Heads Up - changes to UK Petrol Fuel specs from 2013?

[X5Sport]

Now whilst I suspect that most members here drive a fairly modern car - post 1999 in the main - there are a few who have classics such as the old 6 and 8 series as well as maybe some even more special and older cars. If this includes you then you need to pay attention to this. You may already be aware and using 'Super Plus' fuels and avoiding bio-fuels anyway.

The current UK E5 (5% Ethanol in Petrol) spec is going to begin changing in the UK to E10 possibly from next year - it's already under way in Europe.

This increase in the amount of Ethanol in fuel has some potentially serious side effects on cars, and the older they are, the more likely that attention needs to be paid. The information below has been drawn from an article in this month's Straight Six Magazine published by the BMW GB Car Club. So here's what you need to know.

* Ethanol is a solvent and is capable of dissolving varnishes, gums and any other crud residues in your fuel system. UK fuel is high detergent so this is less of a problem than it may sound.
* Ethanol absorbs water!! Think Whisky & Water..... This makes it conductive and therefore able to increase the likelihood of 'galvanic corrosion' (dissimilar metal problems) in fuel lines, steel tanks, brass components in carburettors and aluminium fittings in the fuel system.
* Nasties such as bacteria etc can grow in ethanol and as the fuel types can separate out, this could cause an issue in vehicles stored over winter with large amounts of fuel on board.
* There may be a chemical reaction between certain plastics, types of 'O' rings and other rubber components such as pipes in the fuel systems due to Ethanol being an oxidising agent.
* Lambda sensors fitted to post-1987 cars may be fooled by the increased level of oxygen in the Ethanol giving rise to richer mixtures. Pre-1987 cars will run hotter because of the higher O2 levels now present in the fuel.
* MPG will get worse and also with the increased levels of corrosion possible, fuel system blockages may occur.
* 'Separation' can occur in as little as three weeks - so don't leave the fuel in your tanks too long

There are options that can be considered though. Steel fuel tanks should be lined/coated with plastic to protect them. Rubber lines and galvanised lines replaced, fuel filters changed annually, and use classic car fuel additives. Keeping the engine properly tuned and using exhaust gas analysis is probably also wise.

Qinetiq carried out a research project which reported in 11/2010 and suggested that cars more than 10 years old with carb or 1st gen direct injection systems should not use E10 unless the vehicle manufacturer specifically states it is safe to do so. It also recommends that the motor manufacturers be required to produce a definitive list of cars that can use E10. E5 should remain unchanged until 2013.

BMW have made an official response:

The following statement was made by Dr. Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management, BMW AG, Development....
"Contrary to current media reports which state otherwise, we affirm that E10 fuels can be safely used in all BMW passenger car models from any production year. A small number of older BMW vehicles require Super Plus RON98 to reduce knock. Irrespective of ethanol content, these vehicles are not suited for Super (E10) fuel. The relevant list was already published by the ADAC on March 1st this year. All oil-change intervals as prescribed by us remain unchanged, irrespective of the use of E10 fuel."

A report can be found at http://www.dat.de/e10 published by the DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand Gmbh (German Automobile Trust). It's in German and there is a pdf download listing manufacturers. I don't speak or read German so cannot translate it.

So if you have a classic car, use something like Shell 100 or Tesco 99 Octane fuel and you may need to use additives in the future.....

There was also a report published in Germany which indicated that use of E10 resulted in increased condensation in the engine and therefore increased wear as a result. BMW have categorically rejected this as the condensation is normal and part of combustion anyway and said that the link to excess wear is 'false and does not exist'. No alteration to the oil change interval is required.

Something for the 'classic' owners to watch........and I don't know when a car becomes classified as 'a classic'.

[gobiman]

Translation below - not my brilliant German although I was born there and spent time there in the army.
Courtesy of Google translate which I use all the time and is great for this sort of thing.


10 percent ethanol blend

More organic in gasoline
What is E10?

The ethanol content in gasoline from 5% (by year-end 2010) will be increased to up to 10%. Hence also the abbreviation "E10", stands for the "E" for ethanol and "10" for the proportion of 10%.

What are the arguments for the use of e 10?

The addition of ethanol to gasoline has 2 key advantages:

Bioethanol is produced from plants, so renewable sources, thereby reducing the emission
the greenhouse gas CO2.
Through the use of renewable biofuels, the oil reserves are protected.


What requirements apply?

Is a prerequisite for the use of E10 gasoline, however, the suitability of their vehicles: E10 tolerated only vehicles that are designed. All vehicles unsuitable for E10 must continue to be fueled by today with 5% ethanol mixed into fuel.

You need to make sure that is before the first refueling with E10 that your vehicle for the use of this fuel is suitable. We will provide you a list of E10-compatible vehicles at the end of this page as a free download. This list also includes service numbers of the vehicle manufacturer, you can call with questions.

As the fuel is recognized?
They recognize the E10 fuel to the term "NormalE10", "SuperE10" or "SuperPlusE10" on the nozzles and the pumps.

More information can be found at:
www.bmu.de/e10
www.adac.de/e10