320d owners: stay away from Caltex diesel! My car didn't like it.

[Sirimusa]

Hello fellow members,Allow me to share an interesting experience with you on the diesel I use:I pump PETRONAS diesel into my 2009 320d (59k kms on the odo). I haven't had any issues with it: burns clean, engine behaves normally, no particular issue in terms of color/density of emissions. I was quite happy.Just three days back, I ran into a Caltex station and decided to give it a try given that a few forum members recommended the diesel there. So I filled up for just RM25 (to give it a try) and just 2-3kms after filling up, the engine started to shudder and clutter particularly hard and rough. At one point, the vibration was so worrying that I decided to stop the car on the side of Tun Razak for a minute, I got quite worried. I started the car again, and same issue: loud vibrations and clutering and the smoke coming out of the pipe was looking very, very black. FYI, I'm European and have driven diesels in France my whole life (Renault Megane dCi, Opel Vectra TDI, Ford Focus TDCi, Audi A4 TDI) so I know when something is wrong with emission color and engine sound/vibration.Just today, my empty fuel light went on and I refueled at PETRONAS. And voila!! After 10kms of driving, all the issues with vibration, sound, unusual smoke were just were quickly disappearing. The more I drove this morning, the quieter and more normal things got. I just left the office right now for 20mns to drive one more time and everything is perfect and almost back to normal!So here's my question: any of you experience any such thing with Caltex or when changing diesel brands? From my experience (and maybe I got unlucky), stay away from Caltex diesel. I also didn't see any lorry resupplying diesel when I was there. PETRONAS does the trick just fine for me. What do you think went wrong? Any ideas??

 

[namidub]

wow. thats strange.
I have been pumping caltex for the majority of my 9xxxx kilometers without any of those.
keep us abreast of any after effects on your ride.

 

[BenedictC]

I've noticed this too when I use shell. Then there will be some green residue at the exhaust tip.

 

[3er]

I guess everyones experience differ from brand to brand or even station to station. I use Shell and have no green residue or black smoke.

 

[joonsuan]

BHP as first preference, and if I am not in the vicinity of a BHP station, PETRONAS is my next choice. So far so good. Have not tried any of the other brands yet.

 

[Fredo]

It could be just tht the particular caltex station diesel tank have hd contamination or maybe sludge...abnormal but possible

 

[Wuk51]

Bhp , caltex, and shell...tried all those without any issue....shell more smoke for me...heheheh. ..

 

[Ryou]

Cant blame the entire brand for a bad batch of fuel, many reasons could have caused it. That particular station could have a leaky undergound with water contamination, could have been a old/bad batch of fuel etc, driver could have watred down the fuel b4 delivering etc....unless you go a few times in a row to same station at diffrent times and it causes the same issues, it really could be any of the reasons i listed above

 

[aoch88]

wow. thats strange.
I have been pumping caltex for the majority of my 9xxxx kilometers without any of those.
keep us abreast of any after effects on your ride.

Maybe Caltex only works with Powerkit cars? :rock:

 

[Maniac]

i've been almost exclusively on Caltex diesel since when i took delivery, with absolutely no issues. i like it for what i feel is a cleaner burn...brainwashed by techron marketing haha.
the key is to go to a station that is frequented often, where you know fresh diesel is available at the pump.
also, never fill up your tanks when you see a tanker offloading into the pump storage. you don't want to be putting in churned up inventory - wait a while for it to settle. this also applies to petrol, of course.

the best is pure diesel, which can be had outside of the klang valley, perak, N9, melaka. Definitely more oomph and less clatter. Smells manlier too. I hear that this may change soon, as the biodiesel industry has been lobbying very ardently to roll out b5 nationwide, and may even go to b10. Enjoy while it lasts (and boy, does the diesel oomph/kick/mileage last and last and last!)!

 

[joonsuan]

Our car filler cap states max B7. Wonder what will the car industry say to launching B10...

 

[morrogan]

Me too on Caltex since day 1. No smoke and feel clean. Second choice is Petronas, got yellowish residue. Mine stock standard, no power kit added. Contamination in the delivery tanker could be the problem

 

[namidub]

i've been almost exclusively on Caltex diesel since when i took delivery, with absolutely no issues. i like it for what i feel is a cleaner burn...brainwashed by techron marketing haha.
the key is to go to a station that is frequented often, where you know fresh diesel is available at the pump.
also, never fill up your tanks when you see a tanker offloading into the pump storage. you don't want to be putting in churned up inventory - wait a while for it to settle. this also applies to petrol, of course.

the best is pure diesel, which can be had outside of the klang valley, perak, N9, melaka. Definitely more oomph and less clatter. Smells manlier too. I hear that this may change soon, as the biodiesel industry has been lobbying very ardently to roll out b5 nationwide, and may even go to b10. Enjoy while it lasts (and boy, does the diesel oomph/kick/mileage last and last and last!)!

Haha,i got brainwashed by the Techron thingy too, and next option is by the Infinity by BhP.
I concur on the non-B5 or regular diesel. They are definitely more oomph and smells better than the bioD.
Our president also keeping his 530d running with regular diesels only.

 

[Mavik]

Also have been using Petronas and Caltex once in a while to clean the injectors (also got fooled by the Techron marketing stuff). Petronas can definitely feel the oomph and power, while the engine gets a bit lazy on Caltex. I like BHP as well but its never on my driving route hence I barely pump at BHP. I do avoid Shell thanks to the smoke and funny colour residue on the exhaust.

 

[spex]

Our car filler cap states max B7. Wonder what will the car industry say to launching B10...

No answer for this B10?

 

[Sirimusa]

Hi all,
Just to update you on my misfortune with Caltex: I decided to try Caltex just one more time this morning, fingers crossed hoping the same issue would not happen again. I am glad to say that this morning, everything went perfectly well.

I also managed to find out what the issue was with the previous Caltex fill up that made my engine act dangerous: I proceeded back to the Caltex on Tun Razak and asked to see the log book of when the last diesel tank fill up was. And to my surprise, the diesel tanks were filled up the same day I pumped at the station. So it must of been the impurities at the bottom of the tank mixing up. It's incredible how much residue, impurities end up in the tank! I wouldn't of thought that it would cause an engine to run so weird!

So precaution guys, no filling up on the same day the fuel station gets a delivery. It's a scary experience and it could definitely cause some damage.

And on another note, I still prefer Petronas over Caltex

 

[splee]

Hi all,
Just to update you on my misfortune with Caltex: I decided to try Caltex just one more time this morning, fingers crossed hoping the same issue would not happen again. I am glad to say that this morning, everything went perfectly well.

I also managed to find out what the issue was with the previous Caltex fill up that made my engine act dangerous: I proceeded back to the Caltex on Tun Razak and asked to see the log book of when the last diesel tank fill up was. And to my surprise, the diesel tanks were filled up the same day I pumped at the station. So it must of been the impurities at the bottom of the tank mixing up. It's incredible how much residue, impurities end up in the tank! I wouldn't of thought that it would cause an engine to run so weird!

So precaution guys, no filling up on the same day the fuel station gets a delivery. It's a scary experience and it could definitely cause some damage.

And on another note, I still prefer Petronas over Caltex

Why petrol companies don't install filter before dispensing at the pump? This would stop the impurities getting into customer's car.

 

[dzuljazz2001]

No answer for this B10?

If B10 do hit our shores, don't think its advisable to touch it. As it is, the B5, to some of our diesel guys, they do encounter some issues :frown: ...

 

[tIANcI]

Drive petrol car laaaaaa ...

CABUT!!!!!!!!

 

[dzuljazz2001]

Drive petrol car laaaaaa ...

CABUT!!!!!!!!

I have both bro ... keh keh keh ... :21: ..