Thread: E5 ethanol
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Old 29-07-19, 07:48 PM   #1
Seeker
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Default E5 ethanol

You may have noticed E5 stickers appearing on petrol pumps - all pumps must display the sticker if they are providing 5% ethanol by September. At the moment oil companies are allowed to use up to 10% ethanol but no company is using any more than 5%. There is no requirement (currently) for any "Super" grade to contain ethanol but that doesn't guarantee it is ethanol free. Pumps will be labelled E10 if they supply 10% ethanol but labelling them E0 for 0% ethanol is not required (which seems wrong to me).
E10 is on its way and the EU recognised that some older vehicles won't run on it but the attitude seems to have been it would be too time consuming to investigate all the potential problems with the higher content.

If a vehicle is in regular use then E5 shouldn't cause a problem but petrol containing ethanol goes off quicker than that without. Vehicles used irregularly look certain to have issues unless the fuel system is drained. This article goes into full detail about phase separation and shows some interesting pictures from Yam XJ600 carbs that were run on E5 (Curvy owners take note). E10 is more problematic as the article explains:

https://armchairbiker.com/ethanol-in...-need-to-know/

At least you know why the farmers have been growing that oil seed rape.

Last edited by Seeker; 29-07-19 at 07:51 PM.
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