New E10 Fuel in 2013

[John Boy Senior]

As a 1998 Z3 2.8 owner of a few years now should I be worried about the new E10 fuel?
Called my local BMW dealer they had never heard about it. All info greatly received.

[colb]

Some info here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/992 ... -cars.html

[OXO]

They aren't changing all fuel. Just introducing another one.

You don't have to buy it.

[Del]

According to US government sites I’ve seen, they suggest that all car manufactures are happy with a mix of up to 10% Ethanol. I suspect (although not totally sure) that many countries around the world have been using petrol with a higher percentage of Ethanol for some time and BMW are very much a world-wide brand and so would need to build their cars to cope. The Australian site link attached gives a useful chart.

When I wanted some new fuel hose last year because I wanted to renew the small sections each side of the fuel filter (as well as the filter itself) I questioned a few ebay fuel pipe sellers and one admitted to me that BMW fuel pipe was the best and built to cope with the corrosive effect of most types of petrol – so I bit the bullet and paid £15 for one meter from my nearest BMW dealer.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/tools-and-a ... ar_use_e10

[Robert T]

Whilst all current cars should be happy to run on the stuff without problem, there are some questionmarks over the effect it will have on older cars, particularly those with carburettors. I don't think the zeds will have a problem, but bear in mind that they were designed to run on the particular types of fuel that were available at the time, so there is the outside chance that it might cause a problem. I did read an article on the subject quite some time ago, so I will see if I can dig it out. I run both my cars on super-unleaded which has a higher ethanol content that normal fuel and they both run well on it.

Cheers R.

[pingu]

"Normal" super unleaded is 5% ethanol (E5). Our cars can handle it - just. AFAIK, 10% ethanol (E10) is too much for pre 2001 BMWs as it is a solvent that affects the metals and plastics used in the fuel system...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/cla ... bikes.html

[Southernboy]

If it helps ...here in SA all fuel retailers are obliged to use synfuel as part of their product. We have a couple of plants producing petrol from coal. This stuff is a lot like Ethanol - more like an alchohol than petrol. When it first became obligatory, the outcry went up...mostly because of the carb cars. It tended to cause problems with rubber components and some valve and valve seat metals. The advice at the time was for those car owners to add some lead replacement into the mix. Subsequently it was found that the cars that were affected were easily converted by replacing a couple of seals and washers in the fuel system, and in extreme cases the valve seats on some cylinder heads. This was all around 35 years ago. All cars today are able to run on synfuels...Brazil has been mass producing Ethanol for decades and successfully run their cars on a mix of Ethanol and "natural" petroleum. Ethanol is actually a cleaner burning fuel, but it does have a queer smell, and is otherwise quite safe to use. If you consider that all fuels have any number of additives to boost their effectiveness...clean engines, extra power, etc etc...there really isn't anything like pure petrol anymore.

[Mike Fishwick]

BMW have stated that all their cars from 1986 are 'suitable' for e10 fuel.

Even so, enthanol is not a very good fuel, so expect a reduction in mpg.