Does anyone know if the extra additives etc that come with 'super diesel' make any difference in colder weather?

I remember last winter getting blue smoke on start up and the engine sounding a little rougher (which is to be expected apparently).

Anyway, I seem to recall one member on here saying he uses V-Power as it makes the engine quiter and smoother.

Any thoughts on this? LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

I've just put in a tankfull of vpower rather than my usual Tesco diesel with a touch of 2stroke. It may be only me but it rattles a lot more than normal and the mpg has dropped. I'll have to give Ted a good run and see if things improve.

BossBob wrote:

I've just put in a tankfull of vpower rather than my usual Tesco diesel with a touch of 2stroke. It may be only me but it rattles a lot more than normal and the mpg has dropped. I'll have to give Ted a good run and see if things improve.

I would never add 2 stroke, it sounds a bit dodgy. But where I can I use v power diesel, it does make a bit of difference. But its personal opinion I guess and what you can afford! I think all diesel will have a rattle when it's cold!

The Doctor wrote:

Does anyone know if the extra additives etc that come with 'super diesel' make any difference in colder weather?

I remember last winter getting blue smoke on start up and the engine sounding a little rougher (which is to be expected apparently).

Anyway, I seem to recall one member on here saying he uses V-Power as it makes the engine quiter and smoother.

Any thoughts on this?

Haven't used them in the FL2. But I used to use Ultimate in my Disco 2. Gave a smoother engine and more mpg. Strangely I didn't get any noticeable effect from the Shell stuff. Recently told on a LR Experience that they use the premium fuels on all their cars as they get better mpg and no DPF problems.

These fuels have a higher cetane rating so you ought in theory to get better performance. Same is true of biodiesel, though again I haven't tried that in my FL.

Wherever I can, I use Shell fuelsave diesel and have done for a while. I find my car runs smoother on it, especially with 300mls of 2 stroke in a full tank. My previous Jag was better by 5mpg or more when using Shell. Poke it, Poke it, make it do it again!!

Gone - 2008 Freel2 HSE Santorini Black
Hello - 2010 RRS TDV6 3.0 HSE Santorini Black

Certain comments made on this thread are rubbish, ands I am not talking about russben, pastmaster, landy19840, tigger, bossbob or the doctor.

I have run mine on V-Power diesel constantly in the 4 years I have owned it. Getting to the point, if you run 1 or two tanks of V-Power, you will see no difference at all. You need to have at least 4-5 tanks constantly before you even see any benefit.

Yes, V-Power costs a little more, but I have found you do get that little bit more from a tank full which covers the extra cost.

To answer The Doc's question, I for sure have found that in winter, when it is really cold, the engine does run quieter than your normal diesel, my neighbours GS TD4 is louder than ours all year round. He has cottoned on to this now and has been running V-Power for the past 3 months now and he has noticed things are alot better.

The likes of Shell and BP CANNOT claim these fuels offer advantages if they don't in practise. There are too many people who use one tank full and go back to normal diesel and claim it is crap.

After it's last service, myself and the technician inspected the fuel filter, and considering it had done 8000 miles on just V-Power, it was significantly cleaner than another FL2 which had been serviced which he knew for a fact lived on supermarket fuels.

So by constantly using this fuel, you will break even on your costs, but for me it's knowing that the fuel system and engine are being kept perfectly clean. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Mav71 wrote:

Certain comments made on this thread are rubbish, ands I am not talking about russben, pastmaster, landy19840, tigger, bossbob or the doctor.

I have run mine on V-Power diesel constantly in the 4 years I have owned it. Getting to the point, if you run 1 or two tanks of V-Power, you will see no difference at all. You need to have at least 4-5 tanks constantly before you even see any benefit.

Yes, V-Power costs a little more, but I have found you do get that little bit more from a tank full which covers the extra cost.

To answer The Doc's question, I for sure have found that in winter, when it is really cold, the engine does run quieter than your normal diesel, my neighbours GS TD4 is louder than ours all year round. He has cottoned on to this now and has been running V-Power for the past 3 months now and he has noticed things are alot better.

The likes of Shell and BP CANNOT claim these fuels offer advantages if they don't in practise. There are too many people who use one tank full and go back to normal diesel and claim it is crap.

After it's last service, myself and the technician inspected the fuel filter, and considering it had done 8000 miles on just V-Power, it was significantly cleaner than another FL2 which had been serviced which he knew for a fact lived on supermarket fuels.

So by constantly using this fuel, you will break even on your costs, but for me it's knowing that the fuel system and engine are being kept perfectly clean.

I have seen these premium fuels improving engines on test beds, where the power and torque can be closely monitored. The main test unit for diesel, is the PSA DW10, very similar type to the DW12 of a Freelander.
The engine runs a power curve over one hour, and this is repeated for 8 hours. It then shuts down for 8 hours to let any fouling of the injectors cool and harden. After restart, the power has often reduced to a lower point than it had before shut down. After another 8 hours run, the power is often much reduced from start of test. At this point, the test can be ended, if the additive package has proved to cause fouling as expected (or not) by the chemists. They then go off to reformulate the additives. Sometimes though, they will ask for a clean up test, and change the fuel to perhaps V-power. The engine is set off again, running the same cycle, and as the V-power gets flowing, you can see the power and torque coming back up. Sometimes, power will be higher than that seen at the start of the previous test. It usually takes only 2 or 3 hours for the effect to take place. Another cause of power loss, not generally known about, is Zinc fouling. Some older fuel outlets, have galvanised tanks and supply pipes. Modern diesel will cause the zinc from the pipes/tanks etc to leech out. this zinc will foul your injector nozzles, which are very fine now. Fuel deliberately adulterated with zinc, will be seen to drop the power. However, the additives in V-power, Ultimate and Exellium, enable the fuel to keep the injectors clean with as much as 2% zinc included.
I don't usually bother to take part in V-power posts, as the naysayers annoy me, but as there seems to be some sensible posts on here, I thought I would just give a little "insider" knowledge away.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was just curious about the colder weather aspect. I have certainly noticed a difference with the fuels. Mostly following what Mav71 said.

Basically for at least the last 8 fill up's or half fill up's, I have used V-Power. I have found it to be that little bit more responsive and a little smoother/quieter. Interestingly there is less smoke on acceleration too.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make sure I wasn't imagining things so I filled up with Shell Fuel Save which in itself is superior to supermarket diesel. There is more smoke and it feels just slightly more sluggish.

I am therefore happy to use V-Power all the time unless the difference in price became utterly ridiculous (which is unlikely - touch wood). I just wondered about the start up in winter which sometimes takes longer and with blue smoke, perhaps V-Power will reduce this.

P.S, I got myself a Shell Drivers Club card so every so often I get a money off fuel voucher  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

I use to use the shell v power with my freelander 1 and the difference was exceptional. However, due to very short journeys in winter I didnt feel it was so beneficial in mpg terms.

For a while I was working near a Morrisons and filled up there on about 4 occasions My miles per tank dropped drastically from about 320 to 250.

Unfortunatly the diesel prices at my nearist Shell station went up a lot compared to the Jet and texico and this was just for the standard diesel. Also, shell made it almost impossible to gain from being in the V-Power club. This has caused me to stop using it. However, I have been monitoring the mpg I am getting ready for another trial. But any trial should be lenghty to compare after tank has been well flushed through and for the seasons etc.

It is interesting that my local shell station is always within 1p of the local supermarkets for the normal stuff and about 5p a litre for V-Power.

My CLK gets V-Power most of the time, but when I am out and about with work (30/35000 miles year) it is not always possible to get it, but I still avoid supermarkets like the plague.

The biggest area where I see massive difference is on my Astra Convertible, it has the 2.2 VX220 petrol engine and on V-Power it is really responsive, but put in some normal unleaded and it becomes very sluggish. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Petrol engines are a bit different though! Your Astra will have an automatic advance/retard mechanism that tunes the engine to make optimum use of the fuel, and the difference will indeed be noticeable. I don't think diesels have reached that level of sophistication yet...

Past master wrote:

Petrol engines are a bit different though! Your Astra will have an automatic advance/retard mechanism that tunes the engine to make optimum use of the fuel, and the difference will indeed be noticeable. I don't think diesels have reached that level of sophistication yet...

Your right it does. You have to be carefull though. it can take maybe 2 tanks for the car to fully advance to the good stuff, but just half a tank of the crap stuff and it retards back and you have to start again!

I am having it supercharged in the spring so for sure will have to stay on the good stuff!  Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........