Thread: Ethanol free fuels?

national ruling is up to 10% they dont have to advertise the % just indicate somewhere on site that the fuelmay contain upto 10% ethanol.

sometimes its a small sticker on a door, counter or in the facia of the pump.

anything over has to be indicated clearly as to what the content is.

There was a discussion going around a while back that the 10% wasnt counted in what was advertiesed so e85 could be up to E95, E10 could be upto E20.

e10 stored in a seal container, stirred up before use and held for less than a month is not going to cause issues. Drain the carby and fuel lines before you store the engine and you'll be ok, eventually it may rot through the supply hose but thats a problem your going to face eventually anyway.

jeez I'm amazed the number of people still showing concern for ethanol based fuel.

where have you been for the last 15-20yrs?

discussions have been had about affects on your lawnmower/brushcutter/outboard motor/portable generator et al.

there shouldn't be anything around now susceptible to ethanol problems unless you've just opened your grandfathers long locked shed or barn.

I bet you guys have the latest mobile phones......

My only concern with E10 is that it is just poor economics for a car that is designed for 91like nearly all Japanese cars.

It was initially introduced in NSW at a 4C discount which at about $1 per litre roughly compensated for its poorer calorific value.

Now at my local shell E10 has only 1.5c discount at say 92.6 cents for 91 which swings the value to 91.

BTW this thread is a rerun of one done about 6-8 years ago.

AFAIK 91 does not have ethanol . That is why it is more efficient as it has a higher calorific value.

The rules as I studied them way back when specify 10% as the maximum allowable ethanol and the pumps say "up to 10%".

The NSW government legislated to demand a certain % of ethanol mainly to support Dick Honan's Manildra who are the only producer of ethanol in NSW.
It is a by product of producing wheat starch at Bomaderry and the Ethanol train was built to reduce pollution from the wheat starch production, as the EPA was on Honan's back.
They used to spray effluent onto a field opposite the plant where Honan breeds lovely Clydsdales but some of it used to go into the creeks.

Regards Philip A
BTW you may recall that at one stage the E10 pumps had a filter on the hose as there was debris in the fuel. My acquaintance who worked for Gilbarco informed me that it was illegal as it interfered with the pump measurement.
I had my fuel pump pack up in my RRC and I found the pump entry blocked by a white cotton like material. HMMMM.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

......

there shouldn't be anything around now susceptible to ethanol problems unless you've just opened your grandfathers long locked shed or barn.

I bet you guys have the latest mobile phones......

For a start, a significant proportion of the users of this forum run vehicles well over twenty years old - if you had not noticed there are large, active sub-forums on Series Landrovers, the last of which was made over thirty years ago (and the first almost seventy years ago), and on RRCs, the first of which was made over 45 years ago.

And many people have small motors that are in use even though they are thirty or forty years old, which are long lasting because they get little use. These include seldom used fire pumps, emergency generators etc.

Secondly, all engines, regardless of when they were made, are susceptible to the corrosion effects that ethanol encourages as a result of its attraction for water from the air. This particularly applies to engines that spend long periods idle, and to those located in humid atmospheres.

And I for one do not have the latest mobile phone - it'll get replaced when it stops working.

John

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

jeez I'm amazed the number of people still showing concern for ethanol based fuel.

where have you been for the last 15-20yrs?

discussions have been had about affects on your lawnmower/brushcutter/outboard motor/portable generator et al.

there shouldn't be anything around now susceptible to ethanol problems unless you've just opened your grandfathers long locked shed or barn.

I bet you guys have the latest mobile phones......

I have never owned an outboard motor before so am just being cautious, I have never paid over $50 for whipper snippers/ mowers ect so would never be worried about having to rip it apart. So having to fork out a bit on an outboard I thought id do a little research, I'm no expert but a lot of small engine makers recomend not using it, some say absolutely not especially a small 2stroke outboard with a tank sitting in a tinny as the air flow causes premature seperation, I'm not to worried about the rubber bits that as you say should not be an issue these days but with any seperation the 2 stroke oil stays with the petrol and not with the seperated section. This means no lubrication, maybe only a small amount but it separates to the bottom which is used first. As BlkNight stated I suppose this can be minimised by giving it a proper shake but ideally would prefer to not have ethanol for this application.

In 2008, the Federal Parliament approved legislation capping the use of ethanol in petrol to 10% (E10) and requiring that petrol stations adequately inform consumers if they are using petrol that includes ethanol. An anomaly currently exists in South Australian legislation whereby ethanol blended petrol is able to be sold within the State as long as the ethanol containing petrol conforms to current emission standards and is not blended in South Australia.

I mistakenly put E10 in the fibreglass fuel tank of a bike I'm restoring. Ethanol apparently dissolves resin and the tank got very soft.

I know of a couple of vehicles with rubber fuel tanks. Certainly don't want any ethanol in them. I personally choose to never use it, as it works out costing more per unit of work done. Octane rating is not how much energy the fuel has, rather it's resistance to ignition.

Aaron