E10 fuel

[Carledo]

Until recently (maybe still, i've not checked) in all but a couple of UK counties 98 RON Super unleaded, although advertised as E5, is in fact E0. The exceptions being Cornwall and Northumberland IIRC.

Presumably this will slowly change as E10 comes on line (AFTER Sept 1st, as Alun correctly noted) I'm not too worried about it becoming E5, my cars cope with 95 RON E5 fine, i'm much more concerned with the 97/98 RON octane rating disappearing.

I remember what happened to 5 Star (101 Octane) petrol back in the early 70s. It was supposed to be available at least another 5 years, instead it disappeared in months!

The effect THAT will have on "our" cars which were all designed to run on at least a 98 RON 4 Star is what worries me, sure you can back the timing off a bit more, but it's courting other problems with pre ignition and pinking. The Sprint was probably concieved to run on 5 star and had to be detuned a bit, as 5 star had gone by it's delayed launch in 73. Which must have annoyed a few folk no end.

"Normal" E5, as sold today everywhere, is 95 RON and they've promised (HA HA!) that this will continue to be sold (the inference is as super, at an appropriate markup). So does this mean that the "real" super at 98 RON will go in favour of what is really Supermarket E5, branded as Super and priced accordingly? Or, fatuous optimism, will there be 2 grades of "super" according to car requirements?

Just asking!

Steve

[Manta]

I got my hose from this place http://www.flexiducting.co.uk/?product ... -fuel-hose
You have to order via phone, good service and not excessive price

[RobSun]

I was speaking to a friend yesterday who has a Standard Companion. It has not been out much this year after it was vandalized and it has been in his coach house undergoing repairs. It has been started and moved around regularly but yesterday it would not go. Checked everything and ended up with the carb being the problem. Filters were all clear but the float chamber was full of a white sludge that had moved into the jets. He says hes never seen anything like it before and is putting it down to corrosion of the carbs casting from the E5.

[naskeet]

Just use quality R9 or better hoses. Not from ebay suppliers (AFS sell fake hose) but from somebody reliable. That is all I intend doing.
My wifes y2000 mx5 is "not compatible" and yet nobody knows why, and many have been using e10 or whatever in europe with no side effects (bar slightly reduced mpg etc)

The Dolomega's donor car, a Y2k Omega is also "not compatible" with E10! So that's one of the advantages of the conversion (the ability to run on supermarket fuel) down the drain before it's even properly on the road. I'm running R9 hose throughout, but I think the incompatibility is somewhere in the octane rating vs compression ratio area. Earlier Vauxhalls (like my MKIII Cavaliers) had a clever little doohickey in the loom that plugged in and gave a choice of either 91 and 95 ron, or an alternate plug gave 95 or 98 ron. This thing is either a placebo or it alters the map subtly to cope with varying grades of fuel. The Omega doesn't have this choice giver, so probably preset to 95 and that's it. Hence the incompatibility with E10 which, IIRC, is 91 ron, maybe even 87!

If the cheaper E10 delivers poorer gas mileage then that means that the "super" E5 or E0 is less of a burden in terms of expense as you'll get better economy AND performance by using it and none of the risks of other unwanted side effects that we don't know about yet! One I suspect is that E10 will have an even lower temperature of vaporisation than E5. So vapour lock in carbs will get even worse and will probably start at lower ambient temperatures. At the moment, in the UK, it's only a problem in traffic and during infrequent spells of high ambient temps, over about 28 degrees C. So just about bearable if you are patient and avoid traffic jams whilst out on your sunny Sunday drive. E10 will probably change all that!

Steve

According to one of my specialised books about fuel-alcohol, published in New Zealand, both methanol & ethanol, behave as though they are of 130 RON octane rating when blended with petrol. Unless the octane rating of the petrol being blended is being reduced, the E10 should have a higher octane rating than E5. Ethanol has a much higher latent heat capacity than petrol, so cold-starting in cold weather might be more difficult and there might be a greater tendency for carburettor & inlet-manifold icing.