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MG MG Y Type - E5 ???

Hi All,
This week bought my first 7 Pounds plus !!a litre E5 and it took visits to four garages to find E5. Is this an omen into how much and how hard E5 will be to find in the near future ? i remember "Leaded will be around a while yet dont worry"but it was gone quite quickly will e5 be the same? and where does this leave us all?. both my cars a YB and a Sierra wont run on E10.
John YB0362
JC Jebb

Must be the Essex panic buying and shortages plenty of E5 around - do you mean £7 a gallon, not litre (even then it says a bit high)
?
You can even have ethanol free if you want.

How are you for toilet rolls and pasta?

Petrol, octane, additives and ethanol (as at 13/9/21)

Generally it's the higher octane options that have the (higher) additive cleaning packages.

In order of octane rating, with three ethanol free fuels at top of list:


Esso Synergy Supreme+ 99
o 99 octane
o double the detergent additive to Esso regular (and friction reduce)
o Esso super unleaded petrol (Synergy Supreme+ 99) although labelled E5 is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland).


Jet Ultra
o 97 octane
o contains more than double the detergent and more anti-corrosion than Jet Regular
o ethanol-free only in the northern parts of Scotland and Isles of Scotland.


Texaco Supreme
o 97 octane
o “contain a performance additive package”
o UP TO 5% ethanol "to much of the country" – so not all


Tesco Momentum 99
o 99 octane
o “special blend of additives”
o UP TO 5% ethanol


Shell V-Power
o 99 octane
o 3x more cleaning molecules than Shell Regular
o UP TO 5% ethanol


BP Ultimate
o 97 octane
o cleaning additives package
o UP TO 5% ethanol
Nigel Atkins

I dont know what E5 is but I always use the cheapest lowest octane fuel (91 in NZ) on all my classic plus my modern cars. They all run fine and I have never tuned or adjusted any of them and never put an additive in at fill up.
Pre covid we toured the USA for 3 months each year in new rental cars and I done the same there. You can usually buy 87 Octane and sometimes even 85 Octane. New Mustangs, Camaros, Toyotas whatever I am driving. We have done every state and half of Canada well over 100,000 miles (160,000ks) and they all run perfect on every tank. I never put a drop of expensive fuel in.
From my experience is its all sales crap, I look for the cheapest pump every time I pull in.
K Weeds

Kevin,
E5 (in UK at least) is petrol with UP TO (up to emphasised for those that don't know or doomsayers) ethanol in it.

We now also have also E10 which is the 'standard' petrol at pumps now - that is UP TO 10% ethanol in the petrol.

The higher octane fuels in the UK are certainly overpriced for the difference but they do also contain higher additive packages which long term will help the engine and fuel system and depending on the car the higher octane can be used to performance (power, mpg) advantage.

Different cars are set for different fuel requirements with some accepting a wider range to cover different areas of the world (sales markets), the more modern cars of course have computers to work things out and sometimes adjust as required. Even in the USA some cars will go better on the higher fuels, they still run on the cheaper stuff but go better on the not as cheap USA fuels. I don't know but modern rental muscle cars could be dialled in to reduce the engine output to save the car, most renters wouldn't know the difference unless they own that model and year in which case they'd probably not rent one.

You may not be aware that there are different rating systems so different numbers on the pumps in difference places such as NZ and USA to UK. Figures below may be out of date but give the idea.

"Regular Gasoline/Petroleum" in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States - 91-92 RON, 82-83 MON, 87 AKI

"Mid-Grade Gasoline" in the United States and Canada - 94-95 RON, 84-85 MON, 89-90 AKI

"Premium Gasoline" in the United States - 96-98 RON, 86-88 MON, 91-93 AKI

"Premium" or "Super unleaded" gasoline in US and Canada (10% ethanol blend) - 97 RON, 87-88 MON, 92-93 AKI

"Super/Premium" in New Zealand and Australia - 95 RON, 85 MON, 90 AKI

"98" in NZ - 98 RON, 89-90 MON, 93-94 AKI


Now for blighty -
Regular Petrol (labelled E10) - 95 RON

other "premium / super" petrol (labelled E5) - 97-99 RON
Tesco Momentum99 - 99 RON, 87 MON, 93 AKI


I used to run my 1973 Midget on mainly Tesco Momentum99 even though I had it set up for 95 octane (RON) and thought I noticed a very little more low down torque but I might have been fooling myself, the main reason for the use was the petrol's additives package and that did seem to work as when I checked the carbs at 50k-miles (80,000 km) from new the float bowls in particular were still very clean.

My Midget's Driver's Handbook says to use 97-99 octane [RON] "when optimum performance is required" and when isn't it(?), and "fuels with an rating below 94 [RON] are not suitable".

Below is an illustration from the days of "four star" (leaded) petrol, until the late 1970s we used to have "five star" (leaded) petrol (100-101(?) RON) which some MGB owners preferred for smooth running and performance.

As always with numbers you have to check, Kevin, I'm prepared to give you up to NZ$ 100 if you totally agree with what I've put here. 😉


Nigel Atkins

Wow very informative Nigel.

I would love to take the $100 lol but just use it to fill your MG, if thats enough to do it at todays prices.
Great stuff
K Weeds

Kevin,
the info was just previously collected info from some on here and updated 13/9/21 to allow for the 'official' introduction of E10 over here.

I'm a man of my word and promised you "up to" $100 and that's what I'll send you, zero is in that amount of "up to", see Esso super unleaded petrol below (above depending on your settings).

As this may be a disappointment to you I will increase my offer and send you up to $10,000, it's all the same to me, and you. 😀
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 16/10/2021 and 19/10/2021

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