Hi Jonathan,
I would be very surprised if a garage forecourt was selling 'stale' fuel and if
I suspected the forecourt supply I would have gone back and bought 5 litres
in a clean container and had it tested. I do not know what, if any, periodic
sample
tests are done by forecourt operators, but I understand that they are supposed
to supply fuel to a certain standard.
Perhaps the Eurofox already had a good deal of stale fuel in its tanks before
the
new fuel was added, I wonder what the ratio of new to existing was. After the
lockdown I pumped out all my fuel into clear containers and it looked a little
yellow compared to fresh fuel. I have been adding it to fresh fuel in small
quantities to use it up without problems so far. This is another good reason
to sample the fuel when purchased for ethanol - you can check the colour.
That all fuel in the north comes from Grangemouth may not be an indication of
the
ethanol content of forecourt fuel. The reason for this statement is based on
a conversation I once had with a tanker driver who was making deliveries to
different forecourt suppliers (all supplied out of Avonmouth). I was told that
the basic refined petroleum used was the same, but different additives are added
to the tanker before despatch depending on what brand is being sold (Esso,
BP, Sainsburys etc). Now it maybe that Grangemouth stocks a basic petroleum that
contains 5% ethanol in which case you are stumped (that may explain why Esso
Premium uptnorth contains ethanol), but it may be worth sampling different
'Premium' brands to make sure, one good point is that all the premium brands
are remaining E5 for the time being.
Either way, I will continue to leave my fuel pump 'on' all the time to reduce
the
risk of vapour lock, use the 'main' tank feed all the time (so I know the
reserve
filter should be free if needed) check the filters every couple of months
and purchase ethanol free high octane fuel when ever possible and check each
batch before use.
It's good to see that John Kirkgaard in Denmark hasn't had too many problems
using
E10.
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