E10 Petrol problems for older engines

E10 PETROL

On 24th February this year the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan announced the move to E10 as the standard grade of petrol supplied by pumps right across Ireland.
Increasing the percentage of ethanol in our petrol from 5% to 10% (hence, E10) is part of the Government’s ‘Climate Action Plan 2023’ designed to reduce the country’s transport emissions by 51% by the end of this decade. Since 2009, E10 petrol has been rolled out across 15 European countries, as well as other countries around the world such as the US
and Australia. The measure will also align the current petrol we use here with that now standard in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

E10 and Historic Cars

Speaking to Peter of Wexford-based Liquid Technology Ltd, suppliers of lubricants, coolants and special additives, we asked what the introduction of E10 means to owners of historic cars.
“Up to this point in Ireland petrol contained 5% ethanol, but is now changing to 10%. This level of ethanol will seriously damage any older engine,” said Peter. “It will corrode all traditional fuel lines made of brass, copper or rubber, unless the rubber has been upgraded to deal with unleaded fuels. It also degrades aluminium in carburettors and pistons.
“This is because ethanol is hygroscopic. That’s a fancy way of saying it easily absorbs water. In fact, ethanol is so attracted to water it absorbs water vapour in the form of humidity from the air. This water leads to condensation in fuel tanks, fuel lines and carburettor fuel bowls. The high content of water in E10 fuel will also swell the paper filter media found in
fuel filters not designed especially for flex-fuel operation.
“Water in fuel systems also leads to water contamination and/or fuel phase separation,” adds Peter. If contaminated or separated fuel gets into the engine, serious and sometime irreparable harm can occur. Ethanol is highly corrosive; it helps rust to form wherever air meets metal once submerged in it. Ethanol is a solvent – and so it will disintegrate fiberglass,
plastic, and rubber. It is also one-third less powerful when burned than petrol and therefore has a negative impact on mileage and octane rating. Petrol mixed with ethanol has a shorter shelf life and goes stale quickly.”

The Solution to E10

“It cannot be stressed strongly enough the problems and damage that modern ethanol based fuels can cause to vintage and classic engines, that would be engines from 1995 backwards,” said Peter. “It is therefore essential that the correct fuel additive is used – one that has lead replacement, increases octane, and has e-guard ethanol protection. There are several products on the market that do all of this: One is TetraBoost E Guard 15 . This makes real leaded high octane fuel and is used widely in classic racing and high performance road cars for standard road cars use TetraBoost E-Guard road. Another is
Millers VSPe Power Plus. This is a lead replacement, octane booster and ethanol guard and is a fuel preservative. It’s a very popular additive and has been around for quite a few years.
It works very well and is easy to use.” These products are available from Liquid Technology Ltd (089 4486626). Peter also makes the point that ethanol based petrol seriously effects small engines in both 4-stroke and 2-stroke equipment, such as lawn mowers, chain saws and strimmers, as well as scooters and motorcycles. For post 1995 engines use Millers EPS.

Overheating Problems

Petrol is not a single substance: it is a mixture of many different hydrocarbons and additives. This current mixture is very different from that supplied in the past: it changes petrol’s physical properties and the way it behaves in an engine. One change is a difference in volatility, which appears to be the main cause of the difficulties some people encounter using
modern fuel in their classic cars, namely overheating and hot restart problems. How many times have you heard people say “modern petrol makes my car overheat in traffic?” says Peter. He explains that in years gone by, when driving in slow moving or stop-start traffic, the temperature gauge would slowly creep up. As it reached 100 degrees C the water would start to boil and the engine misfire, eventually coughing and spluttering to a
stop. With modern petrol this can happen long before the temperature gauge reaches 100 degrees C. While the symptoms are the same as classic overheating, it occurs when the engine temperature is still well within its normal running range. The hot restart problem is related to overheating. With a warm engine, after stopping for five minutes or so, the engine
will refuse to restart, it just coughs and splutters. Wait for fifteen or twenty minutes; the engine restarts without any difficulty. Both of these problems are caused by the low boiling point of modern petrol. According to Peter Kendrick, a product that successfully keeps your engine running cool is the Evans Waterless Coolant. This is designed to significantly reduce
your running temperature and stabilise it at the normal level. Also, Evans Classic Cool 180 does not boil, but stabilises the temperature and stops the initial increase in temperature.