Which diesel fuel is best for my old 300TDi?

Turboman said:

I like ecomax in my landy. Good in old tractors too.

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Same things aren't they? Haha.

Not sure if it's in my head but if I forget to put some in at a refill the engine seems to start making more after not too many miles, guessing all the lubrication gets washed off the injectors and pump and start making noise again. Or it's all in my head

NinkyNonk said:

Same things aren't they? Haha.

Not sure if it's in my head but if I forget to put some in at a refill the engine seems to start making more after not too many miles, guessing all the lubrication gets washed off the injectors and pump and start making noise again. Or it's all in my head

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I have the music up so loud I cant hear the injun!

But ecomax is protective of old fuel pumps, they dont much like the dry, thin modern diesel. We also use it in our boat, Ford XLD indirect injector in that.

I have noticed with Shell my Td5 runs better, same can be said for me dads L322

I get that, but on me dads that box hangs down on the left side of the battery.

julianf said:

...will get your motor crushed if HMRC ever catch up with you.

Unless, of course, you were using the kerosene to run your webasto / eberspacher hydronic, to pre-heat the engine, so as when you started on the veg oil, the spray pattern in your direct injection was such that it did not cause ring gumming / sump oil emulsification etc? That must have been what you meant.... : )

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I thought you were allowed to make diesel fuel in a limited quantity, for your own use?
I nearly bought a kit to make it some years ago, for about £1,200.
I may be wrong but recall that you could legally make 2,500 litres per year.

Must admit I'm not overly fussed what diesel I put in either my Defender or C-Max. I do put a bottle of additive in every now and again but that's about it. I usually use Texaco, but only because it's the local petrol station. There's a Tesco nearby and I'm just as happy to use that if I'm passing.

Diesel or veg oi - never really noticed any difference between companiesl....

For those confused.... You can use up to 2500 litres of veg oil per year in a private vehicle. You are supposed to keep receipts but as I buy all mine from the same place it would be easy to get proof if it were ever asked for!

lightning said:

I thought you were allowed to make diesel fuel in a limited quantity, for your own use?
I nearly bought a kit to make it some years ago, for about £1,200.
I may be wrong but recall that you could legally make 1,000 litres per year.

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Putting kero in is a bit different to 'making' diesel

mojo247 said:

I've had a search and found some old posts on this subject so I wanted an up-to-date opinion on which diesel is best for my 1996 300TDi Defender 110?

The reason being, that I've noticed that if I use say, BP, my engine runs nice and smoothly (well, as smooth as 23 year old Land Rover is able to run!) but then if I revert to Murco, my engine seems to not like it at all and seems to feel terrible and on some occasions noticeably lose power!

I was wondering if this was just my Land Rover paranoia and suggestibility, or is there any evidence to suggest one fuel is better than another?

Anyone have a preference for their 300tdi? Also, are there any that should be avoided?

Thanks in advance,

Mo

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A lot of people don't give this any consideration so it is refreshing to hear someone who is thinking about what they put into their engine.

The issue with current modern diesel is that most of the sulphur has been removed, this was a good lubricant. So what you can do is put some cheap motor oil in with your diesel. I maintain about 6/7 vehicles a year minimum for my family and friends so I have heaps of bottles and drums of oil kicking about. When I have that last little splash in the bottom of the container it usually ends up in the 90. I once bought a pallet of oils from an industrial auction for £27 quid, in among it all was 1litre bottles of a cheapy oil. I just chucked one or two straight into the fuel tank. I use a fair bit of bio diesel in the summer which offers better lubricity than pump diesel too.

I would say I always have a slight oil content in my fuel now.

Ah the old "two stroke oil in diesel" debate!

lightning said:

I thought you were allowed to make diesel fuel in a limited quantity, for your own use?
I nearly bought a kit to make it some years ago, for about £1,200.
I may be wrong but recall that you could legally make 2,500 litres per year.

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Diesel fuel, either home made veg, or commercial, is different to kerosene.

lightning said:

I thought you were allowed to make diesel fuel in a limited quantity, for your own use?
I nearly bought a kit to make it some years ago, for about £1,200.
I may be wrong but recall that you could legally make 2,500 litres per year.

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£1200 quid? Jeeze what do they sell you? Gold plated funnels?

I made Bio for about 10 years using some chemistry equipment, a 20 litre tea urn and a wheelie bin - then I upgraded to an HDPE barrel. It was tested and always came out within spec. With good chemistry you can make bio diesel with any old junk you have.

It was a fairly complex piece of kit that took up half a garage
lt would filter the oil then mix it with some other ingredient that you had to add for use in modern diesels.
That was their cheapest kit. Others were £2,000+
The reason l didn't bother with it was, that it became much harder to get old oil as everybody started wanting it.

Any old fuel will do just fine, then press the right hand pedal and dont worry about it.

I use Mazola. Lovely!

It's all to the same spec until you start to use the more expensive stuff.

3 months on shell v power once cleared sticky valves . Used less fuel around town, used way more when put the foot down on the open road.

would have been faster to clear the valves with a can of BG whilst running normal shell