E10 Petrol - Suitabel for our cars?
 

Hi all,

As per tittle, is the E10 Petrol suitable for our cars? Any experience? I have read that most cars after 2002 should cope with the E10, but that just seems like a general rule. Mine is a -99 V6.

Anyone with long-term experience running E10?

Try to avoid E10, E5 is bad enough. Ethanol can ruin older fuel systems that don't use the proper materials. Ethanol also degrades quickly even in a month. It's usually added at the filling station for that very reason
Modern and more recent engines run very well on Ethanol but ours are older and not set up for the fuel.

Hi,

Agree to that... The problem is that most Petrol available in our country will in few years be only E10. E5 has been in the pumps for several years allready here, and that is bad enough :(

Just another way of putting old cars off the road. There's a lot on many classic car forums regarding the pitfalls of this concoction.

Thread moved to a more appropriate forum. Re-direct left in old. This may be the better forum as threads get ‘lost’ very quickly in the General Forum.;)

Just done a Google search and found this: http://www.whatcar.com/news/governme...-introduction/

Also: http://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/dr...it-affect-you/

Very worrying. Would appear that E10 petrol will be hitting forecourts in the UK sometime this year...

It would be good to get some definitive answers about E10 being compatible with our cars . . .

Ali.

Unless super unleaded also starts adding 10% ethanol I can't see the problem to be honest. Whilst it's true (I think, based on what limited internet reading I've done) that the Rover 75/MG ZT will be harmed by filling up with standard unleaded E10, I can't find any suggestion that super unleaded will become 10% ethanol.

As E10 is less efficient/contains less energy than standard, it jolly well ought to cost less per litre, just as super unleaded costs a bit more. However, super unleaded gives better performance and better fuel economy, so what is key is not how much it costs to fill up a tank but how much it costs per mile driven. With something like Vpower a tank will cost you more, but it will get you further before the next fillup. Overall therefore there's not much difference, if any, in costs between standard and super unleaded. (On one of my previous cars I measured it at about 1p a mile cheaper to run on super unleaded than standard; with the Rover I've measured it at about 1p per mile dearer, and around 25p of petrol per mile overall.)

Conclusion - don't worry. So long as super unleaded stays at 98, then it doesn't really matter how much ethanol goes into regular petrol as there is no real benefit in not using the super version.

:wot:

I'd also add that if you don't do enough mileage to get through the fuel in a tank in a couple of weeks - don't fill it right up - you'll end up running the car on much lower energy density fuel than you should. Might partly explain the large variation in mpg that people experience has anyone surveyed average mpg against average time to get through a tank of fuel?

It's even worse on the bike because of the low range and occasional use I find that I sometimes have a half-tank in there for weeks - hence I always when possible fill up with a premium low ethanol fuel.

BP confirmed some time ago that all their stations will retain a 5% Ethanol pump, but haven't seen a confirmation recently.

Hi.
I extensively use BP as it is one that is discussed on other fora as being one of the E5 only suppliers.
The problem I have now is the Fiat gives me over 30 miles more on each gallon than did MFL, whereas I'd be putting petrol in every week now it's less so for me E10 would be a bigger problem, If you click on my signature you'll see the fuel up's I've done so the downside of a more economical petrol car is the Ethanol going off!! Fortunately for me the car has been designed to accommodate a petrol/ethanol mix but the Petrol 75's along with countless other cars of the time wont, its not all down to fuel air ratio either, the plastics, hoses, injectors and other material in the fuel system can be degraded by Ethanol.
Perhaps if the 75 was exported to Brazil for example where Ethanol fuel has been used for years it might be an idea to see what Rover did to the cars for that market. Of course assuming they sold there anyway.