E10 Fuel

[AckersMR2]

Bare with me on this one.....

I have an italian motorcycle that has a plastic petrol tank, this is popular with other manufacturers too, Ducati, Aprilia, KTM and Triumph and it is believed that E10 (10% Ethanol) fuel has cause the tanks to deform and ripple and hoses and seals to perish and leak (it's believe this prompted Triumph to revert back to metal tanks although they won't admit that). The manual for my bike states I should use Alcohol free fuel and this prompted me to find out how much Ethanol is in our fuel in the UK and these are the results so far:

TEXACO - 5% Ethanol in both petrol types
TESCO - 5% Ethanol in their Momentum99 super unleaded (Couldn't find data on their standard unleaded but its a safe bet it will have at least 5% too)
SHELL - 5% Ethanol in both petrol types (no plan to increase this amount at present)
ESSO - 5% Ethanol in standard unleaded, 0% ethanol in their Ultimate unleaded (Devon and Cornwall, Teeside and Scotland excluded) - this may change in the future?
BP - 5% Ethanol in standard unleaded, 0% ethanol in their Ultimate unleaded (Devon and Cornwall excluded) - this may change in the future?
Sainsburys - Customer Services didn't understand the question and so are asking further advice
Murco - ? (you can download the data sheets from their site but I couldn't make head nor tail of them, only that I think Ethanol is present to some degree?)

Generally all UK standard unleaded contains 5% Ethanol as per EU directives and as the results above some super unleaded's also contain Ethanol. This is due to change in the near future (although no idea when) to 10% to bring us in line with France and Germany although government policy is that super unleaded will contain no more than 5% until at least Jan 2014 (so now, which goes to show how delayed the policy is already?) A higher ethanol content apparently decreases fuel economy and increases pollutants too?

So now on to the bit that might interest you guys, my bike is pretty much laid up during the winter and i'm guessing some of you who have 2's as 2nd cars haven't used yours much recently either what with the weather and while chatting on a bike forum a member said he always puts Star Tron in his tank before winter to stabilise the fuel as the ethanol attracts water molecules in the petrol and condensation and it separates from the fuel sinking to the bottom of the tank, especially during the cold winters. The ethanol also acts as a detergent cleaning the system but clogging up the injectors, it also has a high oxygen content and so is corrosive too. The fuel itself also begins to varnish and gum up.

Reading reviews of the stuff, generally in America where they have E10, its almost a necessity to add the stuff if the fuel is going to be laying around for a while (1 month plus) so when E10 comes to the UK we might have to add it too, especially the casual weekend drivers of 2's (do you fill up more than once a month?)

[swampy_donkey]

Interesting thread! Thanks for posting.

[revi001]

I've heard of this in the Kt Car world, a lot of people are quite worried about it.

[mrzwei]

This has been widely available in Germany for at least a couple of years but all of the garages I have used there still offer 'normal' 5% fuel. Could still be 'thin end of the wedge' though.

[MR2Al]

This issue has come up on several bike forums, my Baghira has a plastic tank but I have not noticed any problems yet, but some painted tanks can have paint cracking issues as 10% etahanol fuels are said to cause the tank to expand slightly, and it will hold that size even if you stop using ethanol fuels, this can cause fitting problems for the tank itself or components that fix to the tank, fairings etc. According to some, as Ackers said 10% Ethanol fuel is also supposed to reduce fuel economy and cause more component wear which is a clever idea  s:? :? s:?  .

Al.

[AckersMR2]

Just a little update on this to show you the effects of E10 fuel in the US. These fuel lines are out of a motorcycle petrol tank, the bike had been left standing for 6 months and the hoses were submerged in fuel so not left to dry out. The longer hose was new 18mths ago and the smaller one was in excellent cond so not replaced.

[Superluminal]

Just an update on this, prompted by a piece in the Independent. The DoT are currently running a consultation on E10 fuel in the UK.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/e10-petrol-consumer-protection-and-fuel-pump-labelling

Couldn't see a date for proposed introduction anywhere.

[Essex2Visuvesi]

E10 fuel is awful stuff
They have it over in Finland and we found that it worked out cheaper to run our cars on the more expensive E5 as we were seeing a significant reduction in MPG when using the E10.
If it comes to the UK I'll be avoiding it like the plague

[Call the midlife!]

E10 fuel is awful stuff
They have it over in Finland and we found that it worked out cheaper to run our cars on the more expensive E5 as we were seeing a significant reduction in MPG when using the E10.
If it comes to the UK I'll be avoiding it like the plague

Gary, check your forum inbox when you get a moment will you? Not sure if you'll have had a notification of a message I sent earlier. Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[m1tch]

I am switching my fuel system out to something that is E85 compatible on my build so should be ok.