Discussion
Big problem with getting fuel for my WRX STi today, none in Newton Stewart (Shell), tried Girvan Esso, on to Tesco in Ayr on the last vapours, success - 50 miles after the fuel light came on! Anybody else having this issue? More if a problem in rural Scotland where there is less choice.
DCerebrate said:
Thanks. So, patchy supply, which has been reported in a thread from England since April. Wonder what the cause is.
Grangemouth refinery closing? This is bound to have an effect on the supply chain for petrol.No Tesco Momentum where I am - also because it is so cheap.
AGK said:
Yahonza said:
Grangemouth refinery closing? This is bound to have an effect on the supply chain for petrol.
No Tesco Momentum where I am - also because it is so cheap.
99 comes out Clydebank as Grangemouth only does 97 so supply for that hasn’t changed at all. No Tesco Momentum where I am - also because it is so cheap.
Shell seems to be okay though - at least here.
Out of curiosity, what are your issues with E5 / 97-98 RON or E10 / 95 RON?
Pinking due to lower octane rating or concerns over ethanol content? As both are correctable.
The Monaro, since it had a Wortec remap way back in 2005 or 2006, pinks on 95 RON under load. Here in Orkney, thats all you can get. So it gets a bottle of octane booster on every tank, and problem solved, no more pinking. If on mainland Scotland, if it gets the luxury of 97/98 RON, then no octane booster required.
As for ethanol content, then this is easily stripped out if of concern. Nothing more than some water and a settling container needed. If you are being posh, some liquid food colouring to highlight whats water and whats petrol. I routinely strip E10 down to E0 (pure petrol) for storage fuel for lawnmowers, bikes and cars. Add a little fuel inhibitor and a bit of octane booster (to compensate for the boost the ethanol gives) and you have a pretty passable pure petrol.
Some kitchen chemistry and you can easily manipulate pump petrol to where you want it to be. Just don't let the missus catch you doing it in the kitchen sink!
Pinking due to lower octane rating or concerns over ethanol content? As both are correctable.
The Monaro, since it had a Wortec remap way back in 2005 or 2006, pinks on 95 RON under load. Here in Orkney, thats all you can get. So it gets a bottle of octane booster on every tank, and problem solved, no more pinking. If on mainland Scotland, if it gets the luxury of 97/98 RON, then no octane booster required.
As for ethanol content, then this is easily stripped out if of concern. Nothing more than some water and a settling container needed. If you are being posh, some liquid food colouring to highlight whats water and whats petrol. I routinely strip E10 down to E0 (pure petrol) for storage fuel for lawnmowers, bikes and cars. Add a little fuel inhibitor and a bit of octane booster (to compensate for the boost the ethanol gives) and you have a pretty passable pure petrol.
Some kitchen chemistry and you can easily manipulate pump petrol to where you want it to be. Just don't let the missus catch you doing it in the kitchen sink!
Windy Miller said:
Out of curiosity, what are your issues with E5 / 97-98 RON or E10 / 95 RON?
Pinking due to lower octane rating or concerns over ethanol content? As both are correctable.
The Monaro, since it had a Wortec remap way back in 2005 or 2006, pinks on 95 RON under load. Here in Orkney, thats all you can get. So it gets a bottle of octane booster on every tank, and problem solved, no more pinking. If on mainland Scotland, if it gets the luxury of 97/98 RON, then no octane booster required.
As for ethanol content, then this is easily stripped out if of concern. Nothing more than some water and a settling container needed. If you are being posh, some liquid food colouring to highlight whats water and whats petrol. I routinely strip E10 down to E0 (pure petrol) for storage fuel for lawnmowers, bikes and cars. Add a little fuel inhibitor and a bit of octane booster (to compensate for the boost the ethanol gives) and you have a pretty passable pure petrol.
Some kitchen chemistry and you can easily manipulate pump petrol to where you want it to be. Just don't let the missus catch you doing it in the kitchen sink!
No offence, but that sounds a bit of a faff for 120 litres Pinking due to lower octane rating or concerns over ethanol content? As both are correctable.
The Monaro, since it had a Wortec remap way back in 2005 or 2006, pinks on 95 RON under load. Here in Orkney, thats all you can get. So it gets a bottle of octane booster on every tank, and problem solved, no more pinking. If on mainland Scotland, if it gets the luxury of 97/98 RON, then no octane booster required.
As for ethanol content, then this is easily stripped out if of concern. Nothing more than some water and a settling container needed. If you are being posh, some liquid food colouring to highlight whats water and whats petrol. I routinely strip E10 down to E0 (pure petrol) for storage fuel for lawnmowers, bikes and cars. Add a little fuel inhibitor and a bit of octane booster (to compensate for the boost the ethanol gives) and you have a pretty passable pure petrol.
Some kitchen chemistry and you can easily manipulate pump petrol to where you want it to be. Just don't let the missus catch you doing it in the kitchen sink!
much less hassle to just chuck in E5True, but has a couple of pre-requsites;
1. You can readily lay your hands on E5, which in many parts of Scotland, you can't. And from the OP, even the deep south seemed to be having supply issues with it.
2. You are happy with E5 and not E0 for your storage / running fuel. There's only 5% ethanol content difference between E5 and E10 (No sh!t Sherlock!
) and if getting rid of the ethanol is the goal, then the job is only half done moving to E5
1. You can readily lay your hands on E5, which in many parts of Scotland, you can't. And from the OP, even the deep south seemed to be having supply issues with it.
2. You are happy with E5 and not E0 for your storage / running fuel. There's only 5% ethanol content difference between E5 and E10 (No sh!t Sherlock!
) and if getting rid of the ethanol is the goal, then the job is only half done moving to E5Apparently so indeed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdHZsgiuXVQ
Another kitchen chemist testing some about 3 weeks ago, and 0% ethanol. Unfortunately, not something we get here in Orkney. Adding the water to strip out the ethanol results in a fair gain to the water volume, indicating a fair ethanol content. All we have here is one product that comes into Highland Fuels who were historically Esso, but don't seem to claim any allegiance any more. The same fuel is drawn out of the same storage tanks and distributed to all filling stations, most of which appear to be unbranded these days - i.e. they do not display if they are selling BP or Esso which used to be the 2 distributors here. So could be anything here, and certainly has a fair ethanol content.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdHZsgiuXVQ
Another kitchen chemist testing some about 3 weeks ago, and 0% ethanol. Unfortunately, not something we get here in Orkney. Adding the water to strip out the ethanol results in a fair gain to the water volume, indicating a fair ethanol content. All we have here is one product that comes into Highland Fuels who were historically Esso, but don't seem to claim any allegiance any more. The same fuel is drawn out of the same storage tanks and distributed to all filling stations, most of which appear to be unbranded these days - i.e. they do not display if they are selling BP or Esso which used to be the 2 distributors here. So could be anything here, and certainly has a fair ethanol content.
Following on from the discussion on the availability, or lack of, low ethanol fuel, thoughts on high ethanol fuel. In France, they have 3,900 filling stations selling E85 "super bioethanol";
https://www.bioethanolcarburant.com/trouver-une-st...
Where you can fill up with E85, assuming your vehicle is compatible, for a lot less than we pay for E10/E5/Diesel in the UK. OK, so the calorific value of E85 is lower and you need more liitres of it to get the same miles / performance. But even factoring that in, its still a lot cheaper than E10 or less.
Compared to France's 3,900 E85 filling stations, the UK has a grand total of, err, 0. Instead, we are hell bent on reducing our emissions via electrification, rather than making simple conversions to the existing fleet to enable them to run on E85.
OK, so a number of pros and cons in upping the ethanol content from 10 to 85%, and not all vehicles can be adapted for them. But for those that can, its a few hundred quid job. So why are we ignoring this half way house to greener running?
https://www.bioethanolcarburant.com/trouver-une-st...
Where you can fill up with E85, assuming your vehicle is compatible, for a lot less than we pay for E10/E5/Diesel in the UK. OK, so the calorific value of E85 is lower and you need more liitres of it to get the same miles / performance. But even factoring that in, its still a lot cheaper than E10 or less.
Compared to France's 3,900 E85 filling stations, the UK has a grand total of, err, 0. Instead, we are hell bent on reducing our emissions via electrification, rather than making simple conversions to the existing fleet to enable them to run on E85.
OK, so a number of pros and cons in upping the ethanol content from 10 to 85%, and not all vehicles can be adapted for them. But for those that can, its a few hundred quid job. So why are we ignoring this half way house to greener running?
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