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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - E10 Fuel

I guess this has been done before but as a new midget owner could someone tell me about E5 and E10 fuel.
I imagine that our cars don't like E10.
Roger D

https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels
Les Rose

Ah yes, very comprehensive! Thanks.
Roger D

Roger,
a lot of the rumour and scaremongering is overblown and owners that have very old bits of rubber and other materials on their classics blame ethanol rather than the ancientness of the parts.

On the other side for the last 15 years in my experience there's been a lot of piss-poor rubbish rubber products and parts available for classics including fuel hose that would fall apart regardless of what type of fuel was used but of course the ethanol content of UP TO 5% over here often gets the blame instead, convenient for those that sell this rubbish rubber.

We had all this scaremongering and guessing when unleaded petrol was introduced yet it wasn't anywhere near as bad as some made out and many of those same classics are still going - and the world didn't collapse in on itself, well not from the unleaded petrol anyway.

I've tried Millers as an E5 additive for it's cleaning and other properties and was happy with it other than keeping it in a cool place which a Midget boot isn't always particular when the sun is out.

There are also some petrol available in many places that are (at the moment anyway) ethanol free.

IIRC E10 comes in here 1st September.



Nigel Atkins

Its now 9 years since our local changed to 98octane e10 and I decided to be a test guinea pig and have used it almost exclusively in our fleet ever since. Still no issues.

Fleet includes rally-spec MGB on 48 Dellorto, 1275 Midget with HIF44 used infrequently as son that owns it is in Melbourne, 260bhp supercharged k Midget still running an SU pump and related plumbing/ hoses in the low pressure feed to the swirl pot, std MGB on HS4s, and a few Metros.
Paul Walbran

98 octane E5 is still widely available here in France so with any luck I should be OK for a while yet.
Roger D

Roger

Welcome!

I wonder what happened to the limited supplies and suppliers of leaded and lead replacement petrol (LRP) that were around in the UK when unleaded was first introduced? I remember there was a short list of Pace Petroleum forecourts that still supplied leaded as well as some of the major brands (Esso? Shell?) selling LRP. The AA notes LRP died out quickly by 2003 and some leaded was still around in 2017: https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/fuels-environment/lrp

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

There was a garage in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire that supplied leaded petrol but it changed hands 8 or so years ago and stopped doing it.
Local small airport using airport transfers sevenoakss have 100 octane leaded but it's actually illegal to put it in your car.
There are ways to remove the Ethanol but you would be loosing 10% or more of the fuel you buy.
I'll be sticking to super unleaded.
I believe that Esso Supreme (please correct me if I'm wrong) contains no ethanol in some (but not all) parts of the country. The E5/E10 markings mean it can contain up to 5%/10% but even if it contains 0% ethanol it must by law be marked E5.
Rob
MG Moneypit

Rob has it, see below for list AS AT THAT DATE.

The UP TO 5% can mean 0%, nil, zero, SFA or apparently according to Haggarty "most E5 currently only actually contains 2-3 per cent ethanol anyway".

The article also has some info I've not seen before (but I've not been looking). - https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/maintenance-and-gear/everything-you-need-to-know-about-using-e10-fuel-with-your-classic-car/

I've tried a couple of tankfuls of Esso Synergy Supreme+ (99) but as my car was set up on E5 I have noticed on the plugs (at annual service) that as the E5 burns leaner the zero Esso shows richer.

As always it's best to keep the car moving as often as you can.

Petrol, octane, additives and ethanol (as at 5/3/21)

Generally it's the higher octane options that have the (higher) additive cleaning packages.

Note: if you're worried about 'f'an'ol' rotting your teeth and stealing your youthful looks two below don't have the up to 5%.

In order of octane rating:

Tesco Momentum 99
o 99 octane
o cleaning additive package
o UP TO 5% ethanol

Shell V-Power
o 99 octane
o 3x more cleaning molecules than Shell regular
o UP TO 5% ethanol

Texaco Supreme
o 97 octane
o cleaning additive package
o UP TO 5% ethanol "to much of the country" – so not all

BP Ultimate
o 97 octane
o cleaning additives package
o UP TO 5% ethanol

Esso Synergy Supreme+ (99)
o 97 (99) octane
o double the detergent additive to Esso regular (and friction reduce)
o Esso super unleaded petrol (Synergy Supreme+ and Synergy Supreme+ 99) are ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, Teesside area, North West England and Scotland).

Jet Ultra
o 97 octane
o cleaning additive package
o ethanol-free apart from in the Yorkshire and the Humber Region, Teesside or Scotland, where it contains 5% ethanol.
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 13/07/2021 and 17/07/2021

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.