GS450h Scare this morning...

[Eatdirt13]

When I get in my car in the mornings, the engine always kicks in for about 20 seconds then shuts off, which is fine. 

This morning though, the usual thing happened, but there was a random thud noise coming from the engine every couple of seconds. Definitely not a knock, but a dull thud sound, I could actually feel it through the car.

Like: Thud.........thud thud.....thud..................thud................thud...........thud thud.

Once it had warmed up it was fine.

Hopefully nothing serious. Can someone reassure me please?! 

Thank you!

 

[AmbroseJohn]

Next door's cat. The noise stops when the engine gets too hot to hold on to.  :)

[Eatdirt13]

Haha, well thank God for that....

Seriously though, has yours ever done this?

[AmbroseJohn]

24 minutes ago, Eatdirt13 said:

Haha, well thank God for that....

Seriously though, has yours ever done this?

No, I would just monitor it for a while. Normally if there's anything wrong, the dash lights up like a Christmas tree. Good luck, keep your fingers crossed.

[rayaans]

My RX did this for a while - turned out to be dodgy fuel. I can only describe the car as "shivering".  Petrol stays around longer in the tanks due to the obsession with diesel and you wont believe how quick it goes off. Thats why petrol cars drive better immediately after filling up

[AmbroseJohn]

16 minutes ago, rayaans said:

My RX did this for a while - turned out to be dodgy fuel. I can only describe the car as "shivering".  Petrol stays around longer in the tanks due to the obsession with diesel and you wont believe how quick it goes off. Thats why petrol cars drive better immediately after filling up

I once wintered my Corvette with a full tank (as recommended) never again. I had to drain it and clean all the lumps out of the carburetor.

[Eatdirt13]

It wouldn't be the fuel issue though would it? I use it every day and put £20 - £30 every time and use V Power, so it's never sat for long.

[AmbroseJohn]

29 minutes ago, Eatdirt13 said:

It wouldn't be the fuel issue though would it? I use it every day and put £20 - £30 every time and use V Power, so it's never sat for long.

It depends on how long it's been sat in the petrol station tank. I'd stop using premium if I were you because the turn over is much less and you don't really need it. The only advantage of premium fuel is the higher octane rating, which is required for some high performances cars with a higher compression ratio. In a cars designed to run on regular, you're just wasting your money. 

[Eatdirt13]

10 minutes ago, AmbroseJohn said:

It depends on how long it's been sat in the petrol station tank. I'd stop using premium if I were you because the turn over is much less and you don't really need it. The only advantage of premium fuel is the higher octane rating, which is required for some high performances cars with a higher compression ratio. In a cars designed to run on regular, you're just wasting you're money. 

Cheers for the heads up. I will start running 95, maybe it will agree with the engine more. Will certainly agree with my wallet!

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

Keep using decent fuel though, avoiding supermarkets!

[AmbroseJohn]

1 hour ago, Diesel Do Nicely Brian said:

Keep using decent fuel though, avoiding supermarkets!

Premium grade fuel is no better or worse than regular, it's just designed for different vehicles. Using it in a vehicle designed for regular fuel just adds more chemicals to simulate a lead additive, which our engines are not designed to accommodate, so could, in fact, do more harm than good.

 

Unless the manufacturer advises premium fuel, don't waste your money.

[AmbroseJohn]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-premium-g/

 

Read the whole article if you like but here's the conclusion.

 

But for standard cars on the road today, purchasing premium gasoline is simply paying a premium for a fuel that delivers no added benefits. "If you think you need it," Green says, "you're being very eccentric."

[rayaans]

10 hours ago, AmbroseJohn said:

It depends on how long it's been sat in the petrol station tank. I'd stop using premium if I were you because the turn over is much less and you don't really need it. The only advantage of premium fuel is the higher octane rating, which is required for some high performances cars with a higher compression ratio. In a cars designed to run on regular, you're just wasting your money. 

Agreed with this ^^

Turnover of petrol is low in the UK in the first place, relatively speaking of course. If you go for Premium, thats even lower. I wouldn't be surprised if Shell V power has been in the tank for a few weeks and it does "go off" so to speak.

I found out with my ride on mower. I used to brim the tank which would let it cut about 4 times. It then sat after each cut for 2 weeks and started smoking and shuddering. I fill the tank up more regularly and with lower amounts and its much better

[The-Acre]

15 hours ago, rayaans said:

Agreed with this ^^

Turnover of petrol is low in the UK in the first place, relatively speaking of course. If you go for Premium, thats even lower. I wouldn't be surprised if Shell V power has been in the tank for a few weeks and it does "go off" so to speak.

I found out with my ride on mower. I used to brim the tank which would let it cut about 4 times. It then sat after each cut for 2 weeks and started smoking and shuddering. I fill the tank up more regularly and with lower amounts and its much better

Interesting that you mention your mower.  I tried to start my hedge trimmer this morning and it fired for a couple of seconds and that was it.  The petrol had a very oily smell, not like the usual 2 stroke, it had sat unused for two months.

[rayaans]

7 hours ago, The-Acre said:

Interesting that you mention your mower.  I tried to start my hedge trimmer this morning and it fired for a couple of seconds and that was it.  The petrol had a very oily smell, not like the usual 2 stroke, it had sat unused for two months.

A new tank of fuel mixed with 2 stroke oil should sort it out (providing its one where you mix the 2 stroke oil with the petrol!).

It makes sense as the manual in my ride on mower, brush cutter and small petrol lawnmower all say to remove the petrol and empty the tank before storing for a long time.

[The-Acre]

8 hours ago, rayaans said:

A new tank of fuel mixed with 2 stroke oil should sort it out (providing its one where you mix the 2 stroke oil with the petrol!).

It makes sense as the manual in my ride on mower, brush cutter and small petrol lawnmower all say to remove the petrol and empty the tank before storing for a long time.

I'll give it a good clean and new fuel mix as soon as the skin on my fingers has healed after pulling the start cord for about a 100 times and removing the skin!  Just shows how fuel really does go off though.

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

On 17 August 2016 at 10:50 PM, AmbroseJohn said:

Premium grade fuel is no better or worse than regular, it's just designed for different vehicles. Using it in a vehicle designed for regular fuel just adds more chemicals to simulate a lead additive, which our engines are not designed to accommodate, so could, in fact, do more harm than good.

 

Unless the manufacturer advises premium fuel, don't waste your money.

The reason I mentioned avoiding supermarkets and using decent duel (i.e. Shell, BP etc) is after speaking to several mechanic friends and different dealers over the last few years/several makes where they have had issues (specifically diesels) with higher proportions of bio-fuel being added to bulk up (and bring down the cost of) the cheap supermarket fuels.  It was not to specifically recommend using premium fuels such as Shell V-Power or BP Ultimate (which I'd use in a performance car that needs it like my Impreza's etc).

 

[Carl911]

10 hours ago, Diesel Do Nicely Brian said:

The reason I mentioned avoiding supermarkets and using decent duel (i.e. Shell, BP etc) is after speaking to several mechanic friends and different dealers over the last few years/several makes where they have had issues (specifically diesels) with higher proportions of bio-fuel being added to bulk up (and bring down the cost of) the cheap supermarket fuels.  It was not to specifically recommend using premium fuels such as Shell V-Power or BP Ultimate (which I'd use in a performance car that needs it like my Impreza's etc).

 

Interestingly despite the gs450h not being classed as a performance car it's near as quick as the Impreza if not quicker than some models..lol.

point being, the gs450 is quicker than most so called performance cars so I'm not convinced about what fuel is best.

i once had pinking when using standard fuel so always use premium now and never have any problems.

[hondansxr]

my sc 430 would do 19mpg ave on reg fuel and when using bp super it rose to 22 ave

I agree with   Diesel Do Nicely Brian  avoid supermarkets ...

I had a stand up argument about this issue a couple of years back when working with alfa romeo , supermarket fuel caused a misfire in the pet engine cars when reverting back to s/ u fuel  it was fine , I run my 430 sport on super bp ..

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

Indeed - the performance of the GS450h is SUPERB and acceleration on a par with a typical Impreza, however the Impreza engine (especially any STI variant and EVERY import) needs 97RON+ fuel, and imports need that PLUS octane booster.  

My GS is more economical with BP Ultimate or Shell V Power than normal unleaded, but not quite enough to justify the difference in cost, as yet.