EuroDiesel 350 or Gasoil?
 

I'm planning to take my Nissan Navara pickup to Morocco where there's two grades of diesel--Gasoil at 7.20 Dh/Litre or EuroDiesel350 at 9.20 Dh/litre. Is anyone aware of the difference and what would happen if I was a cheapskate and used the cheapo stuff?

Tim

How old is your Nissan? If it's electronically controlled then it might be prudent to use the expensive stuff (sold as European spec diesel, whatever that means (it's basically cleaner like in Europe)).

Or if it's an older vehicle use the normal gasoil - I use it in my 200 tdi all of the time - it's what has always been available in Maroc - the more expensive stuff has only really come out in the last few years. It's a bit dirty and smokey, but runs fine - I've used it for a combined period of 9 months with two different engines and other than being a bit smokier I have had no problems.

I've been there previously with modern common-rail ECU-controlled vehicles and always used the 350 and a splash of cetane booster in each fill-up to be sure. In January I went with my Iveco 40.10WM camper which is an old-tech turbo diesel and did the same; my mate in his old-tech non-turbo 6-cylinder Unimog U1300L used the ordinary stuff on our first fill-up as it was cheaper, but even with half a tankful on top of Spanish diesel the truck smoked badly and he reckoned it was well down on power. He changed to 350 and it ran much better. Various overlanders we met in Ceuta were topping up tanks before crossing the border, and not just because it was cheap there.

Another friend with a Perkins-engined camper was suspicious that his engine had 'lost it's edge' after six weeks in Maroc, including not starting as well, and only began to regain it's former glory after about a year back here.

Are they imagining it? Dunno, but I'd rather be safe than sorry for the extra cost. The Iveco ran fine,no smoking and no power loss, then and since. These trucks are all quite a bit heavier than Land Rovers etc so maybe the difference is more noticable.

Nigel

diesel does vary throughout the eec. in france it has about 10% veggie oil. the difference between that and uk diesel is with the french stuff engines idle and run at slow revs smoother and with more torque. The uk stuff produces more top end power with much less smoke at high revs/throttle, but idling is more rattly. I think it would start better on uk fuel, but my citroen always started easily on either so difficult to be sure.

We used Gasoil in my wife's Mercedes A170 last year and didn't notice much performance difference, however it's a pretty gutless wimp anyway.

Seeing as the Navara will be brand new, after reading the above, I will try and stick to the better grade.

Tim