Bad Fuel @ Shell (V-Power)

[RobBentley]

I think there must be some contamination in the fuel or a bad batch of fuel at my local shell as last week the RS6 started running like a bag of spanners. Ignition timing was all over the shop (I have a p3cars vent gauge so I can see live timing, boost, EGT's etc) and it'd miss so badly at 5000rpm+ it'd feel like somebody stamped on the brake pedal for 0.5/seconds every now and again.

I've always run the car on V-Power and thought something was failing on the car to be honest. Then a few days ago I got caught short nowhere near a Shell station and ended up filling it with 95 octane BP. The car then magically started working perfectly within a few miles and this is when I became suspicious. I decided to run the tank nearly dry on Thursday and went back to the same shell station and put in £20 as a test. Sure enough after a few miles, all the problems came back. I've since been back to the BP and tanked it again and all is good in the world once more.

God knows what's going on with the V-Power. I assume it's just this one station near me, I'm going to try the other Shell in town next week (I've got 70 litres of BP to get through now where I tanked it to dilute the crap fuel).

Anyone else ever had a similar experience? It's my first time getting fuel problems...

 

[obi_waynne]

I've used shell twice this week with no ill effects, but it was diesel.

I wonder if the local garage are running low tanks and it's picking up sediment or if they are filling with some other fuel type. It would be worth complaining to Shell about this. The last thing they want is bad publicity.

 

[RobBentley]

Somethings wrong, even if its 'some other fuel type' the RS runs perfectly fine on BP 95 octane (I didn't even stick in the premium as its £stupid). I was tempted to drop Shell an email tbh, as somethings not right.

 

[obi_waynne]

Try another brand of super unleaded to make sure it's not a weird octane related issue due to some duff sensor or the like.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Ages ago I got a bad tank of fuel from a small servo and the car ran very rough and ended draining tank replacing filters and now only fill from a busy BP outlet so there is a better chance of fresh fuel.

PS strangely it was Shell as well