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Mis-fill petrol car with bio-ethanol?

What's the likely damage / recovery strategy if a petrol car is filled with a tankful of bio-ethanol? (Morrison's finest E-85, which is AFAIK

85% plant-derived ethanol, 15% petrol).

AIUI, the octane is somwehere around 5-star levels, but the calorific value is lowered. There's nothing in it that should hurt lambda sensors, and one tankful isn't enough to cause the long-term problems with rubbers and elastomers. So I'm guessing it's OK to just burn it off, expecting reduced performance in the meantime. Probably wise to top up every quarter tank though, and dilute it as fast as possible.

Car is a mid-90s Ford Escort, of no great loveliness.

Reply to
Andy Dingley
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How much petrol was already in the tank?

I imagine it'll knock a bit?

Reply to
Abo

Not much.

Shouldn't do. The octane is _higher_. I fancy running some through the old Triumph Vitesse, with the timing switched back to stock, just to see how it likes it. That's an engine infamous for needing high octane and was never too happy about 4 star.

What has actually happened is that the owner has paid =A3100 + new tankful to have it pumped out. The pump guy reckoned that "If it was a diesel it would have been OK", but that a petrol engine needing pumping. On the whole I think they're just plain wrong and they'd got confused between bio-diesel and bio-ethanol.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

i am prolly wrong, but i was under the impression the bio-ethanol was the petrols equivelent to bio-diesel, i.e. it's a fuel alternative that should be ok to use in most vehicles over a few years old.

i know that when i was looking into making bio-diesel i came accross a lot of sites for making bio-ethanol and they were claiming it'll be just like dino petrol, as long as you dont try to put it in a car which still has rubber seals in the fuel system (which i believe changed in the 90's) it'll be fine.

i'm sure someone will prove me wrong tho', i do remember when the first garage selling it in the Uk was on the news, they made a big song and dance about there being only 1 car that could run on it, which seemed strange as in germany they've been selling bio-ethanol along side bio-diesel at the pumps for years, and a lot of different vehicles use the ethanol fuel as i witnessed as i was filling up with bio-diesel all the time im in germany.

Reply to
Gazz

I think you'll find it's the other way round. From the Beeb's website "The supermarket chain Morrisons is to open the first E85 pump in the UK, delivering a mixture of 85% bioethanol and 15% petrol. "

So it probably wouldn't have had any noticeable effect whatsoever

-- Malc

Reply to
Malc

Malc gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Umm, that's exactly what he said...

Reply to
Adrian

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I sit corrected, mea culpa and all that. It's been a long week. Oh blow it, no excuses, I misread it

-- Malc

Reply to
Malc

It attacks aluminium. That's why Saab spent so much on new alloys for cylinder heads.

Reply to
Depresion

If you run enough of it it will corrode all aluminium alloys in the fuel system. In the short term it has a lower energy density than petrol.

Reply to
Depresion

However one tank of it won't make a blind bit of difference.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

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