Shell V-Power Caused "Motor Control System Failure"

Well I think it did anyway ... the 2.4 JTD was running fine then one day I filled up with the V-Power Diesel stuff (I was running late and it was the only free pump), then a couple of days later I started to get the old MCSF, after reading other threads I replaced the battery ... that made no difference and it still kept happening ...

... I got really bad fuel consumption from the V-Power, so next time I filled up I used normal diesel, but the MCSF was still happening (although with less frequency it seemed), so I booked it in for a diagnostic check ...


The diagnostics reported a "boost failure", but the mechanic couldn't recreate the MCSF, I've now been driving the car for another week and haven't had the fault again (touch wood) ... so I can only assume it was the shell diesel that did it (the fact that I was getting them after I filled up elsewhere was probably due to a bit of shell diesel still being in my tank) ...

... has anyone else noticed this?

Fuel has nothing to do with boost..

I know it does seem like a bit of a tenuous link ... I just say it as I see it ...

unless the better quality fuel only caused the engine to run at its optimum and highlighted a pre existing boost concern??

keep an eye on it mate but i would be suprised if the fuel itself was the cause

I've been using V Power for about 3 months with no problems

Sounds like the "Women got the Vote and WW 1 happened' type of correlation to me

Must admit I'm half tempted to put in another tank full and see if it happens again ... just a bit nervous though ... you could be right about the pre-existing condition, if it is then I'd prefer to know it now ...

Originally Posted by Stori

Sounds like the "Women got the Vote and WW 1 happened' type of correlation to me

Women got the vote ?? your having a laugh

Originally Posted by rayq81

Women got the vote ?? your having a laugh

Women voting.....next you will be saying they could run the country

Originally Posted by chrisd_b

Women voting.....next you will be saying they could run the country

I think you'll find that it's been proved they can't ...

Originally Posted by 156Chris

I think you'll find that it's been proved they can't ...

But then neither can men...

this happened to me after switching fuels, first time at 20 something thousand miles and another time at 50-odd both times in my case also happened when it was very cold, I just assumed a combo of good air and good fuel meant my remapped car hit a boost limit, car was trouble free after a few miles, MCSF did not re-occur.

IMO this has nothing to do with fuel. Should this happen immediately after taking the diesel you could blame it to poor quality and some bad interaction with injection system. JTDms are known to have issues with bad diesel. But you took one of the best ones available, and I'm not joking, V-Power diesel is my primary fuel I did 20kkm with it on a remapped 1.9 engine. No problems, moreover each time I change from another (regular) diesel to V-Power I experience noticeable improvement in car acceleration and torque.

I think, and I hope I am wrong, you have some issues ongoing with the engine, the distribution system maybe, check it well on an analyzer. Are phases ok?

Failure I once had was due to material failure in the distrib system. First I had a Engine Control System... alarm, car lost some half of the power and kept going like that pof some 20-30km. Then surprisingly power started coming back until I finally balmed it to fuel quality as I was just after a visit to some gas station and took some diesel I normally wouldn't. But that was just the beginning, on the next day strange occasional noise started coming from the engine and I still believed it was due to that damn fuel. Since it was occasional and kept coming and going away, with the car having normal power, I just ignorded it. But after a couple of days, I started the ignition and the car was immediately in half-dead mode with no power and one of the cylinders not working at all. Then I only had enough power to get outside the garage underground and make short drive around the block and car went dead. In the service station it was diagnosed the cam belt jumped over by 3 positions! That was enough to cause a damage at walves of the fourth cylinder - limited damage fortunately. Now I think when I had had the first power decrease and alarm on a highway a couple of days before it was already cam belt misplaced by one position or something like that.

I'm writing all this long story just to show how misleading things can be. And due to complexity of this engine, perhaps it is to some extent able, to adjust itself when a small failure/problem occurs. How else can I explain that there was a significant problem with power and control system alarm and then car comes back to normal??

Well ... I thought that I'd try the V-Power again just to see so I went back to the same Shell station I'd filled up at, only to find that it was closed and that they have dug up all of the fuel tanks ... hmmmm another coincidence???

One other thing that I did notice was that I got VERY poor fuel economy with the V-Power (38mpg rather than the normal 43mpg I get) ... this surprised me as when I've used the petrol V-Power before I always got better fuel economy ...

So (2 + 2 = 5) ... maybe the tanks at the station were "clucked" and I'd actually filled my car up with muddy water ...


Oh I don't know ... anyone got another box of straws I can clutch at?

Go check it with another station, V-Power is an excellent diesel, maybe you indeed had a bad luck with "dirty" fuel. In such case it is possible to have engine alarms as JTDms have tastes..

Originally Posted by mrdata

Go check it with another station, V-Power is an excellent diesel, maybe you indeed had a bad luck with "dirty" fuel. In such case it is possible to have engine alarms as JTDms have tastes..

I then went to another shell, but they didn't have any V-Power ... at £123.9 for there normal diesel they're probably too embarrassed to sell the V-Power anymore!!!


Anyone know any Shell's that sell V-Power somewhere between Crawley and Camberley???

Originally Posted by 156Chris

The diagnostics reported a "boost failure", but the mechanic couldn't recreate the MCSF,

I'm guessing overboost? Have the map sensor checked, I seem to have a rush the last few weeks with failing map sensors, reporting overboost at random. Putting vacuum or pressure on them with a handpump shows the fault quickly (ie, 0.6 bar absolute pressure gets reported as 1 bar...)

£123.90 sounds dear

Originally Posted by 156Chris

Anyone know any Shell's that sell V-Power somewhere between Crawley and Camberley???

Have you tried a search for premium diesel on Petrolprices

You'll need to register first

BTW my mpg has gone up 3mpg since switching to V Power

I always thought V-power was a bit over hyped-you can get similar or better results doing what Shell does yourself and adding a decent additive like Millers TD Sport4 (stupid name I know!)

Do you think it still works out more expensive than regular diesel if it increases mpg by that much?

Originally Posted by neileg

But then neither can men...

But women can get the fight over and done with swiftly...