E10 finally coming in...

My plan is the same as it is now.

Use fresh fuel, and in the winter when in storage, use StaBil.

For the bike I might try using Aspen fuel when not in use.

I've just been reading the MB club forum on this, seems we at least need to change our rubber fuel lines. No idea about the rest like pumps, injectors and mechanical injector pump (or distributor?). I guess for carb cars the float might be at risk if plastic?

Edit: found this video on the forum, specific to MX5s but also general info - start at 1:40

My plan with my bike that I rarely use, is to drain the fuel tank/ run it dry, and then put 5 or 10L of alkylate petrol into it while it's in storage (indoors)

alkylate petrol can be bought in garden centers and plant hire shops, it's not cheap at €30 for 5L

On the MB forum, someone posted a video from a well known MB expert (from the US where they have been running E10 for many years) and he mentioned a Lucas product, not sure if this is it:

https://www.autofactorswaterford.ie/product/lucas-ethanol-fuel-conditioner-155ml/

IMO, the thing with all these additives, or indeed choosing the right oil, is unless you're a chemist with a lab, or, run your car on them for 10 years and then strip it down, you have no real way of knowing if they are doing anything!

@drunkmonkey Sorry to hear that. Is E10 available now, how long was it running on it for? Where did you get the hoses from if you don't mind?

Ah, get you now. On my first reading of your post I assumed E10 had caused the issues you mentioned.

Thanks, good to know you can get E10 lines at a motor factor.

Ive still not done anything yet on my car apart from brim it with E5 the last few days of March, still have half a tank left.

Just spoke to a mate he thinks his local station still has E5, could that be the case? I thought it was E10 only? He put E10 in his '04 Fiesta and shortly after had to call out the breakdown service, might just be a coincidence.

Anyone had any experience of it yet?

How do you know what fuel you got? Stickers on the pump handle? If so nothing has changed at my local maxol they're all still showing E5. Lying up is when the problems start, be interesting to see your observations.

What happened to the fiesta? It could have been anything.

@w124man Your 126 is a late model I think? With a cat and O2 sensor?

@_ptashek_ Damm, that's not good news. Can anything be done to reduce this issue?

@CoBo55 He is not sure, other than he had a breakdown, Not a car guy!

@gipi Thanks for that. My local garage just has the one E10 petrol pump, but I'll check some of the bigger stations.

Bonnet.

I'm assuming it didn't happen when he was using E5 which is why he posted it here, that would be my logic.

Yes. Stickers on the pump. However, I have since seen a pump with both stickers on the pumps and handle

Was watching Wheeler Dealers yesterday and they were doing a Dolomite Sprint. 'Elvis' rebuilt the carb with an E10 compatible kit, so these kits are out there for some cars (but not mine it seems).

But found this while searching, main part on E10 is about a quarter way down the page:

https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels

I have injection. What I meant was I was hoping there may be a similar kit for me, with rubber parts for injector seals, fuel distributor etc.

Apparently the Millers product is proving good so far. Garden equipment suppliers are also selling an additive which will work

2l / 100 km extra is a massive difference - it is almost an uplift I would expect from open road driving to town. 0.2 l would be noticable, but 2 litres is hard to believe. Was the car driven in similar conditions?

I am now on my third tank of E10 in my 300SE and I have treated each tank with the recommended Millers E10 additive dose and a dose of Dipethane. I can see no performance difference and no starting issues after being in the shed for two weeks. I know its early on in the scheme of things but some of the telltale signs of E10 I'm not seeing.

"that dip snake oil"

Dipethane is far from snake oil! Had you said that a year ago I could have furnished you with the test results from a client of mine who trialled Dipethane in their fleet of large diesel engines trucks. The fuel savings over the six months test period was 8% and emissions reduction was in the order of 12% and the smoke reduction quite noticeable. The client was very happy! Retired now and all the results are with my former company.

Dipethane works but it does not cure the issues with E10. The Millers does that. E10 does not burn as well as E5 so I put in the Dipethane to try to overcome that issue.

So, does the additive from Millars really work? Is it worth buying?

I've found some additives to try just in case. They could be snake oil but I guess I'll find out eventually.

I have a 1957 Ford 100E sidevalve, which I drive some weekends (generally clock up approx 1,000 miles a year).

The first summer I had it (summer of 2018) I suffered a few problems of vapourisation - not wanting to restart while hot because the fuel had boiled. I resolved these with two fixes - a head-shield between the exhaust manifold and the carb, and a reconditioned fuel pump (as the old one was worn and weak). (it's a mechanical fuel pump at the front of the engine, the fuel flowing to it by gravity).

The car has been great ever since, even in hot weather.

Yesterday I had to put in E10 for the first time, and had a major vapourisation issue pretty much straight away. Unlike 2018 when it would re-start after 30 mins, I had to wait an hour before it would fire up. I nursed it home, and when I parked it in the garage I could see the fuel in the clear fuel filter literally boiling like a kettle.

So, I'm going to have to re-think my options. For now I'll have to avoid summer driving, but I'll look into additional heat shielding, lagging the front portion of the exhaust pipe, or possibly an electronic fuel pump.

Steve

Did you try using one of the additives suggested?

Well, in the case of the sidevalve Ford the results should be apparent almost immediately.