E10 fuel. Starting after a layup

[Ruairidh Dunford]

+ 1

[Reckless Rat]

Me too, being Scottish born and Yorkshire bred I am somewhat "careful" and now object to paying a premium for E5 fuel over the E10 so I go for the cheapest option. The Austin runs fine on it. However, for people that tend to park up their cars for the winter or long periods I would advise either draining down the carb or just letting it run until it runs out. Not because of the ethanol, but because modern unleaded fuels tend to leave deposits that can block jets and things if it all evaporates away.

[Mike Costigan]

Last time I checked, E5 was around 8% more expensive than E10. Since the fuel consumption on my daily is around 10% better on E5 than E10 I bite the bullet and pay the premium 

[Reckless Rat]

I had to go into St Ambroix this morning to get some money out of the hole in the wall. At the Carrefour Supermarket diesel was 2,174€ per litre. That's £ 1.81 in proper beer tokens at todays exchange rate. (I didn't need to buy any because the C15 is full ). I'm off to Italy next week in the MGF. It has a full tank of E10 so I'll be able to see whether the consumption figures are any different compared to E5.

[Hugh Barnes]

Reckers, what (average) price is straight E10 at the moment? Just planning ahead for the Eurotour in a few weeks.

Ta....

[Reckless Rat]

Hello Hugh,

You have to shop around of course. Supermarkets are usually the cheapest. Current average price of 95E10 is around 1,95€ per litre - or roughly £1.63, but it can vary from region to region. Avoid buying fuel on the motorway network unless you have absolutely no option, as it is always at least 10c/litre more expensive.

Keep an eye on the situation as the market is very volatile at the moment.

Use this site as a guide. https://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/

[Hugh Barnes]

Thanks Reckers, that is very helpful. Supermarkets are always my first port of call for fuel in France, but as we are staying in town centres at each stage, they may not be the easiest to get to. And, trust me, there will be no Motorway travel at any point in the journey, though the Cabriolet was bowling along at a steady 50mph this morning. The trip is a holiday, not a race to a destination. A bit too far from you, though, we are heading for the Alsace...

[Parazine]

I run E10 in my Sevens, no problems so far, even after laying them up for up to 3 months over the winter period. However, I got a call out from a friend who couldn't get one of her cars to start last week. Did all the usual things, checked the carburettor and found traces of water in the bottom. I must say that her garage is rather damp at present but her other car started no problem at all, after being stored in the same garage. 

Cleared out the float chamber and found a weak coil (1930's original), which was replaced and the car then roared into life. 

What was the fix? Hard to say, as I changed several things at the same time but it's likely that damp conditions may cause water take up problems with E10, due to the fact that it's hydroscopic (i.e. attracts water from the atmosphere).