[magnat]

I am wondering what your input is on the whole ethanol thing.. Alot of the Servo's on the Highways are promoting E10 at around 2-3 cents a litre cheaper then the regular unleaded..

Whats your view on it?

[royce]

try it and see, mine runs like crap on it, not to say it wouldn't with the right air/fuel ratio

[magnat]

Mine seems OK...
no issues yet

[Fluffy]

might be cheeper but I.M.H.O. you tend to use more/ as in you drive harder to get the same performance

[Bruce]

My GV runs like crap with it. Pings it's head off. Even 91 is still a little pingy. I usualy run 95.
But as Royce said, it might be fine in you're 4b.

[mrw82]

if you have problems with crap in your system its great, the ethanol is a pretty strong cleaner, it will loosen ALL crap build up from inside your tank, fuel lines, injectors/carby, remove carbon build up on valves etc...
good to clean the crap change filters a few times then go back to regular ulp.
if your car is running sweet dont touch the stuff for the very same reason, it will loosen all the shit and send it through the system, sure the filter will catch it but do you really want to have to change your filter every week?

the other problem with E10 is water. its a lot harder for servos to check for water in their E10 tanks because it blends with the ethanol instead of separating. and all underground petrol tanks get water in them from time to time, by the time the servos detect water in their E10 tanks the product has already gone through 'Phase Separation' where the water content is so high that it draws the ethanol out of the fuel and settles on the bottom of the tank, the fuel pump pickup is also from the bottom of the tank meaning the product coming out of the bowser is 100% ethanol. NOT GOOD FOR ANY CAR. the occourence of this would be rare but given that it can happen and that the info and training for console ops/managers is next to non existent i wouldn't go anywhere near the stuff.

the other thing i dont like about E10 is the oil companys get away with using a lower grade/poorer quality of fuel (a 87ron ULP) and add ethanol which increases the RON rating to give ULP 91.

sorry for the long post but i know a bit about it being in the industry and like to share this sort of info.

Mark

[just_cruizin]

I like the idea of ethanol fuel but steer away from it for the reason Mark has mentioned

[Fluffy]

mrw82....if what your saying is right theoreticaly when the tanker fills the tank. you could be putting in near pure ethanol......

that means no warranty on cars using this fuel if it is found in your tank.

a trap for young players

and that stuf has a much higher fuel to air ratio. than petrol

[mrw82]

fluffy,
i would not matter if there is a tanker delivering or not, its all got to do with water in the underground tank at the servo. (tanker load would actually weaken the mixture if underground tank is contaminated).
but if phase separation occurs than very likely that the product coming out of the bowser is a very high percentage of ethanol.

also any vehicles pre 95 (dont quote me on the year, its somewhere around there) have fuel lines and components made from different rubber composite which is NOT compatible with ethanol and either can swell up or break down and perish.

[cj_zuki]

I queried Suzuki about using it a couple of years back and they said that the G series engines weren't designed for it and it may cause problems/failures with some components.

[Fluffy]

Mark
Will the water in the tank draw the ethanol to the bottom?


Ive seen the rubber perish paticulary arround the injectors
it's Very dangerous

probably why theres signs on the pump "not sutable for any aircraft"
that itself should ring alarm bells

might be safer for the environment..but what happens when your fuel line deteriorates and sprays high presure fuel all over your motor...

a burning car is not that good for the environment

Personaly I dont use it unless I'm REALLY stuck


http://autospeed.com/cms/A_108269/article.html

Quote:

"PHASE SEPARATION"
When water is absorbed by the ethanol, the alcohol in the fuel begins to be removed, therefore lowering the octane rating of the fuel. When enough moisture is absorbed into ethanol-based fuels (one gallon of ethanol fuel can absorb 3.8 teaspoons of water), the fuel can no longer absorb water and the extra water separates and settles to the bottom of the fuel tank.

What occurs as a result are poor driving conditions, such as knocking, pinging, sluggish performance, or a hard or no-start condition. From the effect of the alcohol being removed, the air-to-fuel ratio becomes lean and combustion chamber temperatures increase. Increased combustion chamber temperatures will lead to premature wear.

Steve

[mrw82]

fluffy,
water naturally is heavier than petrol and separates to the bottom of the tank, making it easy to be pumped out when the level gets high. with ethanol (which is blended with the petrol) the water doesn't separate, the alcohol absorbs the water, making it harder for the servos to detect water in the tank, as the water/ethanol mixture gets higher it gets heavier drawing it out of the petrol to the bottom of the tank, thats an ethanol/water mix not just the water.

so yes mate the water will separate the ethanol from the petrol to the bottom of the tank.

Mark.

[Fluffy]

cheers for the insight mark..