Diesel Fuel: Experiences & Performance

I'd like to hear what kind of diesel fuel you all use and how you think it affects the engine's running smoothness and driving characteristics.

The only diesel that I consider to be true diesel is Aral Ultimate Diesel and Shell V-Power Diesel. This stuff is colorless, just like the regular diesel used to be in East Germany!

This fuel is also less volatile than all the others - the drop test on concrete makes it clear; the spot stays where it is.

Golf 4 (Sig.): Only Aral Ultimate Diesel. With a maximum annual mileage of 5000km, the price doesn't matter to me. Hobbies are pointless anyway!

T4 (Sig.): Only Aral or Shell normal diesel fuel is allowed. Most of the kilometers were driven with those brands.

Experiences? Quite a few, but mostly with standard diesel fuel. Aral Ultimate Diesel resulted in a smoother and quieter engine operation in both the 1.25 DDIS (also known as 1.3 CDTI or 1.3 JTD) and the 1.4 HDI engines. The "Power Diesel" offered by a Hoyer gas station (for about 5 cents more) had no noticeable effect and looked exactly like the conventional fuel.

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The stuff is colorless, just like normal diesel used to be in East Germany!

Just because it's not colored. I once filled up my tank with something like that in Sweden... it was as clear as water.

In Finland in 2009, diesel fuel was also clear like water.

TDI-GTI-4-Motion wrote:

Golf 4 (Sig.): Only Aral Ultimate Diesel. With an annual mileage of max. 5000km, the price doesn't matter to me. Hobbies are pointless anyway! T4 (Sig.): Only Aral or Shell normal diesel. Most of the kilometers were driven with those brands.

Wow, only 5000 km? That doesn't make it worthwhile to drive a diesel... Yeah, a hobby is pointless *laugh*.
Just like my hobbies, *giggles*.

ARL: I mainly fill up with regular diesel at the supermarket gas station. It runs just like a PD diesel. I hardly notice any difference compared to diesel from Poland, Spain, Slovakia, France, Italy, Switzerland, or the Netherlands.


Sometimes I add fuel with incorrect octane rating. It starts with a sputter, jerks a bit during acceleration, and generally runs rougher. The exhaust smell varies depending on what's been added, but it's often sour and acrid, hard to describe.
The mixture of salad oil and diesel smells and feels the most pleasant.

Running on T3 pure vegetable oil, it runs very smoothly, yet it produces a bit more power and significantly less soot compared to diesel.
Moroccan, Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian, and Turkish diesel have a different smell when refueling, and are either clear or have a golden hue, suggesting they don't contain any biofuel. The "Bully" produces noticeably more soot under full load at low RPMs, and has a low LD (low diesel) content. It smells like real diesel, as I remember it from when I was a child. The engine runs a bit rougher with this real diesel and starts a bit more spontaneously. I can't tell you how it sounds, though, because I'm deaf!

I've never bought luxury "V-Ulti" products before, because I don't want to give anything away to corporations or the government!

If that's all it is, then I'd rather eat a V12-TDI cylinder bank for breakfast.

I think they're also adding tons of additives/emulsifiers to the diesel so that it can be diluted with water, and who knows what else. In the Czech Republic, I now know where not to refuel! --> ISOPOL & ONO.

If I ever won the lottery, I would definitely send a few liters of "diesel" to the lab and have it chemically analyzed; that would certainly be very interesting.

However, even the "drop test" gives me cause for concern. For me, "real" diesel always has an oily characteristic, meaning that it stays where it is when spilled (e.g., on concrete). If you look at old truck garages, you'll see that the stains are still there even after 40 years.

However, I can't really make much use of the "diesel" sold at some gas stations, because it's far too volatile for diesel fuel. Try this: put different types of diesel on a brick or something similar, and you'll be amazed...

The lubricity and sulfur content of modern diesel fuels, as defined by current standards, have been extensively discussed for a long time, so I won't go into detail here. However, despite all my concerns, I still can't shake the idea of using a very low-ash 2-stroke oil as a "lubricant additive."

"Der schnelle braune Fuchs springt über den faulen Hund."

@T3Surfer: Don't misunderstand me(!), but be glad you don't hear what it sounds like with the fuel mixed with that fake octane booster . I think the sound of the engine burning is the best way to discourage people from doing that .

Yes, you still need to differentiate between summer diesel and winter diesel.
Considering just the fuel consumption, it seems to me that diesel performs significantly worse in the winter, regardless of where you refuel.
Assuming you have the Aral Ultimate product...
I'm already doing the calculations to see if it's worth it to fill up with the premium fuel.
You can already reduce fuel consumption by 0.1-0.3 liters... and if diesel continues to be so expensive, it's worth calculating the savings.
I don't think much of Shell V-Power with GTL. There's no fuel consumption advantage compared to Aral Ultimate. The only thing is that the engine seems to run a bit smoother.
It's difficult for me to compare the diesel from Aral, Shell, and OMV right now. I think the percentage of biodiesel varies too much.
Since I became a member of the ADAC, I've been getting my gas from Shell and saving 1 cent... or currently 2 cents.

The Shell discount for ADAC members, union members , and other loyalty card holders was, in my opinion, the cheapest customer retention measure that Shell could ever implement. It cost-effectively turned millions of occasional customers into regular customers, and as a result, Shell was able to improve its market share by approximately 1/3 since 2008.

With VPower diesel or Ultimate, you can never save money with the huge price differences currently! No matter how much it might seem to save...

But eventually, even that stuff will find its (unwilling) consumers in sufficient quantities thanks to a state-mandated biofuel quota. All that would be needed is to replace conventional diesel with a 7% biodiesel content with 100% biodiesel! Of course, that's good for the environment, and then biodiesel can be marketed at its true price. And then, we can recommend premium gasoline to the millions of diesel drivers who don't have a biofuel approval for their vehicle, at a price that's about 10 cents more. Let's see how long that will take...

The Shell discount for ADAC members, union members and other loyalty card holders was, in my opinion, the cheapest customer retention measure that Shell could ever introduce.

This is only meant to monitor CONSUMPTION PATTERNS. Or do YOU think someone would actually give you something?

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If that's just "paint," then I'd like to see someone eat a V12-TDI cylinder bank for breakfast...

Enjoy your meal!

Sometimes, the color can also be influenced by the proportion of biodiesel, depending on the type of oil and its purity used as the raw material for the biodiesel.

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I think they're also adding tons of additives/emulsifiers to it so that diesel can be mixed with water, and who knows what else.

No, definitely not water. Not even with emulsifiers.
Reason: Otherwise, the substance will turn milky white, and, incidentally, the water content is limited according to DIN EN 590.
I can certainly imagine that, on occasion and within the bounds of regulations, certain refining byproducts might be added to "normal" diesel (i.e., not ultimate or V-Power, etc.) for the purpose of cheaper disposal.
Just like some gas station operators dispose of used oil into the diesel tank - see the attached photo for details...... (that was the diesel filter - not the engine oil filter ).

Hutfahrer wrote:

But eventually, even that stuff will find its (unwilling) consumers in sufficient quantities thanks to a state-mandated biofuel quota. All that would be needed is to replace conventional diesel with a 7% biodiesel content with 100% biodiesel! Of course, that would be good for the environment, and biodiesel could then be marketed at its true price. And then, we could recommend premium gasoline to the millions of diesel drivers who don't have biofuel approval for their vehicles, at a price that's about 10 cents more. Let's see how long it takes...

lol, exactly like with E10 fuel.

It's quite amusing to see what all is being pushed through under the guise of environmentalism.
Photovoltaics, hydrogen, wind energy, etc. – it's great to see an entire industry thriving.

Just like some gas station operators dispose of used oil into the diesel tank - see the attached photo for details...... (that was the diesel filter - not the engine oil filter )

3C? Golf 5 PPD?

That is NORMAL and not used oil. I also have some photos from somewhere. For example, a 3C 170PS engine. Don't think about it - it's like that.

In your opinion, are these contaminants from the transportation and storage process, or is the fuel so heavily contaminated with particulate matter? That's terrible...

No, Caddy 2.0SDi - at least with that one, you can immediately tell when the filter is getting clogged .

Interestingly, they don't always look like that... I've seen other discoloration patterns, and also relatively clean filters.

Hutfahrer wrote:

With VPower diesel or Ultimate, you can never save money given the huge price differences currently! No matter how much it might supposedly save...

"However, the Ultimate fuel isn't increasing in price proportionally at the moment. That means that at my gas station, Ultimate is 10 cents more expensive than diesel, which currently costs 1.40."
The 10 cents were already added when the diesel price was still at 1.20.
If I can now reduce my fuel consumption from 5.0 liters to 4.7 liters using the premium diesel, I won't have to pay more for the premium diesel. However, I seem to recall reading that premium diesel might not lubricate as well, potentially affecting the PD injectors or fuel pump.
So, that would mean a 6% reduction in energy consumption, but with a 6% price increase for the premium option. It would be a wash.