Fuel Colours

[Dirk van Dort]

Can somebody please advise us on the correct colour for the various fuel grades.
We have only recently obtained a garage in Lydenburg that dispenses 95 UL fuel, but noticed that the colour is RED, whereas the 95 UL purchased elsewhere is GREEN. It also smells slightly different, (according to those with sharp noses...) Now we are starting to doubt the grade of fuel we are putting into our Bantams...!!
Can anybody help in giving us the correct colour for the various grades of fuel. We know that Avgas is a light blue in colour, but we are not sure of the others and do not wish to risk running our motors on 93 or LRP fuel. Thanks guys,
Kind regards,
Dirk
ZU-EZI

[Relborg]

From Sasol's Website

Turbo LRP 93 - Orange
Turbo LRP 95 - Red
Turbo unleaded (R93) - Yellow
Turbo unleaded (R95) - Green

http://www.sasol.com/sasol_internet/fro ... &cnav=fuel

[Dirk van Dort]

Thank you Dirk,
You have confirmed our fears, we have been running our Bantams on LRP (fortunately only for a short while) and will be taking this matter up with the garage concerned.
Kind regards,
Dirk
Bantam ZU-EZI

[braam hechter]

Hi Gents.

Be carefull buying mogas based on the colour and the pump description. (There were issues where 93 UL was refueled into 95 UL pumps and Rotax 914 pistons were burnt after using this so called 95 UL) We there after had discussions with some of the fuel suppliers. The colour of the fuel depends on the additive that they mix in. As far as i can remember there is no legislation stating the colour vs octane rating for mogas. There is the requirement for avgas though. Check with the individual garage management for specific colour and octane rating.

Greetings and fly safely
Braam Hechter

[Dirk van Dort]

Thank you Braam for your advice,
However, this now raises the question, How do we protect ourselves, and know that we are receiving the correct fuel asked for, and paying for.
After my previous post, we returned to the garage where the owner advised us that he received his fuel from a supplier in Sasolburg and not the franchise holder, in this case Shell. This implies that the fuel he sells is in fact Sasol. I showed him the colour chart as referred to by Relborg above. We then dispensed some fuel from the 95UL pump into a bottle...The colour was YELLOW...!! indicating that the tank now contained 93UL...!! The embarressed owner has undertaken to get a certificate from the supplier for future deliveries, and also to replace the fuel we had purchased. Mine has already been mixed with 50% avgas and the others will be draining their tanks for return.
Who checks the fuel being pumped into their vehicles? Only because we pump into cans for dispensing through filters into our aircraft that we noticed this discrepancy...! I'm not saying this is the case, but there are many scamming people out there, willing to sell 93 as 95 at the higher price and increasing their profit margins...!!
Kind regards, and take care,
Dirk.
Bantam ZU-EZI

[Splinter]

Chances are that this poor bloke had no idea the router was dumping the incorrect fuel into his tanks.

Being in the fuel industry I would suggest finding a Service Station that is contracted to a franchise. This means that the garage owner IS NOT ALLOWED to purchase other fuels from "routers" and only the franchise. Doing this will give you the peace of mind that the owner recieved the product he claims to be selling. Fuel companies like Engen and Shell WILL NOT dump the incorrect fuel into a tank as there are serious consequences to this. Example: Dumping ULP93 into a ULP95 tank or LRP93 into a ULP93 tank. Buying fuel from routers when contracted could cost you your licence or lease to trade in the fuel industry, so its just to much of a risk for service station owners. This will reduce your chances of getting the "wrong fuel" as the oil company doesnt want to carry the consequences for delivering the wrong fuel and the owner doest want to run the risk of buying from a router.

ZU-RED