Good fuels in Calgary

[JeffC]

Folks,

I'm the guy who asked "TDI General Questions" a few weeks back. Now I have a new 06 Jetta TDI wagon ( looks like an 05 ) in the garage, 5 speed. Thanks all for the tips, it's good to be informed.

Two questions:
1) What's the good fuel here in Calgary? I've looked into UltraDiesel from Shell and Husky has yet to answer my questions on their Diesel Max. Any tips?

2) There's an idea out there that PD TDIs + new fuels = no egr or intake coking. Regardless, I thought it a good idea to dump the CCV to the ground anyway rather than have oil fumes in the intake system. Anyone done that on a PD? ( this is a Mk4 engine, Ja? ) I'm concerned as there is some sort of sensor in the CCV line near the intake pipe...

Thanks again. Jeff C, Calgary.

[gtx]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

[best diesel in town in my opinion is from the husky on barlow trail and 32nd
ave n.e..i ran my truck with that diesel and get an x-tra 150 km's per tank
approx and less smoke,they have an extremely high turn over rate of diesel.
i talked with our agro engineer and he stated to stay away from stations
that don't turn over much diesel and don't cater to trucker's unlike gas
diesel can be blended with all sorts of mixes...e.g vegetable oil,animal fat
kerosene and fast food lard refuse.diesel left in their holding tank for an extended perod of time produces mold spores which can block your fuel filter and fuel tank pick-up.he stated we never had this problem until about 1996
when our gas stations started to purchase diesel from other provinces
because they incresed their emmision levels and our province has yet to do so..by the way it's not only V.W's that coke up our toyota's,ford's and
ram's do also..

our miniture power plant 's which are tdi engines haven't coked up yet because of no egr system or cooler..

2nd question
it's not the oil fumes that are causing coking because it's synthetic oil it's
not mineral based. it's the diesel fuel so dumping the ccv might help a little..
my 2 cents..

[Kunn Kong]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

I have been trying to follow you guys and your advice as I think it is very well thought out and perfect for myself who is waiting for a 06 TDI Golf to come in for December. Please forgive my ignorance, but what does EGR and CCV stand for? If I could guess, EGR is Electronic Gas Regulator and CCV maybe means Combustion Control Valve?

I have heard from a Ford F-350 owner that deisels have a recycling system for the exhaust which runs it through the engine twice and hence mucks things up in a hurry. He told me if you re-route this so that the exhaust goes straight out and does not recycle, you get a minute amount of less horsepower but your engine runs a lot cleaner. Is that true for VW's?

Thanks for dumbing it down for me guys, I do like what you have been discussing. Please continue!

Ryan

[seanfournier]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

Many cars have EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). Just pull the egr valve off and bolt a plate where the hole/port is. I've done this on my 1.8T

I'm gonna start buying diesel at the husky on barlow and 32nd because my economy is crap lately getting the regular diesel (non-ultra) stuff from Shell

[bart]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

lol guys, dont matter where you get your diesel now, its being winterized, so you're gonna get less mpg no matter what, and less power too, i dynoed once in the winter, never again ahah. i used to go to that location, but i would say most of the diesel is the same, you might *want* it to be better...

[Red90]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

IME, at the moment, Shell is much better than the rest. Much less smoke.

The worst tank I've ever run was a tank from Husky about a month ago. I thought I was an old dump truck with the amout of smoke I was billowing.

Everything will change next year as they are forced into hydrotreating everything.

[stefan]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

shell has 1 refinery that has been producing ULSD for almost 10 years now. Of course, any diesel from that refinery that makes it to the pump will have been mixed with other sources. The actual raw diesel may not even be Shells depending on supply. The source diesel is often shared between companies when in need, and each will add their individual additives later. Shell could have a lower sulpher count and be cleaner burning, but not always. From what I gather, shell has pretty good additives. Like Bart said though, its all winterized now. If you are getting exceptional performance this time of year, its because you hit up a low volume station that hasen't recieved a winterized shipment yet.

Here is some shell info:


Dear Stefan Helmer,

In response to your inquiry, there are two different diesels at Shell Canada 1) LSD (low sulphur diesel) with or without Ultra Diesel and 2) ULSD (ultra low sulphur diesel)

1) today all on road diesel sites are to have Low Sulphur Diesel (LSD) which is regulated by the government to be 0.05% sulphur. Shell Scotford has been producing LSD since it opened in the early '80's, on average it put out <.01% sulphur's over it's lifetime so exceeding government standards. Today's product averages about <0.003% .

1) the Ultra Diesel is actually starts with the same excellent base of LSD then with an extra additive package (ULTRA DIESEL) injected at specific sites when customers request - (that you mentioned) with the Ultra Diesel signs, not all diesel sites have it.

2) the ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel) is something that the government is mandating for Sept. 1, 2006 in all Canadian on road diesels.

We have some of the cleanest and finest, best product in Canada. However, that said, we do have what's called exchange agreements between oil company's, as this is a large country and we cannot have a refinery in every place, therefore we can all buy base fuel products from each other, depending on locations, in the event that a supply source had difficulties in supplying. The CGSB (Canadian Government Standards Board) is the body that regulates the standards, that all need to meet to sell the products.
We find our additives make the difference when it comes to deposit control

Today's regulations are for a maximum sulphur content of 0.05%, were less than 0.01% the new legislation comes into effect Sept. 01, 2006.

I hope that answers your questions.

If you find you have more that come up please feel free to write again.

Thank you,

Therese Donlevy
Shell Canada Products
Technical Support Lubes & Fuels.

[stefan]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

The new UltraDiesel contains an additive package which improves performance and protects your engine. The following is some technical information regarding the benefits of the fuel additive package in the new UltraDiesel:

Detergent:
Maintains proper spray patterns in fuel injectors and keeps them clean. This may improve engine performance, reduce emissions and increase mileage.

Demulsifier:
Prevents the formation of water/fuel emulsions. Helps prevent fuel system corrosion and filter plugging.

Stabilizer:
Reduces sediment formation with fuel aging which helps prevent premature fuel-filter plugging.

Corrosion Inhibitor:
Protects all ferrous-based parts in fuel system.

Lubricity Additive:
Enhances fuel lubricity to further reduce premature wear of the fuel injection system.

De-icer:
Prevents the formation of ice in the fuel tank and lines in cold weather. The additive package does not contain methanol (alcohol).

[bart]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

we can always take samples from a few stations, and probably take them into calgary lab services, maybe can do diesel besides blood

[stefan]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

i could just buy a blue light and some q-tips, and we could conduct the analisys ourselves.

[bart]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

csi style yo!

[Red90]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

Today's regulations are for a maximum sulphur content of 0.05%, were less than 0.01% the new legislation comes into effect Sept. 01, 2006.

The new legislation is for less than 15 ppm (0.0015%) still quite a bit better than what they produce at the moment.

The problem, of course, is mixing with other refineries. You never know what you are getting.

The extra level of hydrotreating required also removes other contaminants, which produces a much cleaner fuel. IME (I've worked with hydrotreaters before) they could produce less than 5 ppm fairly easily if they felt like it.

[Tuna]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

i could just buy a blue light and some q-tips, and we could conduct the analisys ourselves.

ah-hem, you need the orange tinted granny glasses too.

[zero10]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

2nd question
it's not the oil fumes that are causing coking because it's synthetic oil it's
not mineral based. it's the diesel fuel so dumping the ccv might help a little..
my 2 cents..

What???? You are blaming intake clogging on synthetic oil?
No, plain and simple, no.

The problem is a combination of soot in the exhaust, and oil mist from the turbo and CCV combining in the intake. The solution is to remove one or the other, most people block the EGR system.
Venting your CCV to the atmosphere is very environmentaly irresponsible. Don't do it.

[Stampfan]

Re: Good fuels in Calgary

Shell Ultra still only has a 40 cetane level.

Husky has a pretty good info brochure on its site that likely answers any questions -- its the only additive package I've found that raises its cetane over the 40 base.