Fuels and Horses

It's hard to believe Australian boaters have been subjected to E10 unleaded petrol for more than two decades, with successive governments praising its qualities. Along the lines of when unleaded fuel was introduced to our shores in 1986 and governments told us it was okay to run in some older cars, when clearly the lubricating properties of lead were needed to prevent destroying valve seats. Or when the Federal Government lowered the octane of leaded super from 97 RON to 96 RON in 1994, leading to pre-ignition in some high compression engines. When this happened I had to sell my trusty 1983 Mitsubishi L200 because there was no longer a suitable fuel available in Australia, unless I ran it on Avgas which had too high a lead content.

Being a cynic and disbelieving of 99 per cent of what governments tell voters, I'm not surprised by the spin successive governments have told us about the environmental benefits of E10. But the fuel is simply feral. The ethanol in it is not suited to marine usage or in fact any engine unless it was specifically designed to run on ethanol fuels, such as V8 Super car engines tuned for E85, which has a whopping 85 per cent ethanol content (as opposed to E10, which contains 10 per cent). 

E10 probably wouldn't exist in Oz if it wasn't for a large manufacturer of grain ethanol contributing to the election campaigns of the two main political parties. And in NSW, for example, a certain political party wanted six per cent of all fuel sold in the state to be ethanol. In the form of E10, that meant 60 per cent of all petrol sold in NSW would be ethanol-afflicted. 

Non-ethanol 91 RON would be dropped, meaning owners of small fixed ignition timing four-stroke outboards as well as four-stroke lawnmowers and portable generators would have no suitable fuel for their engines. This is because 95 RON premium has too high an octane for these engines and can cause pre-ignition, which damages piston crowns. If a fixed-timing four-stroke petrol engine emits white smoke on cold starting the fuel has too high an octane.

Fortunately, in NSW the current government decided not to implement this scheme, but it's still lurking around should there be a change of state government next year.

The maximum shelf life for E10 is three months, whereas fully sealed to prevent aromatic additives escaping, standard 91 RON and even 95 RON premium unleaded can stay fresh for up to one year and sometimes well beyond that. 

ISSUES GALORE

The biggest problem with E10 is that ethanol is a hygroscopic fuel, meaning it attracts moisture. Like diesel but way worse. All it takes is 0.5 

per cent, or five millilitres of water in a litre of fuel, for the ethanol to absorb this water and separate from the petrol. This is known as “phase separation” and can occur in as little as two weeks from date of fuel purchase; the ethanol/water mix settles to the bottom of the fuel tank, right where the fuel pick up is located.

If the engine has a carburettor, the carbie bowl(s) can be drained and the engine run afterwards on non-E10 fuel. Even if the main and idle jets are clogged necessitating carbie disassembly and reassembly, this is within the capabilities of most boaters with a service 

manual in hand.

However, if the engine has EFI then the ethanol/water mix can really damage the injectors and replacing these is nowhere near as cheap as cleaning carbies.

Ethanol has only 65 per cent the calorific value per litre of standard 91 RON unleaded petrol. This means that with E10 the “power” per litre is down 6.5 per cent. Not much, but enough to void any fuel cost savings.

Ethanol is also an “oxygenated” fuel. What this means is that the petrol will be made leaner by the percentage of ethanol in it. For example, the normal air/fuel ratio for four-stroke engines is 14.7:1, but with E10 this leans out to 16.2:1. The combustion chamber temperatures are higher and can stress exhaust valves, causing them to fail prematurely.

And finally, ethanol is a solvent. If you have an older outboard or inboard engine the ethanol can eat away at fuel lines and carbie gaskets. Worse still, if your boat has an underfloor fibreglass fuel tank, the ethanol content will dissolve the resin in the fibreglass and this will pass through even the finest-gauze fuel filters to clog injectors and coat the exhaust valves, requiring a complete engine re-build.

Suddenly the savings touted by governments ain't looking so good...

AN ETHANOL TEST KIT

Just because fuel is labelled non-ethanol doesn't mean it's ethanol-free. Several years ago a technician from an outboard motor importer and I sampled non-ethanol fuel from service stations in the west Lake Macquarie and upper Central Coast areas of NSW and found some independent operators had “doctored” non-ethanol fuel 91 RON unleaded with up to four per cent ethanol. 

More recently a mate was worried about 98 RON premium unleaded he had purchased from an independent Central Coast outlet and using my highly accurate ethanol test kit I found the fuel contained two per cent ethanol. This was particularly worrying because both 95 RON and 98 RON premium are not supposed to contain any ethanol, just the 93-94 RON E10 fuel available through major brands that's intended to replace 91 RON unleaded.

Excess ethanol is a big problem in the US, where it's virtually impossible to buy fuel not containing ethanol. The biggest concern is the proliferation of E15, whereas all current outboards and marine inboards are designed to handle up to 10 per cent ethanol content. Using E15 instantly voids new engine warranties.

Almost a decade ago, US-based MLR Solutions released an ethanol test kit, which is available through Lakeside Marine, the importer of Tohatsu outboards in Oz. I've been using the kit since 2010 and found it to be easy to use and accurate.

The kit comprises a plastic bottle with a screw-on cap and squirt nozzle, and an opening large enough to insert an unleaded fuel pump nozzle. Next is a glass tube with rubber stopper and graduations on the glass from zero to 30 per cent ethanol content. Finally there's a blue solution that, when added, makes seeing the ethanol percentage that much easier.

Seven steps are required to test for ethanol. The first is to add water to the given level line, or about one teaspoon to the glass tube. Petrol squirted from the plastic bottle is then added to the “gas” line near the top of the glass tube. One drop of the “Quik-Check” indicator solution is added and the rubber stopper fitted. The glass tube is then shaken vigorously for 30 seconds then held upright for a minimum three minutes, although for higher ethanol content 10 minutes may be needed to get an accurate result. The Quik-Check indicator doesn't need to be used but it sure makes checking the ethanol percentage easier.

The Fuel-Testers kit is available through Lakeside Marine for $42.95 plus GST, and in my opinion is well worth the outlay for the ease of checking ethanol levels. Visit www.tohatsu.com.au or call Lakeside Marine on (02) 4392 6110.

To avoid suspicion when buying fuel you suspect to have ethanol in it, I suggest taking a two-litre brush cutter fuel tank to the servo and filling it. If the fuel has ethanol when it's marked ethanol-free the remaining fuel can always be used on weeds. No more toxic to humans and animals than using the best known weed-killer on the market, though due to its flammability I don't recommend using E10 around barbecues!

THE WRAP

To avoid having to use the Fuel-Tester's kit on every batch of fuel I buy I fill up at servos owned by major oil companies. I never buy on price alone because repairing an engine is way more expensive than saving a few cents per litre. I also avoid filling up at servos when fuel tankers are topping up the underground tanks as this can disturb sediment and water in the bottom of the tanks.

The other issue with fuel nowadays is Toluene, which is used in dry cleaning clothes and lowers engine performance while damaging fuel lines and gaskets in contact with the fuel. Currently, there are no test kits for this chemical in petrol but a tell tale sign is a blue tinge to the fuel. Both standard and premium unleaded should have a slight straw colour, the former more prominent.