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MG MGA - Ethanol

I have just read this interesting article about E5 and E10 fuels.

https://www.mgcc.co.uk/e10-fuel-what-you-need-to-know/


What are the general thoughts on this?
For example, Is just using E5 sufficient, or should we also use a corrosion inhibitor additive? And do we now need to carry out additional annual maintenance checks to our fuel system?

Graham V

We've had E10 as the standard here in California for over a decade. I haven't had any issues other than the usual problems of lower boiling point, slightly reduced fuel economy, and incompatibility with some older rubber formulations. The cars run fine on it, although they seemed to run a little cooler and stronger with the old MTBE formulations.
Steve Simmons

Its all 10% over here. I run on regular grade, 87 octane, no problems in 7 years.
Art Pearse

Thanks - its reassuring that you are running on E10 in you respective countries without any major problems.
We are being offered E5 in some petrol stations so I will obviously be using that as far as possible, although I am not sure how long it will remain available. It is more expensive so there probably wont be an enormous demand for it.

I have read that ethanol is hygroscopic so it absorbs water from the atmosphere and then separates from the petrol. Potentially this may cause problems to the inner tank and rubber pipework, or create sludge in the system.
Does all this mean that if you lay the car up for the winter, you should keep as little fuel in the tank as possible? In the past, the recommendation was to keep the tank full to reduce condensation.
Graham V

I have just discovered that Esso Supreme, other than in a few areas (shown on their website) has no ethanol, so that will do me nicely for the time
Graham V

Graham

I have always put super unleaded in mine. Apart from the ethanol content I find it gives a noticeable seat of the pants performance increase and I never get 'pinking'. Costs more but for the comparative small mileage I do against my family car I find it quite acceptable.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Thanks Steve. I agree with what you say about the extra cost for just a limited mileage.
I filled up today with Esso Synergy Supreme Plus which has a 99 octane rating. Maybe I was mistaken, but the car didn't seem to pull away as well as normal. Do I need to tune it, if I am now using petrol with a higher octane rating?
Graham V

Your engine will run best on the octane it's tuned for. Higher octane doesn't actually give more power, it just allows you to tune the car for higher performance without pinging, i.e. higher compression and more advanced ignition timing. In stock tune, running high octane is just throwing money away. It actually burns slower than lower octane, so putting it into a car that is tuned for lower octane may actually reduce power and smoothness.
Steve Simmons

Thanks Steve. Makes sense.
I will wait for a rainy day and treat it to a tune up.
Graham V

As with your OP link ethanol will be leaner so if you were previously using 95 E5 you may well find Esso Supreme E0 is richer.

I ran two tankfuls of Supreme 99 E0 and thought it seemed to be richer, plugs were black when I took them out at service but I take that with a pinch of salt.

My car was rolling road set up with 95 (up to 5%) but I often used 99 for the additional cleaning additive packages and, no proof at all, the car felt like it had just a slight bit more low down torque but I might have been fooling myself to justify the extra 12p/litre.

I have emailed Jet to see if their Ultra (in most parts of the country) is still E0 or (up to?) E5 now.

I'm now on my second tankful of labelled E10 (Trev reckons not all E10 deliveries have been made, but I bet they have to our local Tescos as it has a big turnover of fuel). Other than perhaps sounding a bit noisier at the exhaust than the last two lots of Esso Supreme I can't say I've really noticed any seat of the pants difference. Perhaps possibly slightly less mpg but I didn't do my usual fill to the back of the petrol cap because of the heat so I'm not sure. But if I get a 5% drop in mpg this will lose the 5/6p difference per litre as I add Millers VSPe at 6p a litre to previously E5 and now E10 95 octane.
Nigel Atkins

Interestingly I have recently moved to super petrol and it really suits my engine so no imminent issue with E10. But then the issue is rather trivial anyway.

Paul
Paul Dean

Steve

Our super unleaded in the UK definitely has that extra bite in performance!

Steve


Steve Gyles

I was traveling in Argentina in 2008, the top grade there was "Fangio" !
Art Pearse

Jet have replied, ethanol free fuel(s) and UP TO 5% list to follow.



Nigel Atkins

Petrol, octane, additives and ethanol (as at 13/9/21)

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

In order of octane rating, with the two ethanol free fuels at the top of this list:


Esso Synergy Supreme+ 99
o 99 octane
o double the detergent additive to Esso regular (and friction reduce)
o Esso super unleaded petrol (Synergy Supreme+ 99) although labelled E5 is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland).


Jet Ultra
o 97 octane
o cleaning additive package
o ethanol-free only in the northern parts of Scotland and Isles of Scotland.


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
Nigel Atkins

Has anybody used or have views on this https://wynnsonline.co.uk/e10-fuel-treatment/
Graham V

I can't comment on the Wynn's but in the "classic" I use Millers 'VSPe Power Plus Multi Shot Fuel Treatment' ("Endorsed by the FBHVC as a fuel treatment for protection against corrosion in metals").

Just seen on the link the (RRP?) price has gone up from £29.99 to £40.99! (6p per litre of petrol to 8.2p per litre of petrol) - shop around for price!

https://www.millersoils-shop.co.uk/vspe-power-plus-multishot
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 05/09/2021 and 08/10/2021

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