Tesco Petrol in older cars?

mmarks

My 1977 Triumph TR7 has been running badly all week. Hard to start, misfiring, hesitancy and loss of power.
checked all the ignition system - everything as it should be. Checked the fuel system - all seems fine.
Now, heres the strange part - my wife filled her modern Volvo up at the same time (both from Tesco in Arklow), and she has just told me that she has had the same symptoms but not nearly as bad as mine (I guess because the car is newer and the ECU constantly adjusts everything).
Has anyone else had problems with Tesco petrol? Is it just coincidence? Were we just unlucky or should I be avoiding it in the future?

I still have half a tank left as my car is nearly unusable. At 1.33 a litre, I don't want to throw it away if it is not the problem!

Look forward to your responses.

mikemac

Tesco petrol being of poor quality is a myth

corktina

possibly (although unlikely) their petrol is of UK spec which always SEEMS to me to be different...but usually I find it BETTER than ours...

mustang68

I believe that most of the petrol in Ireland comes from the same main source/depot, although that could be incorrect.

Gary ITR

mustang68 wrote: »

I believe that most of the petrol in Ireland comes from the same main source/depot, although that could be incorrect.

The petrol being delivered might be of the same quality but it's the quality of the tanks in the station that counts. Tesco have really poor hygeine in their stores (I have been working for different suppliers to Tesco for years now) and I would never buy food in Tesco after some of the things I've seen, so this would lead me to believe that cleaning and maintaining their petrol tanks and pumps wouldn't be a priority to them. Their 'every little helps' slogan doesn't only apply to their own cheap prices but also where they can scrimp a few quid themselves.
My car was running sh1te after filling up on their petrol, I filled up in Clarehall without thinking

jay28

I fill my 260z from the Tesco station in Arklow and Iv'e never had a problem. The station in arklow is only new so I doubt it would be dirt in the pumps.

Gary ITR

Well the dirt comes from moisture and mould. I only mentioned this in a thread last week.

A maxol rep told me that all tanks have a certain % of moisture and left untreated it turns to mould which end up in your carb/injectors.

Also he told me that the maxol E5 doesn't mix as well with the moisture and would advise anybody using it to change thir fuel filter more often

franksm

I use Tesco petrol in all my cars, it's the same as any other petrol.

For proof: my MX5 has a digital readout on quite a lot of engine functions, and it reports same lambda tuning etc as per any other petrol I put into it. Bought some manky petrol in France once, and the car pinged - and the lambda readings were all over the place.

Tesco petrol ? Same as Statoil and all the other brands

richiet

I've filled two different beetles a couple of times from Dundrum, and have had no issues.

Mini Red Hot

Same problems in my 88 mini and 88 micra from tesco.
maybe its just the octane or something or bad tank maintenance but i drove the tesco petrol out of the mini and refilled from a different station a few times and it was immediately remedied each time.

L1011

micmclo wrote: »

Tesco petrol being of poor quality is a myth

The petrol is fine

The tank/pump/line maintaince (none) and additives (again, none) are the problem. Its pisswater, pure and simple. And recently (last few weeks) its not even as cheap as proper stations.

mmarks

Just to add the resolution to my TR7, there was nearly 20 litres of water in the tank - blocked the carbs, filter, pump, fuel line etc.

So, where did it come from? Last time the car was used was to fill it up at Tesco - problems started right after that and got worse and worse until it wouldn't fire up at all. Can't prove anything but I will be purchasing from elsewhere in the future!

mustang68

mmarks wrote:

there was nearly 20 litres of water in the tank

in your tank!! like a third of your tank was filled with water? how did you calculate that it was water?