bio fuel (petrol)
Turbo Mini Forums

Afternoon all, a little bit of info from my experiance over the past week and abit and also some of yours if you have had any.

i am currently on holiday and have been using the e10 bio fuel in my clio, it is only the 10% ethanol mix (have seen e20 in another town) but its the only one close to us. I have so far noticed a slight increase in mpg (deff not driving style change) and alot better response and mid range compared to standard petrol, im not sure if it was due to a tail wind but also got an extra 5mph top end out of it (i love no speed limit roads)

Has anyone else had experiance with these fuels? Its my first encounter of bio fuels for petrol and im suprised how well its been working for our car (1149cc high comp intercooled turbo).

Could these types of fuels be used effectively with a mini engine sort of like super unleaded but with ethanol instead?

With my small amount of knowledge about these do these fuels burn colder than the 95? The best bits of the bio fuel are it smells like petrol and boose and its cheaper than unleaded.

Any further info on this would be great

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

The greater the ethanol content the less MPG you should achieve. E85 uses close to twice the volume of fuel to achieve the same result as E5

Not sure on the mpg then it was only very slight increace and the wind speeds have droped so prob has been that.

Is e85 achually suitable for road cars As in drive to the station and fill up?

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

Ethanol has a much higher flash point than regular fuel/gasoline, therefore more of it is needed to achieve the asme result. Yes it is renewable, yes it is cheap, hell in Brazil you can run a car on 100% Ethanol, at the end of the day though it is just an alcohol...
If you did want to run it safely:
Change the rubber hose /fittings for Teflon [& Ethonol compatible foam if you are using a Fuel Cell]. Electric Fuel Pumps are the main problem , depending on what is inside the pump. Definitely wouldn't use Ethonol with a mechanical Mini pump.
Ethanol will eat away at rubber slowly... depending on the quality of rubber....

All that being said, a friend of mine travelled most of the way around australia in a clubby with a mild 1275 engine running e10 the whole time with no issues...

at the end of the day though im happy to pay the extra $2-$3 at the pump to put premium unleaded in... it runs better, has more mumbo and better mpg

“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” - Jeremy Clarkson

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

i all ways run with 98 octane + lead additive/upper cylinder lube in all my cars (two minis, vw betle, hilux) its just what ive always done conceding all my cars are at least 30 years old with leaded valves and all the rest that modern cars no longer have if i bought a shiny 2012 car id run with a modern fuel thats what i do thats just me tho..

^ E5 is a european standard of regular unleaded fuel as is E10 depending which country. Governments are pushing towards E10, and in some cases in the UK you may already be putting E10 in your car without you knowing it. This is an effort to reduce the CO2 emissions by using fraction of a 'renewable' carbon source.

In reality the 'renewable' bit is a bit of a farce.