WARNING E10 & FUEL TANK SEALS

[sheffcortinacentre]

A  WARNING TO ONE & ALL SINCE HAVING A PRETTY FULL FUEL TANK OVER THE WEEKEND TO ATTEND THE ANNUAL CORTINA SHOW I'D NOTICED A STRONG SMELL OF PETROL ON USING IT TODAY THE SMELL SEEMED TO BE WORSE.

AFTER CHECKING ALL-ROUND FOR ROTTED FUEL PIPES (FINDING NON)  I MOVED THE CAR & NOTICED A WET PATCH ON THE FLOOR IT APPEARED ON INSPECTION THAT THE SEAL ON THE SENDER UNIT HAD EXPANDED & PART HAD BEEN FORCED OUT CAUSING A LEAK!

SO ONE & ALL CHECK THOSE SENDER SEALS NOT SURE IF THERES SEALS AVAILABLE THAT ARE E10 PROOF IF NOT WHY NOT!?

[SiC]

OKAY

THAT IS GOOD TO KNOW

THANK YOU 

[SiC]

Buy some Viton sheet and make a new one? Plenty of small squares can be had off eBay for around a tenner. Cut one from a sheet of a suitable thickness. 

[Split_Pin]

Just use E5, that's what I put in my Cavalier.

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Just use E5, that's what I put in my Cavalier.

That’s what I do. Super unleaded E5 or less only. If I can’t get that for whatever reason I use the E10 with an ethanol stabiliser additive.

Best to be safe and avoid it as much as possible.

Cant you mix in something stupid like methylated spirits which absorbs the water the fuel soaks out of the air, then just burns it with the fuel instead of it puddling in the tank and going acidic? I’m sure there was a video on YouTube I saw about it. I can’t remember though as I didn’t really take much notice at the time!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Funnily enough, when I was doing some work on the MR2 the other day I thought it smelt of fuel slightly. No sign of anything dropping though. Mine's got a quarter of a tank of E10 sat in it from many months ago. Is it too late for fuel stabiliser or would it be better to throw some E5 in to water things down a bit? The car isn't being used currently. 

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Funnily enough, when I was doing some work on the MR2 the other day I thought it smelt of fuel slightly. No sign of anything dropping though. Mine's got a quarter of a tank of E10 sat in it from many months ago. Is it too late for fuel stabiliser or would it be better to throw some E5 in to water things down a bit? The car isn't being used currently. 

It probably can’t hurt to chuck a bit of stabiliser in, and dilute it with E5.

I think part of the trouble with ethanol is when a car gets stored for a few months (like many classics do) the ethanol tries to separate from the other chemicals in the petrol where it’s not getting used or stirred around as the car moves. Once it separates it can cause corrosion and go acidic, but apparently, it starts to smell strongly of gone off petrol sooner than normal petrol. (According to the video I just watched!).

I wouldn’t use that Castrol valvemaster in your MR2 though! I’m not sure it’s safe for catalytic converters!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

20 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

It probably can’t hurt to chuck a bit of stabiliser in, and dilute it with E5.

I think part of the trouble with ethanol is when a car gets stored for a few months (like many classics do) the ethanol tries to separate from the other chemicals in the petrol where it’s not getting used or stirred around as the car moves. Once it separates it can cause corrosion and go acidic, but apparently, it starts to smell strongly of gone off petrol sooner than normal petrol. (According to the video I just watched!).

I wouldn’t use that Castrol valvemaster in your MR2 though! I’m not sure it’s safe for catalytic converters!

Thanks Dan. I'm tempted to let it sit running for a while to burn off some more of the E10 and then lob some E5 in. 

[sheffcortinacentre]

I had no choice only E10 was available.

[danthecapriman]

10 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

I had no choice only E10 was available.

I’ve got about half a tank of E10 in the Volvo. Only thing I could get at the time. Although I’m 99% sure the 740 is ok for E10…?

[Matty]

11 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Funnily enough, when I was doing some work on the MR2 the other day I thought it smelt of fuel slightly. No sign of anything dropping though. Mine's got a quarter of a tank of E10 sat in it from many months ago. Is it too late for fuel stabiliser or would it be better to throw some E5 in to water things down a bit? The car isn't being used currently. 

Mine stinks of fuel all the time. Par for the course 😆

[sutty2006]

I’ve converted all rubber hoses on the Carlton to Coden ethanol resistant hoses. The only thing at risk now as you say is the rubber tank seal, which wouldn’t take much to make a new one out of similar ethanol resistant rubber gasket. And the main injector pipes, which didn’t leak after 15 years of stale e5 living in them…. They must be much more resilient to ethanol. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

23 minutes ago, Matty said:

Mine stinks of fuel all the time. Par for the course 😆

Thing is, mine hasn't for the last eight years! Until now...

[Matty]

12 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thing is, mine hasn't for the last eight years! Until now...

I was reasonably sure that most stuff made since about the mid 90s was compatible with that level of ethanol. But you never know do you. Could be owt, could just be a piece of rubber hose or the like that's time expired maybe. You'll get on top of it I'm sure

[Conan]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

I’ve got about half a tank of E10 in the Volvo. Only thing I could get at the time. Although I’m 99% sure the 740 is ok for E10…?

Apparently all Volvos from something like 1979 is compatible with E10, the only manufacturer for that to be the case. Also considering SAAB is famous for making lot of horsepower on E85, it's probably Sweden thing like being alcoholic.

Although I'm of the opinion that if the car is pushing 20+ years of age it's probably not unusual for rubber materials to deteriorate. Always a good idea to check fuel lines and other components regularly on old cars even if you always lob E5 in or whatever. Even more so if your car says it's compatible because that's not a guarantee the components will last forever.

[Inspector Morose]

12 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Cant you mix in something stupid like methylated spirits which absorbs the water the fuel soaks out of the air, then just burns it with the fuel instead of it puddling in the tank and going acidic? I’m sure there was a video on YouTube I saw about it. I can’t remember though as I didn’t really take much notice at the time!

Don’t think it’s meths as thats denatured ethanol so you’d be just upping the ethanol dose.

[grogee]

You bunch of absolute sissies. 

[Mrs6C]

1 minute ago, grogee said:

 

One of our local garages still stocks leaded 4 star...

[sheffcortinacentre]

I've had no trouble with E5, this is in roughly 7 days

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

One of our local garages still stocks leaded 4 star...

 

[sutty2006]

13 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

 

Am I reading that right? 214.9 pence per litre? 

[Six-cylinder]

2 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Am I reading that right? 214.9 pence per litre? 

Yes leaded 4*, that was Sep 2022 and not that much more than E5. I have not checked this year now fuel prices have fallen as we only have one car that really needs it.

[egg]

14 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

One of our local garages still stocks leaded 4 star...

is because of agricultural demand?

I'm only using E5 in the Mondeo, even though E10 compatible because it is sitting a lot. 

[sutty2006]

21 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Yes leaded 4*, that was Sep 2022 and not that much more than E5. I have not checked this year now fuel prices have fallen as we only have one car that really needs it.

I wish I could find somewhere near me that sells it. I’ve got a car that will need it eventually….. (my other manta!) 

[egg]

But then confused, because in the Telegraph it says....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/years-one-corrupt-british-company-holding-deadly-leaded-petrol/

On Monday, the United Nations announced that leaded petrol was no longer produced at any factory on Earth after a two-decade-long struggle which will save millions of lives and save countless children from brain damage. 

Algeria, the last country to have any stocks left, run out in July.

"There now isn't a petrol station in the world where you can buy leaded fuel," said Rob De Jong, head of the UN's Sustainable Sustainable Mobility Unit in Nairobi, Kenya.

[richardmorris]

31 minutes ago, egg said:

But then confused, because in the Telegraph it says....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/years-one-corrupt-british-company-holding-deadly-leaded-petrol/

On Monday, the United Nations announced that leaded petrol was no longer produced at any factory on Earth after a two-decade-long struggle which will save millions of lives and save countless children from brain damage. 

Algeria, the last country to have any stocks left, run out in July.

"There now isn't a petrol station in the world where you can buy leaded fuel," said Rob De Jong, head of the UN's Sustainable Sustainable Mobility Unit in Nairobi, Kenya.

Telegraph long stopped being a reliable newspaper.  I had a list of four star selling stations from bay Ford thrust, but that was twenty years ago.

[SiC]

2 hours ago, egg said:

On Monday, the United Nations announced that leaded petrol was no longer produced at any factory on Earth after a two-decade-long struggle which will save millions of lives and save countless children from brain damage. 

If that's true, what is General Aviation doing about 100LL Avgas? I know replacement is in the works but I believe it's still used?

Tbh I'm glad leaded petrol is going. Horrible stuff that is pointless to use on road going vehicles now. Practical and good alternatives exist for those engines susceptable, just lead always was cheap. Now though, the lead additives are in some cases more expensive than the alternatives. 

[Six-cylinder]

2 hours ago, egg said:

is because of agricultural demand?

Gandertons in Buckingham tell me they sell quite a lot of 4* to vintage/classic cars going to Silverstone 7 miles up the road.

 

 

 

 

[richardmorris]

The engineer that came up with the idea of tetra ethyl lead to put in petrol later chose CFCs to use in refrigerated systems. Which is why you should never let engineers play at being a chemist.

 

 

Thomas Midgley Jr. (May 18, 1889 – November 2, 1944) was an American mechanical and chemical engineer. He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline (tetraethyl lead) and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known in the United States by the brand name Freon; both products were later banned from common use due to their harmful impact on human health and the environment. He was granted more than 100 patents over the course of his career.^[2]

Midgley contracted polio in 1940 and was left disabled; in 1944, he was found strangled to death by a device he devised to allow him to get out of bed unassisted. It was reported to the public that he had been accidentally killed by his own invention, but his death was privately declared a suicide. His legacy is one of negative environmental impact; environmental historian J. R. McNeill stated that he "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history", author Bill Bryson remarked that he possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny", and science writer Fred Pearce described him as a "one-man environmental disaster".

[egg]

^ yes if you believe the hyperbole - the man who 'killed most people in history'

https://indie88.com/the-man-who-accidentally-killed-the-most-people/