"Bio fuels" in 8th gen VR4

[Sydo]

Yes 98 is extremely hard to come by and there are only 2 servos in Darwin I know of that have 98, both are 30kms from here and the price... try $1.75 a litre

A familiar story!

For the past few weeks, I've only be using Vortex 95.
The loss in power is slightly (very slightly) noticeable - but there seems to be no difference in economy. Considering the difference in price between 95 and 98 at the moment (6cents+ per litre, plus another 4-8cents with a Safeway fuel docket) 95 seems the better economic choice for now.

 

[Hotwire]

I'd be intrigued to see your knock reading on the 95 fuels - do either of you have the EvoScan software and cable? or have access to it?

 

[Sydo]

No.. I'm interested too.
Anyone know where I can get a cable? Or borrow one?

 

[Hotwire]

Are you a member of CVR4? there is information on there about how to use a $19 ebay cable with a minor modification (if you are handy with a soldering iron) and then $27 AU for the EvoScan software. This is what I did, well worth it.

 

[Sydo]

Cool! I'll look into it.

 

[Kristian]

I understand Josh that in Darwin that real 98 might be hard to source? If that's the case and I'm guessing here, then the 95 will probably have 10% added to get 98? I have no experience with that fuel- i don't use it.

I occasionally use the Vpower racing, the majority of the time i use BP Ultimate. Why, because there aren't any Shell out here "in the country"! If i lived closer to the city i'd probably use Vpower racing and have the car tuned to suit.

I've used the 10% stuff in my 323 but it runs better on 91. Never had any problems with the hoses on that car.

Again, this site is very young, the pro's and cons have been discussed many times regarding ethanol and it's potential to destroy hoses and other parts of your fuel system on many other websites- the short of it, none of the thousands of Skylines/Silvia owners on SAU or nissnasilvia have reported any problems with Vpower shell.

So people can continue to reprint "don't use ethanol of any sort it kills your hoses and engine" but in the end it comes down to choice.

If that still doesn't convince you, then please tell me why a petrol company would knowingly produce a product that would eat away and destroy the rubber components in a fuel system??

Because they are the same companies that say on their pumps that it is the driver's responsibility to make sure their car is able to run fuels with ethanol added. One of the things that determines this is what your fuel system components are. Holden sends cars to Brazil where they run E85, and their fuels systems are specially built to suit it.

A little story for you - a mate had a turboed Mazda RX-3 many years back, that was tuned to run on 95 octane (back in the days when that was the best you could get). He goes to his local servo, fills up, plants his foot 5 minutes later, and the motor has a total meltdown. He suspects his fuel is dodgy, and as it turns out, he is studying at uni to be a chemist, specialising in fuels.

So he heads back to his servo, fills up a jerry can and takes it away for testing at uni. The octane rating comes back at 86.6! As it turns out, the 95 tank at the servo was "accidentally" filled with 91, and the fuel company's defence was that the octane rating says on the pump is what it is when it leaves the refinery, not what it is when it goes in your tank. The threat of legal (and no doubt well-publicised) action had the fuel company settling out of court to cover the cost of the engine rebuild...

I think some of you need to look at how much difference a few cents a litre on fuel makes versus the total cost of running your car. You'll soon realise that, for the sake of your car, it's not something worth skimping on.

 

[SiliconAngel]

please tell me why a petrol company would knowingly produce a product that would eat away and destroy the rubber components in a fuel system??

Because perishing rubber seals and hoses is an unexpected side-effect of ethanol fuel use, not a deliberate agenda, and new cars designed for ethanol fuels don't have this problem? Because it's a well-known issue and they have no legal responsibility (ie if you're stupid enough to put it in your car KNOWING it may damage it, that's your own damn fault)? Because there's an ENORMOUS amount of political pressure (read: subsidies and benefits) for ethanol fuel production, so if they don't do it one of their competitors will anyway? Because they simply don't care?

 

[VR-04-TT]

It's a highly mentioned issue Trev, but I'm still yet to actually see a car that's had any rubber issues from ethanol fuel.

As I've said before, I used to solely use ethanol in my 82 Meteor, my EA falcon, my TR magna and never experienced any problems. By the same token I did not gain anything either, except the few cents a litre and the fact the servo was around the corner from home. But there was no negative side effects, and I've never ever seen it happen or know of it happen except in the cases of "oh a mate's mate" or "my boss's friend" etc.

 

[Guest]

a mate of mine on the wrx forums (rexnet, for those who are members) runs that boost 98 stuff from the united servos in his MY98 WRX for the past few years and has had no problems. from day 1 he had a dyno run done to check on the afr's and other expected possible problems and has found that his economy has improved a fair bit and no loss in power or afr issues...in short, he's paying some 10c less per litre and getting more kms from a tank without any change to his cars operation.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Ethanol's deterioration of rubber is an indisputable chemical fact. If you don't believe me go buy some ethanol and drop some rubber seals and hoses in it and check back in a few weeks.

If you run a high-ethanol (50% or more) fuel in your car I have absolutely no doubt it will eat the seals and hoses in your fuel system quite quickly. Using a 10 to 15% blend however may reduce these effects markedly. Will it stop it altogether? Logic suggests not - even diluted there is still ethanol contacting those same rubber surfaces, there's just less of it. But who knows how long it will take for such gradual deterioration to cause noticeable damage?

 

[VR-04-TT]

Fair enough. It seems like a fair bit of scare-mongering to me. As you know SA, I like to take stuff with a grain of salt lol I used ethanol in my TR magna for 5 years.

Thanks for the info though!