My 2500 allergic to unleaded

[sulzerman]

Hi all 

I half filled my 2500 saloon with standard Texaco unleaded, as that was all that was available. Car misfired terrible, really thought something was wrong. I do normally use super unleaded

I then filled up when I had the chance with BP ultimate 97, misfire disappeared almost immediately!! Car ran far better.

A bit stressful, as on a week's holiday away from home!!

Anyone else had this?

Motto of this story, avoid Texaco unleaded!!!

 

 

[Nigel Clark]

Hi Paul, long time no see, I hope you're okay!

I'm surprised your 2500 misfired on standard unleaded. Of course, our cars all prefer super unleaded at 97 octane or better still 99 octane like Tesco Momentum or Shell V-Power. The only expected problem with using standard unleaded at 95 octane would be pinking under load, which can be cured by retarding the ignition timing a couple of degrees (at the cost of reduced performance). Not sure why it would have misfired on the ordinary Texaco but sounds like you have cured the problem with fresh super unleaded.

When touring Ireland in my TR6 I couldn't get super unleaded, so retarded the the ignition to stop it pinking on the ordinary fuel and it ran well enough, just a little down on power.

Nigel

[poppyman]

A strange one Paul i have a 2500S auto and have always used bog standard supermarket unleaded and never had a problem. Just wondering if it was a dodgy batch of fuel?

Tony. 

[sulzerman]

43 minutes ago, Nigel Clark said:

Hi Paul, long time no see, I hope you're okay!

I'm surprised your 2500 misfired on standard unleaded. Of course, our cars all prefer super unleaded at 97 octane or better still 99 octane like Tesco Momentum or Shell V-Power. The only expected problem with using standard unleaded at 95 octane would be pinking under load, which can be cured by retarding the ignition timing a couple of degrees (at the cost of reduced performance). Not sure why it would have misfired on the ordinary Texaco but sounds like you have cured the problem with fresh super unleaded.

When touring Ireland in my TR6 I couldn't get super unleaded, so retarded the the ignition to stop it pinking on the ordinary fuel and it ran well enough, just a little down on power.

Nigel

Nice to hear from you Nigel!  I thought it can't be the petrol, I changed the condensor and rotar arm but made no difference. Then filled up with super and all was good!!

[Pete Lewis]

Ha i always say 95 2**  was for side valves and motor mowers  you just upset its image and it complained   

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

2* was for the week before payday.

[PeteH]

2 things come to mind. 1) was the fillup in a remote or rural place?. Modern fuel does go "stale" faster than it used to, it has to be "rotated" more regularly. 2) Has the Engine has a head skim in a previous life, effectively increasing the C-R.? Potentially making it more susceptable?.

Pete

[sulzerman]

Hi Pete, yes the head has been skimmed, probably twice. The garage where I brought the petrol seem quite busy so probably not stale fuel

[Badwolf]

The mention of stale fuel and garage petrol turnover is interesting. How long do we (collectively) think it takes to have to renew a petrol station's main tank of higher octane petrol given that most people will use the normal 4* unleaded. The turnover of high octane must be lower but are the holding tanks smaller or just part filled. Never considered this before.

[Colin Lindsay]

58 minutes ago, Badwolf said:

The mention of stale fuel and garage petrol turnover is interesting. How long do we (collectively) think it takes to have to renew a petrol station's main tank of higher octane petrol given that most people will use the normal 4* unleaded. The turnover of high octane must be lower but are the holding tanks smaller or just part filled. Never considered this before.

This is why so many local stations no longer stock anything other than plain unleaded; even the Premium Unleaded is becoming harder to find.

[Badwolf]

I had a conversation with my barber last week. He was asking me what I thought about buying a petrol only car at the moment as he doesn't trust the electric only or 50/50 technology at the moment. He was worried about the possible loss in trade in value when the time comes to change again. I told him that as electric takes over the number of filling station would fall and that sourcing any sort of petrol would become difficult depending, of course, on time scales. He was under the impression that petrol would always be available no matter what. I pointed out that leaded petrol had gone and that only a couple of chains remained selling high octane and they were reducing as did demand. I suggested that he consider that this would be his last petrol car and that there would be no part/ex value except possibly some sort of scrappage scheme. That way he wouldn't be disappointed. He didn't really like the idea. 

[Pete Lewis]

or the value goes up as demand for a IC car might well go up when they cant be replaced with new 

there is no plan to scrap or devalue IC motors only production of NEW cars so with public demand fuel supplies have to continue 

after the no production cut off  it doesnt overnight delete IC from the world 

with no plan for infrastructure especially in roads full of terraced houses with only roadside parking much of the idea will fall short 

 

Pete

[Chris A]

14 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

 

with no plan for infrastructure especially in roads full of terraced houses with only roadside parking much of the idea will fall short 

 

Pete

That is just 1 of the reasons why I think 100% electric is not going to work, let alone the production of electricity. Hydrogen is a possibility I guess - there are  one or two cities here testing hydrogen powered busses, I think I even caught a short article a while back about a test on a commuter train.

Here nuclear power is the answer for a lot of cars - well not directly, 77% of French electricity comes from nuclear plants therefore a large number of electric cars are nuclear powered. As none of the green/environmental lobby like nuclear power maybe all the electric cars need to be banned. Hang on a minute, I seem to be stick on the roundabout without finding an exit. . . .

I'm at an age when my current modern (diesel) will last me out.

While I'm wittering on I discovered an hour ago that I have got 10 months younger. checking my drivers licence,issued in 1994 here in France there is an error with my date of birth . . Shall I tell them? NO!

 

[Badwolf]

Environmentalist, now there's an interesting creature. Don't use fossil fuel or nuclear, let's use...

Wind power - Reduced wind down wind of the turbines messes up pollination, weather characteristics and there is less breeze to dry wet clothes in an environmentally friendly way, outside. Also very ugly but who cares?

Solar - You move the heat generated by the sunlight in say the desert by converting it into electricity to power things elsewhere moving the heat somewhere else to muck up the environment there. You also muck up the environment of the area where you collect the solar power

Tides/Water - Probably the best method of true environmental production of power unless, of course, you are an aquatic creature and keep getting pushed around by barrages and other things and eventually get killed.

As you can gather, I'm not very hopeful for a solution to the problem. That's today whinge over with.

Let's face it, there are few true environmentally friendly ways of producing energy that don't involve global warming, pollution etc unless the human race dies out and I'm not very keen on that idea from my own personal perspective.

[Chris A]

38 minutes ago, Badwolf said:

unless the human race dies out and I'm not very keen on that idea from my own personal perspective.

Bit selfish there aren't you Badwolf 

I could go with that, but not just yet - if it could happen just after I shuffle off . . . .

 

[Badwolf]

45 minutes ago, Chris A said:

Bit selfish there aren't you Badwolf 

I could go with that, but not just yet - if it could happen just after I shuffle off . . . .

...and I thought that the universe revolved around me!!!

I always look after number one....Lady BW, then the mini wolf then, I suppose me. Of course there are all my helpers on the forum to look after as well so there's plenty of people that I don't want to die out.

[Nigel Clark]

7 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

This is why so many local stations no longer stock anything other than plain unleaded; even the Premium Unleaded is becoming harder to find.

I used to run a village garage with my brother and we stocked super unleaded (he's still there, I retired from it a few years ago). We would generally be taking fresh deliveries of standard unleaded and diesel every 7-10 days. For super, we refilled our tank roughly once per month.

So the super did turn over slower but not enough to cause a problem.

Nigel

[Badwolf]

Nigel - Was that pre ethanol?

[PeteH]

I tend not to think there will be an issue in the short to medium term with the availability of Petrol. Nor Diesel, the Transportation of "goods" relies heavily on the Diesel Engine, and alternatives are yet to have proved viability. Where do you put sufficient battery capacity to run a 45Tonne`s Tractor unit?, more and more of which now are running two shifts a day in the interest of efficent usage?. Many no longer get laid up overnight, but get a second driver. So less time to re-charge?. And there are millions of them to "phase out".

There is an (alleged) issue with ethanol in fuels, with 10% ethanol on the cards, It tends to degrade more quickly in storage?.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Ok so no petrol... no chainsaws, no lawnmowers, no hedgetrimmers, only those terrible battery-powered jobs that gently scratch through tree branches or a flex that's half a mile long. Not much use to the Forestry Industry or anyone working miles from civilisation.

Wonder how they'll get round having to use portable electric generators for when the mains power goes off? 

[Nigel Clark]

3 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Nigel - Was that pre ethanol?

E5 in the standard  but zero ethanol  in the super unleaded.

Nigel

[Badwolf]

Colin - That must be why they environmentally dispose of the rain forests....by burning them down to save on the petrol?

I think the environmentalists really need to have a very hard rethink. If the Duke of Edinburgh and David Attenborough have had all this on the go since the 1950s (I think), then the yoof of the day who think it's all new, have a long way to go

[Colin Lindsay]

10 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Colin - That must be why they environmentally dispose of the rain forests....by burning them down to save on the petrol?

I think the environmentalists really need to have a very hard rethink. If the Duke of Edinburgh and David Attenborough have had all this on the go since the 1950s (I think), then the yoof of the day who think it's all new, have a long way to go

We've just had the largest fires ever on the Mourne Mountains - started deliberately as usual - absolutely spectacular, but the pollution must have been horrendous. Think of all the petrol chainsaws that didn't need to be used, though.

I worry that the UK in this relentless pursuit of being a world leader in saving the planet will destroy our economy with regulations and restrictions while India, Brazil, Russia and China sit back, do nothing and reap the benefits. There's not a chance that they'll be shamed into doing likewise, or encouraged to follow suit except with large bribes. Paid for by the UK of course.

[Badwolf]

Colin - ( morning rant coming up). It really gets me when business people flea the country to set up their businesses in say Singapore or China so they can produce their products without having to comply with UK employment regulations and then ship back expensive items and make huge profits. I once had a client who bragged to me that he had moved out to Indonesia because his labour bill was greatly reduced and that he wouldn't otherwise be able to make money on his already stupidly expensive trainers. The only way that I see to return UK manufacturing is to tax these imports so that the UK products are more attractive. Not a popular move I know but if employers in the UK have to pay minimum wages and the Orient pays it's workers sod all and force them to work in appalling conditions then there will never be a fair playing field. We all love to pay as little as possible for our product but that's the way it is going to be. Sorry about the thread drift. I'll go and find my pills.

[Pete Lewis]

 +1    gets my vote

 

Pete