 RON fuels. Also 101 - expensive and exclusive.

I took a trip across Europe a few years ago, and the only fuel available was 99 RON, priced less than basic 95.

gord115

Ratboy wrote: »

B O R I N G ! ! !



THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BP ESSO TEXACO SHELL et al...

Yes there is.