v-power

[pirate952]

i filled up with v-power in my car just out of habbit, is it actualy worth running a 86 2.0 on it? didnt really feel any differance. that was over a tanks worth tho.

[Jhonno]

no it isnt

[GrindCulture]

Nope, I've tried it a few times, didn't notice anything. Unless I build/buy a car in a high state of tune I shant bother again.

[march109]

Don't be so wet.

[powelly]

As far as I know they have no knock sensor, the b25 certainly doesn't, any higher octane fuel is wasted therefore as it's can't adjust the timing accordingly.

[pirate952]

well thats what i didnt know, if it was able to adjust anything. and i will be as wet as i like its friday so there neh neh lol
just ive been running a 84 saab that had to run on the stuff so filled up since without thinking.

[stonesie]

The cars ECU is mapped to run on 92 octain fuel, so eaven the normal 95 we get in the UK is much better than the engine needs and any higher is a waste of money imho

[march109]

The cars ECU is mapped to run on 92 octain fuel, so eaven the normal 95 we get in the UK is much better than the engine needs and any higher is a waste of money imho

Its not any better at all, octane is not a measure of quality or power.

In fact 95RON is worse for an engine than 92RON if thats what its designed to run on, this is why people find the NGKs meant for early m20s work well in the facelift m20s.

The higher the octabe the more power (spark) required to ignite the fuel that is all it means. This is not the same as diesel fuel though.

[Felix79]

your waisting your money like the others said , it has no knock sesnsor so standard unleaded will give the same effect.

[stonesie]

ok i ment safer as in more resistance to knocking/pinking under high load conditions, all irrelivant really as felix says, the M20 eavan in the motronic versoins has no knock sensor so will not advance the timeing to make use of the extra knock resistance of the fuel eaven if you put 115ron avgas in it.

[BigBavarian]

I put about 15litres in my very temporary 316i (till i get the m50 conversion done) on a H by accident and it made it splutter and miss once topped up to the top with regular it ran fine no problems.

[pirate952]

i see, i wasnt sure if just having more octane would burn better, in my saab it makes a huge differance between normal and super, and in my bugeye umpreza it made a massive differance, i dont know much about the m20 tho hence the question. cheaper fuel for pirate woooop

[fuzzy]

it will make a difference in a modern turbo powered car. it makes a difference in my cossied touring .
i remember 5th gear tested the old optimax in a imprezza and a basic clio. 15bhp more in the imprezza , no difference whatso ever in a clio.
try using the 107 octane available at selected bp stations in your imprezza. £2.50 per litre last time i used it over a year ago.

[march109]

The higher intake temps in turbo cars mean the fuel is likely to detonate before the spark effecting power release. Higher octane fuels negate the chances of pre-detonation by requiring more energy to ignite the fuel. Higher octane fuels can also be beneficial in high compression engines where the extra compression of the air raises the operating temperature and would ignite normal fuel premeturely.

Engines with knock sencers that can adjust timing to suit the fuel used can also make use of high or low octane fuel by adapting to suit.

In a non turbo engine and relatively low c/r e30 engine with no knock sencer nothing over or under what the engine was designed to be used with could possibly be beneficial.

[pirate952]

ok, i get it, my engine is far too old to know the differance between fuels. thanks for all the info, its better then being at school!

[fuzzy]

ok, i get it, my engine is far too old to know the differance between fuels. thanks for all the info, its better then being at school!

no its not. theres no scantily clad schoolgirls to drool over here.

[Felix79]

i have a question , does the higher octained fule burn cleaner and would help keeping the injectores cleaner and help the car keep it's performance

[march109]

i have a question , does the higher octained fule burn cleaner and would help keeping the injectores cleaner and help the car keep it's performance

No, matching the octane to the engine map/timing characteristics would help it burn cleaner. Which isn't hard the manufacturer would tell you what to use.

Using cleaning additives would clean the injectors, the way the fuel burns wouldn't affect the injectors anyway.

[pirate952]

thats what i wonderd, if the fuel would burn cleaner and bettererer.

[Felix79]

I use RedeX int he Alpina all the time as I am making sure it is getting the best possibe treatment.

Would buying petrol from a branded station be a higher quality compared to say Tesco's petrol?

[march109]

Thats debatable, every company will claim to have a better formulae, the realitiy however is all the fuel for a particular region comes from the refinery that services that region regardless of the refinery owner or garage owner.

However that said the refineries may supply different blends to different garages, but blends would hardly be secret. I suspect all 'premium' fuels may be the same regardless of supplier, and all supermarket fuels are probably also sold on bp/esso ect forecourts as the basic stuff.

[fuzzy]

but then last year wasnt it only tesco that was having problems fooking up engines with contaminated fuels?

[march109]

From the tankers that delivered it I suspect rather than source.

[Jon_Bmw]

It was morrisons mainly and was to do with the tankers possibly transporting diesel, then petrol. Silicon contamination if my memory serves me correctly.

[iDreamBeemer]

While there is no performance gain from higher octane fuels the Shell v-power does have some very good cleaning additives which will work on any car but as already said you can get this from additives you can add yourself. IIRC the Fifth Gear tests showed the Shell one was about the only one that really made any differences on both fronts (cleaning and performance)

[Felix79]

I think I read in the owner manual inthe Alpina BMW reconmended Texico petrol to be used.

I normally use use Shell or BP petrol due to the stations being right next to my house.

I wuld say shell petrol does stink worse than any others

[handpaper]

IIRC, Tesco and Sainsbury's mainly, some muppet put 100x the proper amount of detergent additive in.
Oh, and e30s are built to run on 91 octane - it says so inside the filler flap

[pirate952]

so running a tank of v-power once a month may keep the system clean?

[Felix79]

I think it would be snesable