Esso E5 Ethanol Free to end

[Fuel.inj]

Spotted this on another forum. An announcement from ESSO. It was inevitable this would happen.

“We currently supply an ethanol-free Synergy Supreme+ 99 unleaded in some parts of the UK. From September 2023 our Synergy Supreme+ 99 will transition to contain up to a maximum of 5% ethanol at all Esso pumps irrespective of which part of the country they are located. The labelling at our pumps will remain as E5 for Synergy Supreme+ 99 unleaded."

[dlgis]

Yep, sadly this has been on the cards for a while. Best to fill up now 🫤

[chrisfell]

Full up. And then what? Wait for the fuel to deteriorate, scared to refill with what will be E5 in fact as well as name?

E5 will not make any difference to my car. Not did E10, the many times I've had to fill up with it, sometimes for thousands of miles at a time.

You could try one of the many new formulations of synthetic fuels developed for and marketed at the classic car fraternity. They are expensive to buy. But they are intended to extend classic car use beyond the end of oil.

If course, one of the major components of the fuel is a bio derived compound - ethanol to me and you!

[RICHOT]

Last year I almost had a major disaster using E5 petrol in my XK120.

Whilst driving along, I could smell petrol so stopped and looked under the bonnet. -- to my alarm, petrol was dripping out from the bottom of the two carbs!!!
Thank goodness its a crossflow head otherwise it would have been dripping onto the hot exhaust manifold!!!

After a tow home (by my wife - you can imagine the comments!!!) I inspected the carbs and found that the composite cork seals had virtually disintergrated!

I rang Burlins and they advised that the ethanol would have dissolved the 'glue' in the cork composite.

So they supplied ethanol tolerant seals which I fitted.

A major disaster was avoided!!

Richard

[gtjoey]

Well KIDS , Gtjoey had warned you from the other side of the pond and now you will suffer like the rest.
Most Etype owners on this side were liberal retired school teachers and didn’t believe Gtjoey or Jay Leno.
She’ll and other will ship you 5gallon cans
You will pay double or go to landscape or hardware store they carry non ethanol for movers and cutters.
Again double your price per gallon BUT you have no choice.
In New York we have one station with Sunoco 100 non ethanol it’s 14 dollars a gallon and runs wonderful and won’t break down for 8 years
Additives are a waste
Ethanol in an old car will eat though all brass, copper , fittings and seals exposed to oxygen
Knocking and loss of power will drop 20 percent
Temps will rise a good 5 degrees including vapor lock
Enjoy the ride boys
It won’t be much longer
Gtjoey1314

[madjack4]

Well a good excuse to convert to modern fuel injection my s3 with programable fuel injection and ethanol compliant pipework only pipe not changed is large hose from tank to filler neck will have to keep an eye on it runs great on e10 no problem

[paydase]

In the EU, the best gas available is so called SP 98 E5, which is gas blended with up to 5% ethanol.
People use this in classic cars with no major issues.

[cactusman]

Just to be clear...ethanol does not corrode copper or brass fuel fittings....if it did then your scotch whisky distilleries would be changing their still regularly...they don't, and your scotch would contain copper...it doesnt!!!
Sorry gtjoey but at the temperature in fuel lines even E10 will have no effect on either copper or brass.
Yes...given time...lots of time, E'x' fuel that has absorbed water from the atmosphere, will ever so gradually corrode aluminium fittings like float chambers. But it will be very slow. Fresh dry fuel will have no significant effect.
Damp old fuel will corrode steel fuel tanks and the rust will then block things up..the solution is to use the fuel!
Ethanol will quite quickly attack old rubber fuel lines. However there are plenty of modern synthetic rubber formulations that are suitable for use with E5 and E 10 fuels....all modern cars use modern fuel lines...
The corrosion issue is over exaggerated and is not significant if you use the car regularly so fuel does not have time to draw in significant moisture and cause issues...and replace rubber fuel lines every 3/4 years.
E10 fuel and to a lesser degree E5 is more prone to forming vapour locks causing issues in hot engine bays but the XK is a cross flow engine and the fuel line is well away from the heat of the exhaust system.
So my take is...E5...relax...it.isn't Armageddon...especially if you use the car regularly...

[chrisfell]

[gtjoey]

The point was e5 is going away to e10
In your countries
We are e10 with possible going to e15.
Once the gas draws air and sits in an open system
Aka air filter and carbs not sealed fuel injection the gas breaks down and corrodes
It’s terrible
All Major airlines BAND ethanol fuels
Do we know why…….
A twenty year study from the gov now explains NO pollution gain from e gas it’s all political subsidies
I’m
Not scaring I’m telling it the way it is…..
Run the tank through it’s okay but the power loss and idle and vapor lock becomes an issue
Let it sit 60 to 90 days and fuel bowl gaskets and fuel pumps get eaten up
I see it ALL day long……
Kinda like covid shots….. No side effects?
I quote Ronald Reagan
The greatest fear is when you hear…..
“ Hi I’m from the government and I’m here to Help”

E gas is terrible
Call SNG
Call Moss
How come they are making E fuel gaskets and seals?
To rip you off?
No
To save your car from burning up in the garage
Gtjoey1314
“

[cactusman]

No significant pollution gain I agree with. Although ethanol is a greener fuel than petrol. It has a marginally lower energy density than octane but the research octane no of pure ethanol is 108.6 so in terms of knock resistance it's better than pump fuels. As to gaskets etc....no gaskets or rubber hoses last.indefinitely and replacing them with ethanol resistant ones is not a huge expense in an E type...May be different for other cars. I use both my cars regularly and there has been no noticeable corrosion in the float bowls. I use E5 where possible in both cars but E10 where E5 isn't available and I need fuel.

[Allrand]

How do the jet diaphrams stand up to E fuel. Just curious.

[cactusman]

If they are old ones...not well. New ones from Burlen should be OK. I just rebuilt mine but changed the jets 6\7 years back as one was leaking and the ones that came out looked ok..

[Allrand]

Thanks Julian, we dont have e fuel here yet but good to know. I also changed mine about 5 years ago. They tried 10% here about 30 years ago (for politicsl economic reasons) with horrendous results so, it was discontinued.