E10 Petrol?????????

[struggo]

Hi All,

Jut wandering if any of you have been running E10 petrol in your Ecotec. It has probably been on our petrol for years anyway.

If so how has the your been running?

Cheers
Struggo

[mattman]

Ethanol is teh ghey.

Stay away from it, seriously. Even mechanics who apparently push Ethanol recommend you run a non-ethanol tank through every 3-4 fills. If you have to do that, something's wrong.

[andyman]

mate of mine that i work with filled up with that united premium e10 (cause it was cheap and he needed it) he reckons the car was the same as if it was running on premium (he always does) and got better economy

[LowVp]

some car manufacturers will void warranties with the stuff

[POVRTY]

ive used it a few times in my stock 6. but would never use it in my v8 or any car i expect to perform at its best

[sganro]

I have heard mixed opinions about it. I personally dont like it.

I will stay with premium and regular unleaded unless it gets rediculously expensive and e10 is still cheap.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

We don't get it over here yet, if we do I haven't seen it. Although all new cars now are E10 compatible. Well, the Mitsubishi's I sell are.

[hako]

I use E10 all the time as its usually 3 to 4 cents cheaper and I'm a tight-ass! Had no problems and cannot tell the difference although all the official tests on its use indicate a slight but not noticeable decrease in power. I first started to use it to support the sugar cane growers up here but then found out that most of our Ethanol is imported from Brazil....but at least its not made by the oil companies.

[LowVp]

3-4 cents over 60 litres, what does that roughly add up to $2.40 ? no even enough for a bottle of coke, so why bother with the ****

[dufus]

i have heard good results along with extremely poor results. Personally i will hold off putting it in my car for aslong as i can.

[andyman]

VZ and newer have a little sticker inside the fuel door saying its e10 compatible

[kopper69]

LowVp, just so you know, in just one year, a mere $2.40 a week will save you enough for 2 full tanks of petrol.

Just if anyone is interested too, the courier mail on Saturday had an interesting article in Saturdays paper (21/04/07) in the carsguide. It talks about the new BioPower Saab, designed to run on E85 (Currently only available in some places in Sydney).

It also says that plans are readily available on the Internet that run through building your own 'moonshine ethanol', although you do require several tonnes of grains, sugars or rotting vegetables.

Ethanol is carbon dioxide neutral.

The 2.3L saab engine also claims to have more power on ethanol, 154kw on ethanol compared to 136kW on petrol. The 2.0L engine doing 132kW on ethanol vs 110kW on petrol. It should be noted though that, it is able to produce more power because it is able to use more ethanol for mixing with air for combustion, meaning increased consumption. Litre for litre, the petrol contains more power.

"E85 also has a high octane reading (resistance to detonation) of 104 so more advanced ignition timing an be used. Standard unleaded petrol is 91 octane and 95 and 98 premium fuels are also available".

Ofcourse fossil fuel wont last forever, ethanol is renewable.

Hako, to make you feel better, there are places in Australia that produce ethanol fuel, mainly Sarina in Northern QLD and Nowra in NSW. As you purchase ethanol fuel, you start demand, which starts a continuing cycle. Increase demand means increased supply.

Thats one of the biggest problems with alternative fuels, getting the momentum. Car companies dont sell hydrogen cars because there are no hydrogen fuel stations. Fuel companies dont build hydrogen stations because there are no hydrogen cars. Getting it started costs big $, thats where ethanol has an advantage.

Rocky Point distillery, South of Brisbane, is currently undergoing upgrades to increase its 4 million litre annual output, mainly used for pharmaceutical products, industrial chemicals and cheap liqour, to 30 million litres, to be sold for fuel. The multimillion dollar upgrade is due for completion this time next year.

Here are the two articles, all credits etc given to them.

http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/st...010760,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/st...010760,00.html

Here some government info on ethanol

http://www.industry.gov.au/content/i...earchID=287192

Here is a link to videos done by news.com - There is a video on the E85 saab, check on the one with the police car stolen too - although you cant see too much

http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/vi...300&format=wmp

[hako]

[QUOTE=kopper69;586808]

Hako, to make you feel better, there are places in Australia that produce ethanol fuel, mainly Sarina in Northern QLD and Nowra in NSW. As you purchase ethanol fuel, you start demand, which starts a continuing cycle. Increase demand means increased supply.

Thats one of the biggest problems with alternative fuels, getting the momentum. Car companies dont sell hydrogen cars because there are no hydrogen fuel stations. Fuel companies dont build hydrogen stations because there are no hydrogen cars. Getting it started costs big $, thats where ethanol has an advantage.


So why don't we have electric cars - electricity is as close as your nearest powerpoint? Didn't GM produce 200 electric cars a few years ago which were subsequently scrapped when the Bush administration took over.

[kopper69]

I am quite interested in the electrical cars, although they dont do anything to help the environment anyway, unless you are maintaining the system using solar power. They both burn fossil fuels as their source of energy.

I did hear about the demo GM run. There was a big thing about all these people being happy to maintain the electric cars past the trial period but GM took them and crushed them all. Dont know the full story, but would be interested.

I have seen videos on some of the internet video sites of people building their own electric motorbikes. I thought they were great. I cant remember the whole lot, but I remember they were able to put out huge torque and did not require a transmission. Take a look at the video on this site:

http://www.killacycle.com/2007/04/04...-the-magic-7s/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrFPMLAfs3s

Problem is in Australia, the current drought is affecting power production. We are forced to reduce output from some of our largest power stations because we do not have enough water to keep them running to their maximum.

We really need to develop new renewable sources of energy for our homes and cars, but thats an entire topic on its own.

[FXST01]

Used it for a while and no change in mileage or power

[1991_Vn2nV]

Ethanol is not entirely carbon dioxide neutral.

Plus, there are increases in certain gases (some by like 140%), which are carcinogenics.

Personally, i'd rather give some extra carbon dioxide to the environment than give people cancer But each to their own.

[burnz]

but all these new's paper dont tell you that ethanol like methanol is a corrosive.
and it love's to eat alloy's, brass, and other metal's.
guess what your engine/fuel pump/fuel line's/ throttle body's are made out of!!

[VZHSV]

ran it in the gemini lol never had any probs
could say it was better than 7/11 unleaded hahaha

[DannyboyDS]

yeah its a tough choice, I found E10 made my car accelerate a bit smoother and I got more k's to a tank, however after learning the following points iv'e decided to stay off it untill I have a compatible car.

1. can cause fuel pumps to die
2. can corrode fuel lines
3. can corrode engine internals
4. can drag water into the engine

the list of bad things I have heard go on and on, so i'm not sure what to say, it seems so good, but may not be.

[coasty]

put it in the daughters vr, its running smoother now. dont know about power as i dont drive it unless there is a problem with it. may have cleaned up the fuel lines etc. dont know about damage though. evrything is bad for you today but good tomorrow. nobody knows so just use what you want and die when you do from what ever kills you.

[notthekingswood]

i tried it for a few weeks (just the e10 stuff) and lost about 30-50km per tank so i figured its not worth the saving of 3c per litre and went back to regular
p.s i also have a chip fitted that recommends 95+ octane but it feels better on the cheap stuff

[ianf]

I got told the same thing, go with the E10 but for what?, I get no further, dont get any extra power, and then get told all these horror stories?, not worth it for a couple of cents savings?

[DannyboyDS]

if i had a super tough engine that was built and made for it i'd run E80, though i'd probably still have to get a fuel tank, pump, lines to suit plus improve the cooling system.

Man the heater would be roasty in winter.

[feistl]

Have a search, there are lots of ethernol threads with lots of arguing.

Simply its like this. Premium is the CHEAPEST to run providing you reprogram your memcal. You'll get more than 7% more economy (its 7% more expensive) and has cleaning agents which will protect your engine.

Standard unleaded is dirty in comparison. Yes, lots of cars will run forever on the stuff but the economy will be lower.

Ethanol is brilliant FOR CARS WHICH ARE DESIGNED FOR IT. DO NOT USE IT IN YOUR NORMAL COMMODORE.
Ethanol is a type of alcohol which will dissolve your rubber fuel lines and pump. It will return lower economy and cost you more in the long run.

For the record ive got a VR V6 Manual Wagon running premium with reprogrammed memcal, exhaust, CAI/Filter, VY Injectors and im getting 750-800kms per 60L of premium. Thats around 8L/100km

So simply, unless your car is designed to run on ethanol stick to normal unleaded. If you want to save money adjust your memcal and run premium. Or convert to manual (manuals use a lot less fuel).

[skankydore]

Without doing a search myself, does anyone know a site where i can read about the bad stuff it does? I use it simply cause it's cheaper an i get the same out of it as i do with normal fuel. But i didnt know about the bad stuff so i am curious to read up a bout it.