TOP TIER™ Diesel Fuel Brands

johnsTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2019
Location
Canada,ont North America were Neighbours to usa
TDI
2012 Highline
I have owned my 2012 TDI for a few weeks now and its on its 3rd tankfull of Shell's V-Power Diesel for cleaning up the fuel system. not that theres any problem of any sort im just trying to get the best fuel economy & Performance out of it. im sure some on here will disagree using this fuel. but it does work very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezjknhwcQXU
 

CleverUserName

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Location
NorCal
TDI
2014 OZ Cruze CTD & 2010 JSW 6MT & 2017 GMC Canyon CCLB ATX 2.8 Duramax
You can make your own top tier diesel by dosing and additive that contains a cetane booster, combustion improver, injector deposit cleaner and lubricity enhancer. It adds about $0.10 per gallon to the cost of regular fuel.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I have been buying the cheapest fuel from any name brand supplier as shown by the GasBuddy app, for nearly 15 years. No issues at all and probably saving quite a bit over either of your methods. There really isn't any need or real benefit from doing what either of you are doing, unless you are living somewhere where you have to deal with severe winters/cold. The Murphy's near my house is almost always the cheapest around me. But keep on paying extra if you like it.
 

belome

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
In my personal opinion "Top Tier" is just a gimmick to force fuel suppliers to buy their label. Just like GM forces oil suppliers to pay money to put the "Dexos" label on their oil.

Do they really force them to use better additives... who knows, but I bet Top Tier would still cash their check if they didn't.
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
^^^Sigh. I'm glad you stated it's YOUR personal opinion.

If you care to do the research, you might find info that would dispel your suspicions of "Top Tier" being a marketing gimmick. I've not done any research lately (I trust the regulatory system), but for sure, there are specific requirements that must be achieved and maintained to be considered "Top Tier."

Caveat emptor, at all times, of course.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I wouldn't say it is a gimmick, but does it provide a measurable benefit in the real world that would offset it's cost as compared to any standard diesel available anywhere? Most people don't pay for premium unleaded fuel when regular unleaded does just fine at a lower cost. Unless their car requires it. Same with "Top Tier" diesel in my opinion. Only no vehicle requires it that I know of. Use it if you feel like it, just like additives.
 

akjdouglass

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Location
Jefferson City, Missouri
TDI
2012 Jetta w/premium (sold to VW); 2014 Jetta Value Edition; 2015 Jetta SEL; 2003 Jetta GL
I was filling up a commercial vehicle at a "Top Tier" truck-stop a few years back. A co-worker returning from the same jobsite stopped to fill up his truck, too. Both vehicles were barely running less than 15 miles later when were arrived at our shop... filters plugged with dirty crap.

Drain and flush tanks, install new filters and both trucks are back on the road. We obviously stopped fuelling at that station from that point forward. Lucky for me, it wasn't a location I ever stopped at in my personal vehicle. I hate to think what this crap would have done to a TDI.

From firsthand experience, I've seen that the Top Tier police weren't ensuring the specific requirements (whatever those may be) that must be achieved and maintained to be considered "Top Tier" were being met.

Given the worst diesel fuel I've ever seen came from a Top Tier station, my conclusion is that you can't make chicken salad out of chicken **** using an additive package, pixie dust, or any other form of magic. Product labeling is irrelevant if the fuel is not clean.
 

ratkc135

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Location
Lawson, MO
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI, 2015 Passat
No need bud. I pay 10.00 Cents more already using V-power at my Local shell. :D


Keep in mind: the way I read that Shell is NOT a top tier for diesel. GAS ONLY.

I was surprised when I looked it up that it is only Costco and FastStop (which I’ve never heard of or seen to my recollection).



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
I was filling up a commercial vehicle at a "Top Tier" truck-stop a few years back. A co-worker returning from the same jobsite stopped to fill up his truck, too. Both vehicles were barely running less than 15 miles later when were arrived at our shop... filters plugged with dirty crap.

Drain and flush tanks, install new filters and both trucks are back on the road. We obviously stopped fuelling at that station from that point forward. Lucky for me, it wasn't a location I ever stopped at in my personal vehicle. I hate to think what this crap would have done to a TDI.

From firsthand experience, I've seen that the Top Tier police weren't ensuring the specific requirements (whatever those may be) that must be achieved and maintained to be considered "Top Tier" were being met.

Given the worst diesel fuel I've ever seen came from a Top Tier station, my conclusion is that you can't make chicken salad out of chicken **** using an additive package, pixie dust, or any other form of magic. Product labeling is irrelevant if the fuel is not clean.
There's no doubt any retailer can screw up a load of fuel. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the manufacturer of the fuel.

"...a few years back..." also strains the credibility of your argument. Diesel fuel quality has changed dramatically over the years.
 

CleverUserName

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Location
NorCal
TDI
2014 OZ Cruze CTD & 2010 JSW 6MT & 2017 GMC Canyon CCLB ATX 2.8 Duramax
No need bud. I pay 10.00 Cents more already using V-power at my Local shell. :D
Hey smart guy, so Shell doesn't make any specific product claims as far as how much cetane number is improved? How low is the new Gel point? or any other real concrete facts about what your getting for an additional $0.10/gallon?

Do you like transparency in advertising or just blindly trust vague claims made by a fuel manufacturer? I also note that nowhere on Wikipedia or on the shell website does it say that their fuel is "Top Tier".

There are a number of quality diesel additives that give specific details about how the fuel is improved.

Example:

-A range of improvement of Cetane number. 3-5 or 5-7 CN is common.
-Gel point improvement on winter formulas
-HFRR lubricity improvement rating
-Dosage required to meet performance claims

V-Power Diesel is Shell's version of an enhanced diesel fuel, similar, say to BPs 'Ultimate Diesel'. Like BP Ultimate Diesel, Shell V-Power Diesel is designed for modern compression-ignition diesel engines, to facilitate enhanced engine performance along with increased engine protection, for more consistent operation and engine longevity.[13]

One characteristic of V-Power diesel is that it is a lot clearer and odourless than normal diesel, mainly due to the synthetic GTL component.[citation needed]

The fuel is slightly less dense than regular diesel so, per volume, the unit energy is actually lower than regular diesel. This is offset, as the fuel tends to ignite more readily (and thus has a higher cetane rating) than regular diesel, and a side benefit of this is that it tends to produce less soot during combustion.[citation needed]

Shell also markets a different "premium" diesel in Canada labeled V-Power, which they state "Is specially formulated for year-round Canadian weather conditions, with a cetane improver, a de-icer and a corrosion inhibitor."[14]. This Canadian V-Power diesel is dispensed from a dedicated pump that injects a measured amount of NEMO 2061 additive into the diesel supply shared with the other diesel pumps at the service station.[15] As a result, it contains no GTL components beyond those that may already exist in the shared diesel supply.

Effective June 1, 2012, Pilipinas Shell launches the new premium diesel fuel grade, Shell V-Power Nitro+ Diesel (formerly Shell V-Power Diesel). On June 8, 2017, Shell V-Power Nitro+ Diesel was renamed back as Shell V-Power Diesel.
 

CheapBastard

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Location
California
TDI
2014 JSW
Someone needs to make a filter that goes on the end of the filling spout, just some kind of sleeve that you take off when your done
 

Diesl

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Location
Chicago
TDI
'78 Golf Diesel (long gone); 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI w/ DSG
Somebody trademarked 'top tier'?

Somebody succeeded in getting a trademark for 'top tier'? Really? Wouldn't you have to show that the term has not been in common use before?


Update: crazy but true. Apparently a consortium of car manufacturers filed in 2015, and got the trademark earlier this year. The document below just lists GM.
Trademarks.justitia.com says they claimed first use anywhere in October 2017...


Update 2: The specs seem to follow essentially the European EN590 diesel specs, which at least for oxidation stability and lubricity are better than the US ASTM D975/D7467 standard. For example, less than 460 micrometer scar length rather than the 520 micrometer in the US standard. Link to 2017 'top tier diesel fuel's spec (PDF): https://www.toptiergas.com/document...Fuel_Performance_Standard_Rev_A_-_Feb2017.pdf
 
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CheapBastard

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Location
California
TDI
2014 JSW
You can make your own top tier diesel by dosing and additive that contains a cetane booster, combustion improver, injector deposit cleaner and lubricity enhancer. It adds about $0.10 per gallon to the cost of regular fuel.
How’s this stuff, I just bought a bottle
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
About as good as any of the other hundreds of products that aren't really needed. If there was anything that made a huge difference, it would be plastered all over the place, you wouldn't have to ask.
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
I have been buying the cheapest fuel from any name brand supplier as shown by the GasBuddy app, for nearly 15 years. No issues at all and probably saving quite a bit over either of your methods. There really isn't any need or real benefit from doing what either of you are doing, unless you are living somewhere where you have to deal with severe winters/cold. The Murphy's near my house is almost always the cheapest around me. But keep on paying extra if you like it.

I totally agree with Lightflyer1. At home I buy from a NO-NAME high turnover station. It's small and always a line-up.
On my twice yearly drive through the US of A I do not have much choice but I still try to buy the least expensive Diesel. I'll never by right on the interstate or any of those truck (Loves etc) stops, they are always more expensive.
Once I am in Mexico up until a year ago there was absolutely NO choice. It was PEMEX stations or nothing. Since a year ago now you can by BP, Exxon, Mobil and a few others. No one can tell me where they get their Diesel from and I do not care either!
 

CheapBastard

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Location
California
TDI
2014 JSW
My cheapest happens to be Propel HPR, about .10 cheaper than any petro fuel

Filled my car for the first time with it and I guess I’ll be buying there exclusively
 

KevinGary

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
Location
Long Island
TDI
2015 A6 TDI
I have had a good experience with Exxon Synergy Diesel Efficient. It is cheap and I seem to get better mileage. It also “cleaned” my system when all of the off the shelf additives failed.
 

KevinGary

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
Location
Long Island
TDI
2015 A6 TDI
Here is my post from another thread.

Original Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinGary View Post
I wanted to report back on my experience with Exxon Synergy Diesel. At the outset, let me say that I know that this is not a scientific analysis and that it is one person's experience.

I have 89K miles on my 3.0 A6 TDI. Almost all of my miles are commuting miles in the NYC metro area. I have hand calculated the mileage of every tank since new and have input it into an excel spread sheet. (yes I have OCD!). After 89k miles my overall MPG is 28.6563. During those 89K miles I used BP and Shell fuel exclusively. So I have a pretty good baseline for comparison.

In recent months I noticed a decline in my MPG and decided to give Exxon Synergy a try. I have now driven 1,136 miles on it and have averaged 29.2783 MPG, i.e. an improvement of .622 mpg, or an improvement of slightly better than 2% when compared to my lifetime MPG. This is about the same as Exxon claims. These last 1,136 miles were typical commuting miles for me. No extended highway trips.

Of course that it is comparing it to my lifetime mileage. However, remember that I told you that I had observed a drop off on MPG and that is why I tried Exxon Synergy. In fact, for the 6,619 miles before the switch my MPG had dropped to 27.272. The drop off started last August and when it happened I tried various fuel additives to no avail. By late September I stopped with the fuel additives and decided that the car was just getting older. So by the time I tried Exxon Synergy I had driven over 5,000 miles since adding any of the additives. Comparing the Exxon Synergy to the entire "dropped period" the mileage was 2.006 MPG better, ie 7.3% better.

Of course part of the entire "drop period" included the warmer months and the impact of the fuel additives. So I also looked at my MPG for the 1,150 miles before the switch. This roughly lined up with the same number of miles that I had driven with Exxon Synergy (1,136) and all of the miles were winter miles (January-March). During this period I averaged just 25.727 MPG on BP and Shell. When comparing that MPG to the 29.2783 MPG I got with Exxon Synergy, there was an improvement of 3.551 MPG, or 13.798%.

Based on my experience it seems that Exxon Synergy does a better job of cleaning the fuel system than the additives I tried (Stanadyne, Power Service, Liqui Molly and XPD) or the fuel offered by Shel and BP. It also seems to improve the MPG by .6 MPG in my car, or about 2% when compared to the lifetime MPG.

I know that this is not a scientific analysis, but I thought I would report my observations.
I have now used the new Exxon fuel exclusively for the last 4,276 miles and have averaged a hand calculated 30.16 mpg.

Updated Response:

I have refined my "baseline comparison number" because I could not believe the improvement. My baseline number no longer includes the car's first 14,965 miles, which I removed because it was the car's break-in period where it averaged 26.28 mpg. I also removed the mpg that I experienced from 77,891 to 87,473 because this was the period where my mpg dropped to 27.38 that caused me to try the Exxon fuel to correct whatever was going on. After removing these two periods, I am left with the 62,925 miles between 14,965 and 77,890, when the car averaged 29.49 mpg. I think this provides a fairer "baseline".

Against this revised "baseline" the Exxon fuel provided a 2.3% improvement, which is more in line with Exxon's claims. But what remains amazing to me is that the Exxon fuel seems to have cleaned out whatever caused my mpg to drop to 27.28 mpg for the 9,546 miles between 77,891 and 87,437. During that period I tried Stanadyne, Power Service, Liqui Molly and XPD trying to clean out whatever caused my mpg drop, and none of them helped.

So, while still not a scientific analysis, the fuel does seem to deliver the claimed mpg improvements and provide an effective "detergent".
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Something else may have been up with that decreased area. You can't necessarily say/prove that the change to Exxon fuel actually had anything to do with it. You also can't rightly claim it cleaned anything up. This is just speculation on your part as to why things changed. Most additives and fuel improvers use the same chemicals in their products. I would venture to say that the Exxon fuel has nothing in it that the others don't also use to some extent. Maybe differing amounts in each. Even your mpg claims can also be attributed to break-in as some here say the engine isn't broken in good until around 60k miles.

As long as you like it though, it doesn't really matter. Keep on rolling!
 
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belome

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
This whole thread is getting laughable.

In my area all the Shell Diesel pumps say, "This fuel is not a Shell Product" right on the dispenser.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
If it was available in more than a few spots in California, I would try it myself if it was nearly the same cost. We aren't paying nearly $4 for fuel either. I just filled the other day at a Chevron for $2.44. If it was around here and the same or cheaper I would try it too.
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Canada

Where I try to fuel up, the least expensive station it works out to US$ 3.10 gallon.
The brand name stations work out to US$ 3.38 gallon.


Mexico
US$ 4.38 gallon


The only time I see cheap Diesel is when I get to Arkansas and Texas on my travels.
Michigan is horribly expensive, Ohio not much better, Kentucky and Tennessee start to get lower prices.
 

SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
TOP TIER™ Detergent Gasoline was first introduced in 2004 when a group of automakers recognized the need for a higher detergency gasoline standard than that required by regulation
Link

So here is the Diesel side Link

Basically it is a higher standard across the range of fuel specifications than the MINIMUM required by law.

Sort or related side note, German automakers have grumbled about poor quality Diesel in US and having hard time tuning their engines to run on it.

Jason
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Too bad they have so few companies (only 4 in the US according to their web site) and so few of even each of their locations (mostly California and Washington state) willing to carry the product. Most other states only have one to four locations in the whole state. You would think that after going on 3 years (started in 2017) they would have more suppliers signing on.
 
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