V-Power Nitro+ And Unexpected Side Effect

[exponential]

Hi guys.

This is a bit of a strange one this............

I thought I would try using V-Power diesel in my new car (only had it a month) to see if I could notice any benefits over supermarket fuel as in smoother engine, increased MPG etc etc

I accidentally put something called NITRO+ in by accident as I didn't realise Esso did anything other than just V-Power.

Gutted when I had filled the tank (extra 8p per litre) :(

I didn't notice anything straight away but after doing around 30 miles, the car seems much more responsive low down the revs, smoother power delivery and "feels" like improved boost.

That isn't the strange thing though.....

Not long after buying the car, I was leaving Ikea and was stuck in traffic slowly going around a round-about in second gear and its as if the engine didn't like me holding low revs in second and started to judder (wasn't labouring) so I dipped the clutch and increased revs and all seemed ok.

The Engine Management Light came on within half a mile of driving but didn't seem to cause any issues so I carried on and have been driving with the M.I.L on ever since. (no codes show on self test trick).

I have been using the NITRO+ for 2 days now and all of a sudden, the M.I.L has just vanished off the display???

Could it all just be coincidence that I filled up with some fancy expensive diesel then 2 days later, an M.I.L that has been illuminated for 3 weeks suddenly goes out with my car seeming so much mire responsive etc etc.

This is only the second time I filled up by the way with the first being standard Tesco diesel.

Any thoughts guys? Is it just pure coincidence?? Am I going mental?? (don't answer that)!! :D

Sorry for the long post..

[shamus1]

my next door neighbour has a 2.0 dti zafira and always had a mil light on for egr valve problems he had a new one put on and for a year was fine and then the mil light came back,he started using v power nitro for a couple of tankfulls and like you the mil has gone out and he swears it runs a lot better,i have to admit it does sound a hell of a lot quieter now than I have ever heard it.

[exponential]

my next door neighbour has a 2.0 dti zafira and always had a mil light on for egr valve problems he had a new one put on and for a year was fine and then the mil light came back,he started using v power nitro for a couple of tankfulls and like you the mil has gone out and he swears it runs a lot better,i have to admit it does sound a hell of a lot quieter now than I have ever heard it.

So I'm not going mad then.....

The car definately runs a lot smoother, power delivery is much more refined and the engine is quieter by quite some margin!

I'm yet to see any MPG gains yet but i'm going to see how it looks by the end of the week.

I do exactly the same run to and from work daily so seeing if there are any real world gains will be fairly easy.

Just wanted to ask though.... what would have caused the fault to appear initailly?

Like I said, I was keeping the same revs held going round a roundabout in second gear when it juddered and it has done it a couple of times since but only whilst holding revs in second?

Also, if there is/was a blockage of some sort, there must be something potent included in the ingredients of this NITRO diesel to clear it???

If I stopped using the V-Power, would the fault return maybe?

Hmmmmmm.

Edited August 20, 2013 by exponential

[IINexusII]

Using Tesco fuel is the reason the fault appeared. i recommend you use good quality diesel (Shell, BP, ESSO, Texaco etc) from now on, itll save you money in the future

[exponential]

Using Tesco fuel is the reason the fault appeared. i recommend you use good quality diesel (Shell, BP, ESSO, Texaco etc) from now on, itll save you money in the future

I honestly thought that this fuel debate was a load of c**p but since putting the "good stuff" in has really opened my eyes!

When the car did the "juddering", I thought it could be EGR related??

Is that a possibility??

[mjt]

From what I've read elsewhere it seems fairly likely that supermarket diesel lacks the additives that are put into branded fuel. I don't use it unless it's an emergency "splash and dash". It's interesting that the garage that does my service offered me the Forte treatment but when I said I only used branded fuel they replied that I didn't need the treatment.

Don't be fooled by the 'it all comes from the same tank' either. The additives are apparently added to the tanker which has separate compartments for the different retailers.

[IINexusII]

I honestly thought that this fuel debate was a load of c**p but since putting the "good stuff" in has really opened my eyes!

When the car did the "juddering", I thought it could be EGR related??

Is that a possibility??

it could be, sounds like your system needs a good cleaning up, try BG244 or forte as mjt mentioned, ive heard it it does a good job. pour that into your tank with v-power or normal fuelsave and give the car some good motorway driving

funny you say that about forte btw mjt because i used it a few months ago and noticed no difference, maybe because i always run Shell and v-power once in a while :)

[jeebowhite]

another convert to the idea that fuel is treat differently, and I am glad you have seen the light!

The MIL may well come on if you go to unbranded fuel, but you should treat the problem and not the symptoms, get the error codes checked out and see if you can identify the root cause.that fuel is expensive and can often run less miles.

[exponential]

another convert to the idea that fuel is treat differently, and I am glad you have seen the light!

The MIL may well come on if you go to unbranded fuel, but you should treat the problem and not the symptoms, get the error codes checked out and see if you can identify the root cause.that fuel is expensive and can often run less miles.

Definately a convert! Will never allow supermarket fuel near my car again (unless for a splash n dash)!

I'm just amazed at the difference, I really am.

Yeah, I was concerned about the MIL and the reason for it being displayed?

I'm not the sort to just leave something. If there is an issue, I want to do a proper investigation as to why it has happened (bit sad I know). I love the car and enjoy going for a drive so any problems concern me.....

Are there any cheap code readers out there that actually work so I don't have to pay for an expensive trip to a Ford garage or local dealer?

I will stear clear of the 8p a litre extra NITRO+ from now on and just use standard V-Power from now on.

@ NEXUS: BG244 is £10 more expensive than Millers. Is there a reason? I presume I put it in AFTER ive just filled the tank?

[IINexusII]

yeah just stick to the standard fuelsave diesel and use v-power from time to time, or at service intervals. millers is alright too you can put it in after or before i dont think itll make a difference

[jeebowhite]

look at my signature, go to the "Got an error? consider a code reader" section, I threw that together to help folks just like yourself :)

[Mr Singh]

Hi guys.

This is a bit of a strange one this............

I thought I would try using V-Power diesel in my new car (only had it a month) to see if I could notice any benefits over supermarket fuel as in smoother engine, increased MPG etc etc

I accidentally put something called NITRO+ in by accident as I didn't realise Esso did anything other than just V-Power.

Gutted when I had filled the tank (extra 8p per litre) :(

didnt realise that esso also sold V-Power nitro+... i always thought it was only Shell?! :D

V-Power changed to V-Power nitro+ around febuary march time.

[exponential]

didnt realise that esso also sold V-Power nitro+... i always thought it was only shell?! :D

V-Power changed to V-Power nitro+ around febuary march time.

Hahahaha!!

Wow. How did I manage to confuse Esso with Shell???

I think the trick is to actually open your eyes when driving into petrol forecourts instead of squeezing your eyes tight shut in the hope that you can magic the prices back to the 70's!! :D

Having your eyes open also has the added benefit of actually seeing that you're about to put diesel in your tank at a price only wealthy lawyers can afford!!

Thanks for bringing that to my attention Mr Singh! :)

I'm lead to believe they are phasing out standard V-Power altogether in favour of the Nitro brand....?

[exponential]

look at my signature, go to the "Got an error? consider a code reader" section, I threw that together to help folks just like yourself :)

Excellent jeebowhite!

I am going to invest in one of these. Looking at ordering one at the moment along with "Torque" for android but can't decide if the free version will be sufficient?

Picked up the baby (my daughter not the car) after work earlier and the dreaded MIL came on again!!

Was doing a lot of stop start at the time so I suspect DPF but as there is no specific warning light for the DPF, its tough to know without using a scan tool!

I have performed the dashboard trick and it shows no DTC codes at all so I am a little stumped until I get the reader.

Any thoughts guys? DPF seems the culprit but you guys are much more experienced with this than me!

[theduke]

Used to use tesco diesel in my old astra cdti, cleaned the egr whenever i serviced it and it was a pig to do started using the esso down the road usually about 0.5p difference per litre but always run better with less smoke, biggest problem is the mrs fills up on the weekly shop in tesco so i have to beat her to it lol

[exponential]

Used to use tesco diesel in my old astra cdti, cleaned the egr whenever i serviced it and it was a pig to do started using the esso down the road usually about 0.5p difference per litre but always run better with less smoke, biggest problem is the mrs fills up on the weekly shop in tesco so i have to beat her to it lol

Oh god! Not the dreaded 5p off per litre with every £50 spent trick!! LOL

I'm glad my missus has her own car to be honest as I know that my MPG readout would be tarnished for good if she got behind the wheel!!! :D

Like I said, I will never go back to supermarket fuel now!

[IINexusII]

get a Shell drivers club card and use that, over time youll get discount vouchers :)

[exponential]

Certainly will Nexus!!! Thanks... :)

Don't suppose there are any comments on my MIL light coming back on guys??

[exponential]

Took the car the long way to work this morning.

15 minutes at 70 in 4th and it didnt clear the MIL so im unsure if it is the DPF now???

[IINexusII]

as jeebowhite said you can either invest in a bluetooth obd scanner and the Torque app on android or get a garage to plug their diagnostics in. you can also try the test mode screen on the car and see if any DTC codes are stored. hold the set/reset key and then turn the ignition on

[jeebowhite]

Sorry exponential, took a while to reply!

You can use Torque Free, it does the main bulk of pro, but as I have phases where I used the advanced features, I bought the full version. The main thing you need is access to the codes on the ECU and the ability to clear them, which Torque Free offers.

[exponential]

as jeebowhite said you can either invest in a bluetooth obd scanner and the Torque app on android or get a garage to plug their diagnostics in. you can also try the test mode screen on the car and see if any DTC codes are stored. hold the set/reset key and then turn the ignition on

Sorry exponential, took a while to reply!

You can use Torque Free, it does the main bulk of pro, but as I have phases where I used the advanced features, I bought the full version. The main thing you need is access to the codes on the ECU and the ability to clear them, which Torque Free offers.

Hi guys.

I have tried the dashboard trick and there are no DTC codes stored at all?

Thought there would be........

I have ordered the ELM327 v1.5 reader and have downloaded Torque for android.

Hopefully, it will turn up something.......?

[mjt]

Hi Jeeb, I had a look at the code reader link in your sig. I don't have a smartphone but do have a laptop. However I see the USB cable on eBay you linked to from there says it doesn't work with anything later than XP. My laptop runs Vista and my desktop has W8 64-bit. I'm guessing that fewer devices will be running XP now so it might be worth amending that thread to point this out if it's still possible to edit it.

[jeebowhite]

Thanks Mike, will look to update it, but the reason they normally say only works with XP is because thats when the software was written, and that was the latest OS at the time. I have never installed software that said "up to XP" that has not run on Vista / 7, so I could make an addendum but dont worry about that.

As for the adapter, if you have bluetooth, you can use your laptops bluetooth, or buy a small dongle for your laptop (few quid off ebay). These tend to suffice if you dont have the smartphone, the main difficulty I suppose, is then trying to find the right piece of software that allows you to use the bluetooth interface, some will but not necessarily all.

There is one thing you could do, you could use a virtual machine and install XP? if you have a genuine license, then brill, if you dont, then it would be down to you to get a license, by which means though of course, it would only be sensible of me to recommend a legitimate means, but if you chose not to do so... :p

You can then install windows XP into a virtual machine using VMPlayer, if you were concerned about the compatability of Vista.

If you want any further advice, feel free to message me, otherwise, I will keep my eye open for any USB Adapters that reassure support for the later OS's and may well update the link to reflect that.

[andy s123]

What is the best code reader app for apple iPhone? And will any bluetooth obd reader work with any app?