E10 or not E10

[MikeCuzzy]

I just want whats best for the car. I ran 98 im my Mazda MX6 for 17 years. When petrol was nearly $2 i put a tank of normal unleaded in it and it started to ping.
Ive never seen 85 around my area but there is a servo with 100.
Looks like ive got a decision to make.

Best for your car. 98 Premium such as BP Ultimate or Shell V-Power or something like that.

 

[Titleist]

Vic United are the only ones selling 100RON (its not ethanol)

better check that again bud...
united's 100 octane is mobil premium with ethanol to get it to 100ron...

 

[Loaded Dice]

Sorry I think you are right, but not necessarily Mobil premium, rather whoevers wholesale price is cheaper on the day 98 premium.

 

[Titleist]

Adelaide's united fuel all comes out of the mobil depot..

 

[Cozdogz]

I use 98 all the time so much better I noticed the difference between e10 n 98 used both for several weeks and got more km out of 98 about 100 km more no joke and more power the e10 felt like it just burnt away in the engine quickly!! But it's up to u for the extra like $10-$15 it's worth it!

 

[MikeCuzzy]

I use 98 all the time so much better I noticed the difference between e10 n 98 used both for several weeks and got more km out of 98 about 100 km more no joke and more power the e10 felt like it just burnt away in the engine quickly!! But it's up to u for the extra like $10-$15 it's worth it!

Ethanol has less energy content than Petrol, as such you get less mileage. The power from E10 vs 98 is pretty similar, I think E10 is rated around 95RON.

 

[Loaded Dice]

I was thinking about distilling my own ethanol to run my bike on years ago, seems it can be done fairly easily and as long as you tune the vehicle for it should not have any problems, would have worked out somewhere around 20 cents per litre from memory, but its very volatile stuff and a 5oC change in temp could see the whole still blow - might be a bit messy in your average suburban back yard lol.

 

[MikeCuzzy]

I suppose we could all start growing it too lol.

My next car will be LPG, stuff this petrol prices near to $2 a litre crap.

 

[Loaded Dice]

no no buy petrol, stay away from gas......






I'm in the petrol industry, you are helping me pay for my car lol.

 

[Cheap6]

I was thinking about distilling my own ethanol to run my bike on years ago, seems it can be done fairly easily and as long as you tune the vehicle for it should not have any problems, would have worked out somewhere around 20 cents per litre from memory, but its very volatile stuff and a 5oC change in temp could see the whole still blow - might be a bit messy in your average suburban back yard lol.

Interesting idea and I'm sure that it could be done but I think 20 cents per litre might be a bit off. The only reason EtOH is cheaper than petrol is the excise break (EtOH is effectively excise free; there's 38cpl + 10% GST on petrol). Add in the cost of whatever energy source you'd use to distill it + the capital cost of the fermentation vat and the still and see what it comes out at. Unless you are growing the stuff as a farmer, producing the required volume might be an issue too, even for use in a motorbike.

You can get crap with any fuel, just depends on the servo. I think it's less likely with any of the EtOH fuels, at least from the big brands, because they are supposedly taking steps to ensure that the tanks aren't contaminated. If you get a bit of water in the bottom of a petrol tank (in the servo.) it doesn't matter much as long as the pick up is off the bottom of the tank and the fuel is not stirred up, so some water may be tolerated.

If GMH says it's OK to run E10, certainly on a VE that's designed to run any mix up to E85, that's good enough I think (see posts #3 and #4). I suspect there's little difference in materials between a flex fuel and non-felx fuel VE anyway. (I do use E10 with an occasional fill of 95 or 98.)