Difference in 98 fuels

[CEF33Y]

Difference in 98 fuels

Hey guys,

 

Not sure if its worthy of a thread, but thought I'd tell the world anyway, as its made my day, haha.

 

When I had my car tuned, I made sure I was running caltex 98, (as at the time the only servo's open early when I leave for work were caltex servo's)

And by habit, have always tended to use Caltex. 

Latest tune I went to a single cell cat, (still predominately using caltex) and the amount of black deposit's on the back of the car was alarming.

One return trip to work, 150km, and it was noticeable. 4 return trips and you'd have to use degreaser to move it.

 

By chance happened to fuel up with BP, then Shell twice in a row, and had washed the car prior to this, and noticed less deposits.

I've fuelled up a further 4 times (2 with BP, 2 with Shell) and the car basically has no deposits on the back anymore! And the car seems to feel more crisp on light throttle.

 

Driving habits have not changed

Haven't changed a single thing on the car.

Boost controller hasn't been touched.

Car feels better off boost, and still feels awesome on boost

Weather has been similar.

 

I'm still trying to think if anything else would have caused this, but seriously, the only thing that has changed is the fuel.

 

To confirm I really should go back to caltex for 6 or so tanks, see if the deposits come back, but kinda like not having to de-grease the back of the car after a weeks driving.

 

I haven't spent any time looking into where the fuel comes from, i.e what brand comes from what refinery, but pretty happy with the result of changing fuels regardless!

 

Maybe I should head back to the dyno with a fresh tank of BP/Shell, and see if I can find that 10rwkw I lost.... haha

 

 

[niZmO_Man]

Could be a bad tank at the servo. Story time:

I got 50 km extra from a full 600km (so 600 to 650 km, filled up same amount) tank of driving in my R31 switching from Caltex 91 to Shell 91, back to back coastal highway trips for two days. Also I got desperate and put 10L of Caltex E10 in said R31, made it stall on cold start. I found that Mobil 91/95 (from Mobil servos back then) made said R31 run a tiny bit "nicer" than anything else I put in it. This was after a fuel filter change and cleaned injectors, as you may know ye ol' RB30E has a fixed distributor and no knock sensor, so it's not like the car was adjusting itself.

 

I've only every run Mobil (from 7-Eleven these days) in my car, mainly because they are closest to my house and their prices are cheaper (quicker to switch out of the "Thursday bump" bullshit). Never had a single problem with them in 10+ years. I've noticed the R32 GT-R (and my old GTS-t) burned through Caltex 98 and BP 98 quicker than Shell and Mobil (approx 0.5-1L/100km extra usage, variance added). Never noticed soot build up as my cars has factory cats and have grey rear bars.

 

In saying that, my friend full tanked her old Cruze last year with 98 from Bonnyrigg 7-Eleven, car stalled a few minutes after (water in fuel). They re-imbursed her Lube Mobile callout fee though.

tl;dr I avoid Caltex.

[CEF33Y]

Yeah, Its interesting!

Of the two caltex in town, one had a revamp around 4-5 years ago (unsure if they did the tanks) but the other servo is a brand new site, and I predominantly used the brand new site.

 

My fuel economy hasn't changed, so cheering.

 

[GTSBoy]

A couple of years ago I changed from BP/Mobil 98 usage to Shell 98 because after a few cross checks it was apparent to me that it ran a little nicer and used a little less.  Nowadays I can't see any difference.  This is in Adelaide.

In another thread I read recently, set in Brisbane, someone was swearing black and blue that Caltex 98 was better than all the others.

There's so much personal, subjective experience bullshit going in this sort of comparison, and so many potential regional differences (despite it all being imported it is still not clear which fuels from different vendors actually come from the same refinery and which ones definitely cop unique additive packages, etc etc), that it is just too hard come to a solid conclusion.

[CEF33Y]

In my case it wasn't, "yeah, the car got 30km more this tank and is running nicer", but a nice visual reminder every time I look at the back of the car that something has changed with a different fuel.

I understand, its so subjective. But I guess its worth changing fuels until you find one, if any that may suit your car better.

Worked for me.

 

 

 

 

[KiwiRS4T]

You need to confirm that it's the brand and not just the tank it came from. So try another Caltex and if you find BP does in fact burn cleaner then I guess you'll stick with it. I tend to buy somewhere local and look for the best discount. On the other hand I do use (and tune for) 98 .Sadly E85 is not available at the pump in Auckland and I can't be bothered with drums or driving miles to get it.

[CEF33Y]

Yes, I've been using Caltex for the last 3 years, as that's what the car was tuned with. From 4 different sites over a distance of 75km (2 near home, 2 near work)

Car has had the soot/deposits since last tune, earlier this year, when I changed the exhaust. Only recently, past month, I've been running shell/bp, again from 3 different sites, 2 near work, one at home.

E85 has only became avaliable between work and home, but its only one servo, and not a united servo, although I've heard it is united fuel.

 

Maybe a flex fuel setup is on the cards. 

[BlackBox]

I personally use bp98 in all my cars with shell being second choice and only use Caltex if I have to but I agree it is definitely subjective to the particular servos and even tank to tank. .. I have always wanted to get a sample from each servo and send it away for analysis.. although I am out in the sticks so I think they would all be pretty saddening

[AngryRB]

I think adding upper cylinder lube (lucus) made more noticable differences then fuel brands on mine.  I used half the bottle for dyno time.