E10 Petrol is here to stay, so there is no point jumping on forums or writing to your MP, we as classic car owners simply have to understand what the difference is, and what we can do to protect our cars.
What is E10?
Ethanol (a biofuel) has long been added to regular pump petrol. The UK is one of the last places to increase the content of this biofuel to our regular unleaded petrol to 10% (Hence the ‘10 in E10). Increasing the amount of ethanol in fuel helps to reduce our countries dependence on Russian and OPEC Oil, which is good news if you are in Government and it helps to reduce our national carbon footprint. By how much is another conversation altogether.
What are the problems with ethanol?
- Bacteria
Ethanol contains bacteria. As these multiply in your fuel system, they excrete acid which ‘attacks’ some rubber and gasket components, degrading them to a point where they will leak, which is not ideal in a fuel system.
- Water
It is also hygroscopic, which means it absorbs water from the atmosphere. This water separates in the fuel system, provides an environment where the bacteria breed and promotes corrosion. Left alone this water content builds up and obviously won’t burn when it gets sucked into the engine.
This is a particular problem for classic cars, because:
- We store them for long periods of time
- Their fuel systems are not very well sealed from the atmosphere
- Old cars have fuel tanks made of metal which corrode creating debris in the tank which gets blocks up the small holes in our fuel systems
Fuel evaporates leaving behind
- Burn rate
.E10 also has a slightly different calorific value and degrades quicker than traditional petrol so it can lead to running issues and poor performance especially when it the car has been stored for over 3 months
What can we do to protect against these issues?
Firstly there are fuel stabilisers available. These additives are simply combined with the fuel as you fill up. At Classic Collective we have exhaustively tried and tested a number of products and have come up with one that is streets ahead, by dealing with all of the above issues
Bactofin by Wagner Oils
Over the last five years we have tried almost every product available to reduce the effects of Ethanol in our classic car fleet. Wagner Bactofin is the only product that has really worked. This is because it does two important and unique things:
- Kills the bacteria introduced by ethanol to your fuel system that produces the amino acid that attacks seals, rubbers and gaskets.
- Binds the water molecules where they breed to the fuel, so you are constantly removing their habitat
Over and above this, like all other fuel stabilisers it:
- Protects from corrosion and wear
- Efficiently cleans the complete fuel supply system removing sticky deposits
- Acts as a lead substitute if needed
It is ideal for vehicles kept in storage for periods longer than 6 weeks at a time, slowing fuel from decomposition and actively removing water content in your fuel system. Wagner Bactofin mixes at 1000:1, so one 250ml bottle will last for 2,500 miles in the average classic car.
Keep in mind E10 petrol is not the only issue
The rubber pipework in your classic car is way more likely to fail because it is 40 years old than because you have filled up with E10 unprotected once or twice. Just in the same way ten year old condoms won’t keep you childless, rubber seals and pipes perish and leak. This, generally isn’t as big a job as you might expect, especially in carburettor cars and it will help with future reliability.
Fuel pipe and seal kits sold by reputable dealers will be ‘E10 proof’. They are marked as 'R9 safe'. Typically converting any classic will take less than half a day and little more than a couple of hundred pounds in materials.
Let us do it for you
We typically 'E10 proof' a classic car every week. We have R9 rated products in stock for most classic cars, so get in contact and book your car in for this straight forward way of protecting your car from fuel leaks, poor running and possible fire.
We can also adjust the timing and petrol/air mixture to make sure that your car is running as efficiently as possible on E10 fuel