The Truth about L Series Fuel Tank Capacity (RX Sedan) and E10 fuel .

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:46 pm

So if i could buy 1L of metho (which is 96% ethanol, 3% methanol and 1% taste deterrent) for less than $1.60. It would be worth my while to add 5L of it to my tank to give me close to E10, with the added bonus of being higher octane

Thoughts???

Jimmy G · Post by **Jimmy G** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:16 pm

Metho is not the same composition in all places - it normally is 95% ethanol but the remaining 5% is water & denaturant (which may be methanol or some other solvent such as MIBK or a bittering agent).
Perhaps check with supplier exactly how they are blending
You cant distill to higher than 95% ethanol - if water is a problem you can remove it easily - mail me if you want details, you can do in your kitchen.....jim

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:17 pm

So i cant just pour a 5lt bottle of metho in the fuel hole next time i fill up?

Jimmy G · Post by **Jimmy G** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:24 am

"So i cant just pour a 5lt bottle of metho in the fuel hole next time i fill up?"

I dont know!! I tried to find additional information but cant make informed comment. Adding 5l metho in a 50l fill "may" add 250ml water into your tank (as metho may contain 5% water - depending on the metho blend you buy - I looked at MSDS for different metho retail blends & they vary a lot in blending range). Perhaps , if you already have water in your fuel system it may case a problem (e.g. separation) but I cant find enough information on line to make definite comment.

It would be interesting to see maximum water levels in E10 and in normal fuel , but so far cannot locate this information

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:29 am

if my recent fuel ping can be blamed om metho....

my 92 Brumby sat for 18 months not used with fuel at empty mark, last 12 months no engine, last six months poured in unknown fuel uality left over from the GLTA, then with new engine and say 20 l fuel in there poured 500ml of metho to help mix any moisture present with the fuel to burn , got pinging and stalling on decel, new fresh fuel full fill fixed all those problems

Thalass · Post by **Thalass** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:46 am

Not really related, but yesturday I got my Outback as low on fuel as I ever have before. I was going to work, and it took a few goes to start the car! I nursed it to the petrol station down the road, stuttering and nearly stalling all the way! It must have been sucking at vapours!

So once I got there (bloody woolies caltex - but there's nothing else here) I managed to squeeze 60.68L into a supposedly 64L tank. I got 610.1km out of that, which puts me just below 10L/100km (9.98 or something, iirc - I haven't got my spreadsheet on me).

That's the best I've ever gotten, but it was a bit hairy for the two minutes it took to get to the petrol station.

Jimmy G · Post by **Jimmy G** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:24 pm

perhaps......

It seems that the traditional methylated spirits formula (containing methanol ) is being phased out or has been phased out (because methanol is highly toxic) and replaced with an ethanol /water/Bitrex (chemical which gives appalling taste) blend.

So the problems may be due to the water level (up to 5%) or just than the metho did not suit your cars tune.

I will try to find out more information in next days on E10 & methylated spirits & post it here

If anyone wants to , it is not hard to remove all water from methylated spirits

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:04 pm

Jimmy G wrote:If anyone wants to , it is not hard to remove all water from methylated spirits

I'd be interested in this - i've got a carbie in the L that i'm not really a fan of and would be willing to experiment with it...

Cheers

Bennie

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:24 pm

FYI that receipt I posted up a few days ago....RX came up empty again yesterday (well, as empty as I dared to let her go)....she'd covered 632kms.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:34 pm

Good effort , I'm about 150k's into the E15 I blended (E10 + some E85) and it's looking good so far .

Cheers A .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:07 pm

Update , I got about 580 odd Km into the "E15.5" and was always going to make 600+ - but stupid remembered to take the back up 5L fuel container along and realised too last that its filler tube was back at home ...
I didn't fancy trying to slop fuel into it by the side of the road so I tossed in a small amount of 91oct E10 .

Man that stuff is GARBAGE , from both Caltex and I think Mobil their E10 burns like cheap mouthwash .
I didn't innitially notice it - put the poor performance down to its 283K engine + a gearbox/two cat dump pipes/big tool box in the boot . I ripped all the junk out this afternoon - still running the cats urine - did a few errands and dumped ~ 5.5L of E85 in because I was going to be near my local 95E10 haunt . I drove it about 3-4 k's and well , suddenly felt like it had anouther 10pounds compression in the cylinders !
I stuck 40L of 95E10 in which is 90% as good as the real gear (E85) but at least i proved a point .

NOT all servo "E10" is created equal , Uniteds 95E10 is noticably better and is selling at their servo on the Princs Hwy approaching Rockdale (City bound)for 1.56 cents a liter .

Good and reasonably cheep , won me , cheers A .