A couple of weeks ago, when the rain really started to fall and blow ships onto beaches, I started using ethanol fuel.
Be warned! using ethanol fuel can cost you. First up it is a good solvent it WILL clean out your petrol tank any muck that has built up over the years (39 in my car), will work its way through the fuel line and filter and clog your caby, I was left dumbfound trying to figure out my problem.
It can also break down fuel lines and other rubber even metals causing untold damage even fire.

It also retains water really really well, this will seperate when mixed with standard fuel leaving water in the bottom of your fuel tank (cars don't run well on water- yet!) this may happen in excessive rain like we've been having.

I'm all for a cleaner environment but this stuff sounds bad, Sure you can drink it, even pour it down your sink safely but once its burned it is as dangerous if not worse than petrolium based fuels.
I'm not even sure if the higher octane = more power, I'm back to using premium, my car runs better with better fuel consumption, and when something goes wrong I can diagnose it and get it fixed without guessing what the problem is.

WOW...... been working fine for me. :duh

What are you basing this on??

http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id36.html

premium fuel consumption will be better then ethanol, that has almost nothing to do with the octane level, but you should be thankful for the tank clean, put a cheap plastic filter in the line, replace it after each of your first 2 fills and you will be fine and will have given the whole fuel system a good cleanout.

This is based on googling "problems with ethanol fuel", and using the stuff.

I am no professional in this field so I may be incorrect. Once my carby's were pulled apart, cleaned and fuel filter replaced the car was running well again, I may have kept using ethanol (it's cheap), but was conscernd about corroding seals and rubber parts, I didn't know how long it would take to clean the whole system and how many times I would need to change the filter, by the way it's recommended using a 10micron filter to catch the metal splinters.

I am thankful the system has had a clean out but would have been nice to known this was likely to happen. I have asked at servo's about their fuels, some don't even know what ethanol is or that it is in their fuel. It took me over a week to find out what was wrong with my car (even the tech section at AVD couldn't nail the problem).

For me, using ethanol was not a good experience, and just want people to know that initially it may cause problems.

The "problems" with ethanol comes from places like Sth America where they run MUCH higher % values of ethanol compared to here.

Even so - with cahnges there isnt a problem.
Running high % ethanol on a "normal" car will have some of the problems you have mentioned.

The E10 fuels that are being sold in Sydney at the moment will not give these problems.
generally "standard" E10 = 95 octane.

Run whatever you are happy with, but it sounds like you had other contaminates in your fuel system

the water has nothing to do with ethanol. The pickup isnt at the bottom of the underground tanks. Its higher to stop picking up the crud. Why would you have a couple of thousand lit res of untouchable fuel? That lower bit that isnt touched is water, not fuel. Sometimes when it rains, water gets into the tanks, raising the water level to the point of pickup. Thats when you get your problems. There is a servo in sutherland shire particularly prone. Hellbug made a fair bit of money out of getting wet fuel tanks running again.

Higher octane is useless in everyday situations. If your car isnt pinging, there's no point. Ideally you'd advance your timing up to where it pings and back it off a smidge. Thats where it will run most efficiently. Thats what knock sensor equipped modern cars do.

On a carburetored car at a fixed throttle position, it wont matter if you are running on unleaded, leaded, ethanol or sambuca. Fuel consumption is based on airflow through the carby, If there is a difference in consumption its because you push the pedal down further to compensate for the lack of power due to the lean fuel you are burning. At cruising speeds you will be using almost exactly the same amount, but you'll be running hotter/leaner. EFI cars with lambda sensors is a different matter. You'll burn more fuel due to the leaner readings in the exhaust.

I dont know for sure, but I suspect that the 10% blends we have wont harm rubber too much. I dont think that manufacturers would be approving its use if it werent OK. Though maybe they dont care if they are selling cars.

I'd be happy to use ethanol even in higher percentages, even 100% if the price was right. I'd have to fill up more regularly but I'd do that to help save the world. Problem is the servos are ripping you off every time you buy the stuff right now. If you watch petrol prices both 100% petrol and ethanol blends will go up the same amount when the price of oil goes up. Common sense tells me that if regular goes up 10cents, ethanol should only go up 9. Every time petrol has gone up since the introduction of ethanol consumers have been ripped off a compounding 10%. I'm not playing that silly game.

Lastly, this topic has been done to death

I`ve always found that vw engines seem to run great on ethanol fuel.
I thought they were run on straight ethanol in brazil.

They run Alcohol in South America
the engines are low compression...

I believe E100 is for sale in the USA....

I have run E10 in many vehicles over the years with no problems...

I haven't used Ethanol in My beetle...

Lee

PS.. water can mix with ethanol -
where it doesn't mix with Petrol...

So, in a word... ethanol = good or bad? :duh

Good for the environment, mostly indifferent to your wallet, possibly bad for your car on a cold night when mixtures will get very lean.

I haven't tried ethanol in my bus yet, but i'm always suss on small fuel suppliers as i know alot of them use to do toluene mixes! There was a certain white truck ( woun't metion any names) unloading toluene into Qld servo tanks

I run ethanol in my new ford futura, not a prob. But then again I don't really care when it pings its head off, that's what a factory warranty is for :P

heres something to read about this : the impact of ethanol blended fuel on the australian passenger car

http://www.sd.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v3/documents/objdirctrled/nonsecure/pdf/11652...

Now that's an interesting read. The pics at the end are very surprising, I don't think I want to be using ethanol blends in my beetle!

been using it in both my baja and my kombi nearly contiuously for three years and never had a problem. I can actually tell the difference easily.

I've found Shell v-power Racing (5% ethanol, 100RON) awesome.

Tuned it up and made more torque on the old butt dyno.

Got good economy out of it too.. leaned out the carb a bit and dialled up the ignition and all was good.

for a good back to back petrol read, check out

http://www.motec.com.au/fueltest/index.htm 

I've put a tank in my car from time to time.. haven't noticed any real difference in consumption/performance. (Type 3 1600 carbed)

Well I filled My beetle up with E10 a week ago by mistake,
and My beetle went just as well as with unleaded or premium unleaded...

I don't think E10 is going to make any difference to seals etc, unless they are ready to fall apart...

My tank and fuel line, & filter and carby are clean,
so I know I'm not going to have any problems..
If E10 was that bad there would be signs up....
E20 or E30 and it may be different matter...
Bogas used to have about 6- 8% ethanol a few years ago,
I don't know what they have now...

Then again My Sons beetle hates Shell Premium unleaded
so every car may be different...
My beetle goes OK with all fuels...
Who knows???

Lee

If you are running high comp Shell V-Power Racing would be great, as you can continue to run fairly agressive timing and not worry about detonation.

The way volksies keep kicking i don't think 5% ethanol would bother anything in it.