The move towards E10 Petrol - And the problems it creates

[Butch]

E10 is the new UK industry standard for unleaded petrol it means it contains 10% ethanol and will help to reduce around 750k tonnes of CO2 each year. According to reports.

The drawbacks of E10 are numerous, not least that a few cars pre 2011 are not compatible with it, and pretty much anything pre 1996 is not either, however this is not a hard and fast rule and there are exceptions and sources to check if your vehicle is or not.

One drawback is that you will inevitably get less mileage, some quote from 2/3 %, others say the real world figure is much more. To quote: "The energy content of ethanol is about 33% less than pure unleaded... economy varies depending on the amount of denaturant that is added to the ethanol. In general, vehicle fuel economy may decrease by about 3% when using E10"

In some vehicles, the use of E10 has triggered or caused an issue with the knock sensor in the engine, which in turn has come up as an engine fault.

Secondly, for older classic cars, it will eat into the rubber hoses and seals used in the fuel systems, Gates do a product that protect against this, so that covers the hoses but not the other stuff like  "O" rings and seals. also, it's not an easy job replacing hoses on a fuel system of a car, as in many instances the connectors are factory clamped on, so unless you go and use an alternative connection (and therefore losing an element of originality) , you might be stuffed.

There are countries in the world using E10, so in one respect the UK and Europe lag behind somewhat, even so, it has been rolling out since 2009.

For my own part, neither of my cars run on E10, I have to use 98+ Octane in my Subaru and the classic won't even take unleaded, so each fill up I need to use an additive. It sucks , but I do have the choice of selling them both and buying an EV...

[Freee!!]

E10 is (and already has been for some years) the norm on the continent and my car takes it without problems.

[Lantern]

I started using it, about a year ago, as there is an E10 sticker on the fuel cap. My local garage proprietor has advised against it.

[bob lt]

When I used the TGs Nissan Almeria it filled with E Yisip or E 20.