Using E10 Ethanol Unleaded in my P38

E10 has some other interesting properties.

Ethanol is a cleaner so it will clean the crud off your tank and fuel lines - OK if your doing a long run. Not so great in the stop start stuff as the crud is in the fuel and can just get moved up the system to the injectors.

The other property is its ability to absorb water (can be in your tank in the form of condensation) again not a problem if you do long trips, but....

If you fill up your tank and then take a while to empty changing temperatures can course phase seperation and you have water in your fuel lines.

Interesting. If I run my new holden sidi engine on E10 it has more hp than STD unleaded and If I run on 98. Baby it's nice. So funny how I can get more HP and more distance to the tank on E10

E10 is approx 94octane , regular is 91.
On a Holden the ignition will advance thus better economy/power.
Regards Philip A

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Originally Posted by redandy3575

Just wondering whether hte p38s have variable ECU's in them. Cause the recommendation is to run on 91RON fuel as we have the low compression engine in oz. Some i'm suprised to hear that you got more performance let alone better economy out of it. Have you had your Rangie chiped or performance enhanced??

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Nup, nothing fishy and certainly no chips :p just plain bog standard motor.

EDIT: I was using 98Octane because that's the only premium available from the particular Shell servo in Toowoomba (Margaret St). I haven't done a similar test with Caltex Vortex 95 Octane....yet!!

I recently filled my P38 with ethanol by mistake coming back from the mountains, after getting home nothing seemed different but the next day i took it to Melbourne and was getting 11.3l/100km and it felt great better power and smoother it wasn't lagging between 75=90kms like it normally did. Unfortunately it is now getting the brakes attended too it has the step in the action and no brake sensation.:mad:

As my P38A runs mainly on LPG, I don't use a lot of petrol. My car has a 155 litre long range petrol tank that takes months to use up so I don't want that filled with E10.

What I need is a fuel that isn't going to go into phase separation so I fill with PULP. The extra cost isn't an issue as I use so little anyway.

Because of this when I had my engine worked, I had HC pistons fitted to take advantage of the higher octane rating of PULP and LPG. The car has also been rechipped as well.

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Originally Posted by sclarke

Interesting. If I run my new holden sidi engine on E10 it has more hp than STD unleaded and If I run on 98. Baby it's nice. So funny how I can get more HP and more distance to the tank on E10

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Holden spent millions developing the SIDI engine and totally reconfigured their manufacturing set up as a result. The techology in the SIDI is light years from our genetically modified flat tappet push rod Buick :D.

Certainly ethanol has high Octane rating...meaning that pre-detonation caused by a given degree of ignition advancement is reduced compared to fuel of lesser octane rating. However, the calorific or energy value of ethanol (C2H5OH) compared to an equivalent unit of hydrocarbons with longer carbon chains is considerably less. Ahhh! the endless quest for greater efficiency and power :angel:

I tell what i have noticed.... a considerable reduction in economy around 8% or so. And i'm wondering if this may be the reason for why the engine is a little hard to start when parked on a slope either facing upwards or downwards?? Once running,, i need to give it a few revs to stop it from stalling, has anyone else had this??:(

i tryed e10 on my 96 4L , felt weird and had no go and was scared to floor it as motor seemed to act up funny when takeing off at the lights ,hard to explain / couldnt wait to get rid of it .
back useing v power high octane again , now fantastic hot rod performance again - choice up to you .
footnote
my p38a factory 4L V8 handbook says 95 unleaded is factory rec fuel for this motor / another thought if helps .

I think the general experience with these fuels are

High Compression Motor (Commodore, Certain P38's ete)
98 RON is Best...

Lower Compression Motor (Most P38's ete)
95 RON or Even E10 is better... no benefits from 98 RON