FTO AUSTRALIA

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2004 9:42 am**

True but $4 a week at least begins to add up!!

I'd have to say though that shell seem to b the cheapest around me at the moment but ive heard that optimax is one of the lowest grade "premium" fuels available, still i guess it's better than regular ULP!!

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2004 9:45 am**

FTOluv wrote:i just got home from my bball game and notice that only shell was offering unleaded petrol at 97.5cents!? every other servo was charging $1.02! i dont fill my car up with unleaded but shells fuel is far cheaper than other servos at the moment, hopefully it can last till thursday!

Do you play at coburg and drive a blue fto?

Lol.. because, today, I was showing off my car to some friends, who still hadn't seen it, and then as we're getting out of the stadium, walking back to the car, THERES ANOTHER FTO!!

Kinda took away from my originality!!!

Oh and you better not be playing on that yellow team, that beet us, by like 2 points either! or else, i'm really gonna be pissed!

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2004 10:59 am**

Hey Slither have you still got those chrome stickers on your doors? hehehe... they look wicked mate. i have to say, it's one of the nicest blue FTOs i've seen....

Posted: **Tue May 25, 2004 12:21 pm**

Yeah still got em, i reckon they look mad as!!

I'd like to take credit for it but i bought it that way! still, i've got a few little things i want to change and upgrade to make her a little more mine but all in good time.....

Posted: **Wed May 26, 2004 1:13 am**

I was actually playing at the Bulleen stadium against a yellow team as well!! we beat them though

and plus mine is silver and if u miss it u'll definately hear it !

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2004 12:32 pm**

whats a few bucks? Considering i spend more than that on a single alco drink when i go out im not really complaining!

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2004 1:13 pm**

Here's an email I recently received:

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN AUSTRALIA DID NOT PURCHASE

A DROP OF PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD

HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 30TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND

DAY" AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY

PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMIINSTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT

GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES

THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY,

WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 30TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF AUSTRALIA SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

Posted: **Sat May 29, 2004 5:52 pm**

That email is circulated around at least once a year, however the sender usually forgets to change the word 'gasoline' to 'petrol'

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:37 pm**

Thought I should post this post up here as it is an interesting read, as it might interest some tech heads...

This is from an ACT forum, Shogun (www.shogunclubdivision.com)

Chris Convertible wrote:Since finding out that Chilsholm is selling Ultimate I decided to give it a try and see what happens. For two years I have run exclusively on Optimax and got between 450 to 490 from a tank and when filling it up used between 45 to 49 litres and it was virtually always about 10L/100km. So far I have used two full tanks and am on my third of BP Ultimate and got only 390km from each tank. The petrol consumption for the first was 11.58L/100km and the second 11.86L/100km. I am not that happy as I was hoping for better economy from the BP Ulitmate as it is a denser fuel but I am using about 17% more fuel and considering coles has a 4c voucher for Optimax it means my fuel bill is up by 20%. I phoned up BP technical help to ask why my consumption is worse than optimax and hoped to get a good answer.

According to BP it is the car has a build up of toluene within the fuel system. Dimetri from BP said they buy fuel from all other suppliers for testing as part of their own research. He said what happens is when a car runs on Optimax for a long time it builds up a level of toluene within the fuel system. Once this has built after a few months it is continually being mixed and replaced with the petrol. If Optimax is being used then the level of build up stays the same but if you swap to another petrol like BP Ultimate or Mobil Synergy 8000 then the toluene deposits slowly disappear. While that is happening the toluene mixed with the BP Ultimate makes a mixture that is about 10% less powerfull than BP Ultimate without the toluene mixed in.

If you keep running a car on Optimax once the toluene has built up to a maximum level the deposits keep mixing with the petrol and the car will generate about 3% more power on optimax than is it was running on optimax without the build up. Therefore if you want to use Optimax it is better to keep using it. He said many people do that and he believes apart from more damage to the environment the car will be fine and will run better than swapping from one to another.

If you don't want to use Optimax all the time then you are better running anywhere from 3 to 7 tanks of BP Ultimate or Mobil Synergy 8000 to clean out the build up of toluene. He then said you can use any of the fuels including Optimax but be careful to not use more than two tanks of Optimax in a row or the toluene will start to build up again. He suggested I give Bp Ultimate a few more tanks to remove the toluene buildup before deciding what to use.

Other interesting things he said.
1. BP Ultimate and Mobil Synergy 8000 are both very similar in make up of additives etc and are virtually identical as far as you car is concerned.

2. BP Ultimate and Mobil Synergy 8000 are both refined only in Queensland and WA and have been available in those states for much longer than anywhere else. I think from his other comment that BP is refined in WA and Mobil in Queensland and they sell to each other so in Canberra maybe we are buying Mobil Synergy 8000 from the BP Ultimate pump.

3. Shell Optimax has a higher level of Toluene than what is allowed in two Australian states so has been taken off the market in those states (didn't tell me which states). Toluene causes more UV from the sunlight to penetrate which is the main reason it is banned in those states. Shell are currently researching how to update their refineries to change the formula for Optimax and he expects in two years for it to be very similar to BP Ultimate.

4. Caltex Vortex Gold is only 95 (which I already knew) but was developed for racing use where the cars are not using special fuels. Dimetri said he believes it is the best 95 fuel around and if your car is designed to run on 95 then it is what he would use.

I found his comments very interesting, especially the Caltex Vortex comment as he works for BP. My plan is to keep using BP Ultimate for another few tanks and see if my milage can get back to what I had with Optimax. Once it has then I assume all the toluene build up has dissappeared and I can start experimenting again. I might then give Vortex a go and see what economy I get to see if it is a cheaper option.

Based on prices of $1.10 for BP Ultimate, $1.06 for Optimax after a voucher and $1.04 for Vortex from 45 litres I would need to get 450km from Optimax, 467km from BP Ultimate and 441km from Vortex for them all to work out about the same price.

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:59 pm**

as ive stated in the past, i also did a short change from optimax to ultimate a couple of times last year and noticed a dramatic hike in fuel consumption so i switched back to optimax, now this info seems to explain it, and incidentally i have been using ultimate again for about last 4-5 tanks and for some reason the fuel consumption hike did not seem to be as dramatic as last time from the first tank after the change. im getting more ot less 10L/100km now with ultimate which is about right... i'll see if this improves after a few more tanks..

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:11 pm**

so in short, Toluene is good for your car but bad for the environment?

due to the current fuel crisis, i'll be faithful to Coles and get my 4c worth of discount per litre until things settle down LoL...

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:40 pm**

GPXXX wrote:so in short, Toluene is good for your car but bad for the environment?

I would not consider it good for your car. The primary purpose of toluene is as a paint thinner not a petrol additive. it is a solvent.

Whenever you hear stories of petrol station owners diluting petrol with cheaper alternatives, what they are normally doing is adding toluene. It is often promoted as a cheap way to increase the octan rating of your fuel (i.e. DIY, go buy a can and add it your tank), but it is exactly that a "cheap" alternative not necessarily a good one.

Toluene is a very toxic substance, it is a "central nervous system dysfunction agent" and the less we have of it in the environment the better.

Also, I'd be concerned about using anything in my car which was going to leave residue behind.

Personally, I won't use Optimax, and we've discussed this before in various threads, so I won't go into it again, but for those who do buy it solely based on the shopper docket savings from Coles, remember that you can get this same discount with Safeway / Woolworths and Caltex.

I'm really glad you posted that message Boris, as it now explains why some people who have tried Ultimate / 8000 haven't got the same response as those who use it normally do (they're still waiting for all the stuff optimax leaves behind to be flushed out of their fuel system).

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:54 pm**

Well i use to fill up my other car with Optimax, until two wks ago, now i use Ultimate & i found it had much better fuel economy.

I've always use Ultimate since day one for the FTO.

I think we all forgot to factor in, all car manufactures design engines differently (I don't think i need to go into details here or is going to be 10 pages), therefore one brand of fuel might make a small different to one brand of car, but a huge different for the other.

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:17 pm**

pfffft i can assure everyone, you will NEVER see me fill up my tank at Safeway...

and don't you mean ETHANOL??

Posted: **Fri Jun 04, 2004 3:18 pm**

GPXXX wrote:pfffft i can assure everyone, you will NEVER see me fill up my tank at Safeway...

umm... no, you buy your groceries at Safeway and buy your fuel from Caltex (i.e. Caltex 8000) and get a 4c discount. Just like you do at Shell when you buy your groceries from Coles

GPXXX wrote:and don't you mean ETHANOL??

to which part of my message are you refering?

Posted: **Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:04 pm**

The price at the moment in the UK is ONLY 85p per litre (2.25 AUD) but this is for normal 95 octane fuel. The government gets 49p of this in duty and another 12.5p in VAT. For some reason the public wasn't looking forward to September when they were going to put another 2p onto the price of fuel but this is now under review.

Brian

Posted: **Sun Jun 06, 2004 2:55 am**

only $2.25?!
hahaha ONLY?!

Posted: **Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:50 am**

Luckily Queensland has the cheapest fuel of all the other states thanks to a state subsady.
Just friday last week i paid 90.9 a leter.. which at the moment i thought was a bargain!

Posted: **Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:17 pm**

I don't think it is totally a Queensland thing nofearzz, I mean I payed 96.9 last Thursday for normal unleaded, which reminds me, have you guys got Omptimax up there yet? Or is it still only at Mackay. Despite rumours we still haven't got Ultimate or the mobil one down here.

Posted: **Thu Aug 26, 2004 12:43 pm**

Hey, anybody using normal unleaded fuel for their FTO, or anybody started using it after petrol prices sky-rocketed?
Another question; anybody ising Octane Boosters? (Brands as well please)

FTO AUSTRALIA

Current fuel prices