E10 and petrol tools

newshound snipped-for-privacy@stevejqr.plus.com> posted

The theory is that ethanol attacks certain polymer components such as seals or tubes, and the solder used in some carburettor floats.

I am hoping that the various manufacturers will publish advice about which of their models can safely be run on E10. If not, I'll probably use the super unleaded stuff and swallow the extra cost, at least in the outboard motor, which I really don't want to pack up while I'm using it.

All my "mowers and generators" are diesel and I use red diesel in them! :-)

Just use a fuel conditioner

I have a diesel engine in my car and, when I bought the car, I was advised to run it on "super". In the 10 years I've had it the emissions data has hardly changed when the MOT is done.

Having had a few problems with my petrol powered mower and strimmer I tried super petrol in them. So far they seem to perform better.

Has anyone tried alkylate Petrol? The first search return is

I've heard someone on the bikers group recommend draining unleaded from unused bikes, and using some of it in the tank over winter, but seems expensive at £5/litre

Adds about 30p per litre, so same ball park as "super"

Polymer bit is true for some classic cars, not obvious to me why it should attack solder.

Most of my "petrol" tools are less than 10 years old and I'd expect them to use modern polymers (and certainly no soldered floats!).

I *think* it is probably a typical modern scare story.

There is a fair amount of info out there for cars, the gov.uk site is a good start. My most vulnerable vehicle is a 2004 Suzuki Carry, but Suzuki have apparently been OK since 2002.

Point taken about an outboard, that is one engine that you don't want to fail!

Is AVGas still available ?

Yes it seems to have gone up from the £18 I last paid. I only use it for the hedgcutters and use less than a can a year nowadays, I will park machines up with it if I get problems with E10 as I think the main problems are likely to be its hygroscopic nature.

I may well go for the super unleaded for the 49 year old car as that probably still has some rubber components and the carbs may have brass bits that allegedly get attacked by ethanol.

I've used it for the past three years. The 5 litre can has only just run out. It is expensive compared to petrol, but as I don't use a lot it doesn't really matter to me. It keeps better than petrol; a half full can of petrol kept that long would cause a lot of problems starting.

It says all Toyotas since 2000 are good.

Mine's a 2000 model, but the last of a line that was started in 1985.

I'll treat it to the good stuff.

No single point of failure. You're better off with two smaller ones. Or at least carry the one off the dinghy, it might get you home.

Eventually.

Andy