Jaguar owners in the USA should support these stations:
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

I use normally this fuel in my country : http://www.neste.fi/doc/130178_en.pdf
The average RON is 98.8. Unfortunately nowdays 5% ethanol, but still way better than 95E10 ( eth 10% ). I would never pump that shxx to my Jag.

 

I thought this was about fuel additive like in a can or bottle? Well, I use BG44K once possibly twice a year and both our cars are daily drivers. As for the BG product Jaguar in the US recommends it to be used and it will not harm a Nikasil block.

 

BG44K is the mightiest injector cleaner in the known Universe. Note that its sister product, BG244K, is available for diesel systems. It, or a reputable fuel-system cleaner like Dipetane is the only fuel additive I would consider using with any engine.

 

I see we've drifted to I-hate-ethanol topic. As much as it's a mystery to me why people feel the need to play with additives either for the oil or fuel, it's also a mystery why ethanol is so feared and reviled.

To be perfectly clear- I agree totally with jimgoose that it's a very misguided attempt to conserve oil reserves that just reeks of political meddling, but I make no attempt to seek out 'pure gas' stations either. The stories that E10 will somehow hurt a modern car or it's engine are just plain false (I've been using E10 for 20+ years, as has much of North America whether they know it or not) and the 3-4% increase in fuel consumption is most often too small to notice.

The gas stations that do sell 'pure gas' often charge more for it or are on the wrong side of town- which wipes out any potential savings.

Graham mentioned above that 98 RON fuel is up to 10% ethanol in France, which sort of infers that the lower octane fuel are not blended. Please correct me if I've misunderstood yet again. This observation matches what is seen here. Ethanol for all it's other short comings, is a cheap, simple and easy way of increasing the octane rating of fuel so the refiners choose this rather than other more expensive compounds to get the job done. The point could be raised that if ethanol were not readily available, the price of high octane gas might be even higher than it already is........(flame suit on)

 

Well, I don't hate Ethanol - but I think it would be useful to point out that while Ethanol produces substantially less CO2 than petrol, it also throws a lot of carcinogenic acetaldehyde, especially at cold-start. This doesn't show up on emissions tests because they don't look for it. So that's alright then!

 

Same thing happened some years ago here in Finland, with both 98 and 95 RON.

Since the beginning of 2011 95 RON has had max 10% ethanol in Finland, due to new EU legislation which requires a certain amount of renewable fuel sold every year, and aims to reduce co2 emissions. This is probably why most EU countries now have E10 available. Sweden took another route though. Instead of adding more ethanol to regular gas, they started favouring E85 and flexfuel cars through taxation.

A few months back the EU bureaucrats finally realised that producing ethanol from corn actually creates way more co2 emissions than the gasoline it was replacing. So now they are thinking of limiting the usage of corn based ethanol in fuel...

 

I see from Google that the Finns aren't just rolling over and accepting EU lunacy on perceived benefits of ethanol.

Graham

 

When 95 was changed from E5 to E10 ( 1/2011 ) , a lot of people got engine problems in Finland and after that big part of old 95 users changed to 98E5. It's possible that EU will limit ethanol down to 5%.

 

I wonder why cars in Finland have problems at 10% ethanol when the same vehicles run just fine here (?) Would you have some specifics please?

 

We have high average age of cars - because of taxes. Two years ago it was said that about 30% of the cars are not ready for E10. Before the ethanol % change, 92% of the fuel was 95 and just 8% was 98. In two months those numbers were changed dramaticly: 95E10 down to 60-65% and 98E5 up to 35-40%.

 

I nearly always use high grade branded gasoline with pre-mixed additives. However, I still occasionally use Lucas or Techron to clean make sure my engine is in top condition. I notice the biggest difference when I put in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and drive on a highway for an entire tank. I know just driving at high RPM continuously will help by itself, but I feel there is a synergy with high RPM and fuel injector cleaner. My friends and I have also used some Seafoam sucked through the engine power steering vacuum line with pretty good results. I would recommend giving that a try as well.

 

Well,.....I had the good intention. My original post was trying to pic other Jag divers's brains, and experience with fuel additives that one can purchase in the can or bottle, and add to the fuel tank. Mainly I was intrested in people's opinion about the effect these additives have on the Nicasil engine, because I have NO experience with Nicasil. The thread turned sideways at the Ethanol junction.

I would REALLY like to hear some experience with Nicasil failures or not, based on the fuel additives like STP, Lucas, and such.

Thank you.

 

If you look at post #22 I did try to address this. If you want additional information on Nikasil go to my page or use the links below.

Link Nikasil Engine Block JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

Link Nikasil & Sulfur JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

As for the additive unless it has sulfur in it use it.

 

If you're worried about Nikasil bore liners, stay away from cheap petrol. It's the sulphur in some of the cheap, crappy stuff that attacks the Nikasil at temperature and causes it to break down, and I don't think any aftermarket additives genuinely help with that. Use high-tier low-sulphur fuel.

 

True that, except that pertol/gas with any significant sulphur has been driven off the market, at least here in the colonies.

 

wow ive never seen so many people talk about Petrol before, but your saying BG44K is the fuel additive to use?

 

That's the favourite of many- but like every other product it will not fix what is not broken. The vast majority of owners (all cars types, not just Jags) use no additives and apparently suffer no problems. The 'keeps bad things from happening' line of thinking does not mean that a product works or is required.

What was required in cars 50 years ago to keep them running well has little to do with today's engineering marvels and 'clean' fuels. If we still had to contend with the multiple problems caused by leaded fuels, I'd have a different opinion.

Once again, just my

 

That's not what I'm saying at all! What I am saying is, if and when you need to use an injector cleaner, BG44K (or BG244K for diesels) is very good stuff.

 

right, you guys can get back to talking about Petrol

 

Finally ... some hard facts from outside the narrow realm of Jaguar!

Some readers of JF have noted an increasing pattern of fuel pump failures after extended storage. Suggestions that this increase is at least in part attributable to the presence of Ethanol in the fuel tank have been shouted down by the pseudo scientists and nay sayers.

But, it is well known elsewhere:

ethanol phase separation - Google Search

ethanol varnish gum phase separation - Google Search

Ethanol issues:Phase separation in gasoline containing ethanol | Saturday MechanicSaturday Mechanic


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