Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia Forum

Technical => 932 Series (156, GTV, Spider, 147, GT, and 166) => Topic started by: Kulwinder on January 19, 2015, 09:48:48 AM

Title: Fuel?
Post by: Kulwinder on January 19, 2015, 09:48:48 AM
Hi guys,
Which fuel should I use. Obviously not standard unleaded..
But Alfa Machanic said E10 unleaded of United Petro Station can be used it has 95 octane.
At the movement I buying unleaded 95 from any fuel station. But thinking about this United E10 with 95 octane.?
What are your comments? ::)
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Davidm1600 on January 19, 2015, 12:13:47 PM
I use both 95 and occasionally 98 when I need to (no 95 being available).  I never use 91 in my 156.

Re the ethanol blend (its only 10%) from United, I too have on occasions used this in my car and can't say I have noted any issues re change in performance, good or bad.  Others might have differing views on such things.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: alfamisa on January 19, 2015, 12:47:56 PM
Quote from: Kulwinder on January 19, 2015, 09:48:48 AM
Hi guys,
Which fuel should I use...But thinking about this United E10 with 95 octane.?
What are your comments? ::)

On blended fuel like Ethanol e.g. E10 it's not a matter of opinion it's not to be used on post 1998 Alfa Romeos. From Alfa Romeo Australia official website;

http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/owners (http://www.alfaromeo.com.au/owners)

Quote
Ethanol
All Alfa Romeo vehicles imported since 1998 must run on minimum 95 R.O.N. fuel (premium unleaded petrol), but will operate satisfactorily on E5 (5% ethanol blended petrol as long as it is to European Standard EN228). Note: E5 to this standard may not be available in Australia. Ethanol blends higher than 5% (eg E10) are not recommended except in emergency situations as there may be material compatibility and drivability issues.
End Quote
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Kulwinder on January 19, 2015, 01:24:51 PM
So it's mean this Machanic is trying to fix up my motor and create his new job for future?
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: colcol on January 19, 2015, 09:39:07 PM
Stay away from ethanol, it is very corrosive, Holden make a special model Commodore to run on E10 and all the fuel parts are treated so that the ethanol doesn't corrode the fuel system.
Run 95 RON in your JTS, i always use 98 RON, because i have been brainwashed into thinking its better.
Ethanol is even worse in carby cars, as the corrosive ethanol attacks everything.
Have used E10 ethanol in 156 and 33, due to me not paying proper attention to the bowser or about to run out of petrol.
In the olden days, the racing taxi's at Bathurst would go through the race with 4 fuel stops????, now they do 7???, due to having to run the less effecient Ethanol E10, Colin.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Garibaldi on January 19, 2015, 09:44:53 PM
Good advice Col. Ethanol really scares me. :o I cannot believe you would not want to use the best fuel possible in your bella macchina. Which reminds me we haven't heard recently from the guy that was going to convert his twin spark engine to gas.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: colcol on January 19, 2015, 10:07:05 PM
Ha Ha Ha, with the price of LPG fuel about half the price of unleaded petrol, why would you bother.
Its not like this time last year when petrol was about 3 times the price of LPG, it made a little bit of sense to convert your 147 to gas, but now???.
The 147 has a modest size boot, how would it go with a gas cylinder in the boot.
I remember watching a bloke across the road trying to put in a smallish card table into the boot of his AU Falcon, and it wouldn't fit due to the gas cylinder in the boot, and every 12 months it needs a tune up, tune up???, in a modern car, keep your gas for BBQ's or Taxi's, give your Alfa the best, Colin.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Davidm1600 on January 20, 2015, 09:14:42 AM
Thanks guys re the advice on ethanol inclusion in fuel.  As I noted I have on the odd occasion resorted to putting some of this fuel in the tank but it is rarely done and never a full tank, just the odd top up, on account of no other fuel being available. 

Will in future therefore do my best to stay away from the stuff and stick to normal 95.  I am happy with this in my bella.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: jazig.k on January 20, 2015, 01:13:01 PM
Pretty certain V8 Supercars use E85, not E10.

Ethanol breaks down rubber. Rubber fuel hoses, rubber seals in injectors, rubber everything... You could convert all the lines and injectors to suitable eth' stable rubber or whatever it was. Cost a friend about $400 to convert a Toyota Soarer to run E85 [big HP car]. 

The benefits for E85 are great for boosted applications, but pretty much worthless for NA.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: alfamisa on January 20, 2015, 01:34:12 PM
Quote from: jazig.k on January 20, 2015, 01:13:01 PM
Pretty certain V8 Supercars use E85, not E10.


Correct jazig.k I noticed that too.

Another correction is the Commodore is in fact made to use up to E85 (from VE Series II model) as exported to Brazil (second largest producer of Ethanol) where E85 is the norm. And here Caltex was making E85 available since mid 2010.

As I said originally, Alfa Romeo says don't use ethanol fuel above E5 (which isn't available in Australia) so don't use E "whatever" in Alfas, it isn't a matter of opinion.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Kulwinder on January 20, 2015, 04:50:56 PM
😮what Alfa on LPG?


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Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Kulwinder on January 20, 2015, 06:58:24 PM
My Alfa 156 JTS with 2.0L engine is very economical and plenty of power. Goes around 700km local. Daily driving. Why thinking to convert on gas.


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Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: colcol on January 20, 2015, 09:16:33 PM
Hey Kulwinder, there was a bloke in South Australia, [i think], that was converting his Twin Spark 147 to run on gas, i haven't seen any posts lately.
Even though the twin spark may use a bit more fuel than a JTS, still no reason to convert it to gas.
Supercars use E85, not E10, [like i said], it was done a few years ago, to create the impression they were going green and one of the sponsors was in the Ethanol business, now they use United fuel.
Since the the change from Shell unleaded to E85 fuel, the engines have been very reliable, they just use more fuel than they used to.
I would still use the best fuel i could afford to put in, Colin.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Garibaldi on January 20, 2015, 09:24:34 PM
Hey Col, I used to hear it all the time, people wanting to convert Corollas and Camrys to gas. The funniest thing I ever saw was some Hyundai Excels I valued for a medical courier company that were on gas. What were they thinking? :o
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: colcol on January 21, 2015, 09:36:44 PM
They had most likely covered a million kilometres and the LPG conversion had just paid for itself, so they would be offloading them before the LPG gas system needed another 'tuneup', Colin.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Garibaldi on January 21, 2015, 09:47:51 PM
Actually they had only covered around 300,000 klms each but with that big bomb in the boot there was not much room for their gear. ??? These cars certainly were not renowned for their performance when new running on petrol so you can imagine how they went at 300,000 klms on gas. 
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Beatle on January 27, 2015, 09:46:36 PM
But they all made it to 300,000kms didn't they?  I'm sure the company did the sums beforehand and calculated a saving over the life of the vehicles.

I've had a few LPG vehicles.  Nothing at all wrong with using the 'alternative' fuel, particularly while the Gov't was paying a rebate on the installation.   

Vapour LPG is also a cinch to 'tune' yourself.

When was the last time a vehicle LPG tank exploded?  The 'ticking time bomb' is a myth.  my 80 series Landcruiser was stolen and torched.  The cylinder head melted from the heat but the LPG tank still had paint on it and didn't explode.   The petrol tank however was split.......
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Ray Pignataro on January 28, 2015, 10:26:20 PM
These cars certainly were not renowned for their performance when new running on petrol
geez i reckon Kevin Nesci would disagree withthat, did a lot of laps in the six hour a few years back
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: colcol on January 29, 2015, 09:40:45 PM
Back in the stone age when i was sprinting the 33 at MSCA events, they allowed cars to be powered by LPG, but not duel fuel, as one loudbang is more than enough, let alone two.
We could argue till the cows come home about the merits of LPG, i just can't see why you would put it in an Alfa Romeo.
But in Italy, they used to fit 33's with LPG, the Italians have got the LPG by the throat, their superior brass manufacturing and pump know how, the good high pressure cleaners have Italian pumps and valves in them, Colin.
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: zippytheclown on January 30, 2015, 09:20:20 AM
we've just gone through the process of modding our wrx with twin scroll, bigger rails and injectors, haltech etc, mechanic told us that the with the haltech we could run a tune for e85, but would need to replace the already high cap aftermarket fuel pump with an even higher capacity fuel pump or it would be a waste of time. Evidently to use e85 and get the benefits for performance you need to run it at firemen's hose pressures and volume
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Beatle on March 06, 2015, 10:26:00 PM
Ok, to hijack this thread and get back on topic........

98 is going to be difficult to source in my area.  So I'll need to run 95 in my V6 GT.

Any problem with that?
Do I need to reset computer or just fill with 95 and drive?
Title: Re: Fuel?
Post by: Stuart Thomson on March 06, 2015, 11:16:27 PM
Just to drag this one back off topic...

http://www.alfaromeo.nl/nl/modellen/mito/motorisatie

Don't ask why I'm looking t the Alfa Romeo site in the Netherlands, but look at this too!!

http://www.alfaromeo.nl/nl/promoties/mito-junior

Cheers
Stu