The MGF Register Forums

adrianclifford wrote: after filling up in my regular Aral station in Luxembourg (regular when I'm there that is as it's just before the Belgian border on the main road to Bastogne and Dunkerque and the tax is much lower).

Whatever fuel you use on the continent avoid E10 fuels, the MGF doesn't like it.

No it's not. It might be the case on the French motorway network but none of the supermarket outlets near me sell E10, just plain 95 sans plomb. If the fuel contains ethanol it will be clearly marked as SP95-E10 - non ethanol fuel will just be marked SP95 or SP98 - as in this pic:

or

Caveat emptor

What is the situation regarding ethanol-based fuel in Europe currently chaps? Is standard lead-free still available?

Rob,
In Romania and Hungaria: yes! In case you are on your way to Eastern Europe.... If yes, dont forget the 500 kgs of MGF spares to take with you. .. Check the Forum. The non-starter MGF in Romania is up and running again...

Frank in Sweden wrote:Rob,
In Romania and Hungaria: yes! In case you are on your way to Eastern Europe.... If yes, dont forget the 500 kgs of MGF spares to take with you. .. Check the Forum. The non-starter MGF in Romania is up and running again...

great news Frank

Thanks Frank... I'll have to see what fits in the boot!

Rob Bell wrote:What is the situation regarding ethanol-based fuel in Europe currently chaps? Is standard lead-free still available?

All Quiet on the Western Front in Germany, Rob. At least in our part of the country (and the adjoining areas of Belgium and Netherlands) 95 RON is available in E5 at all stations, together with 98 RON E5. There used to be a threat to phase out 95 E5 by the end of 2012 but that never happened, probably because the E10 juice has a very poor market reception and they make a 5 cent surplus of it on every E5 litre sold.

E5 - 5% ethanol Mykel?

Exactly, Rob, that’s what they’ve been selling us for quite some time. Adding up to 5% ethanol is within the norm for all sorts of petrol. On most German stations, at least with the big brands, you will find 6 different pumps at the moment:

- 95 RON with 10% ethanol, called “Super E10”
- 95 RON with 5% ethanol, called “Super E5” or often simply “Super”
- 98 RON with 5% ethanol, called “Super Plus”
- 102 RON with no ethanol, going by names like “Ultimate” or “V-Power”, usually through fake F1 nozzles
- standard Diesel with up to 7% biofuel
- performance Diesel with no biofuel, often coming with the F1 nozzles, too

... oh, and then there’s two kinds of gas, LPG and CNG.

Using high RON fuel won't make a difference to MGF engines - it resists detonation (as said in the first post), that's all it does. If you have a high compression, turbo charged engine, you need to use a higher octane fuel to avoid the fuel combusting before the 'peak' of compression (when piston is at TDC), which would damage the engine as the fuel and air misture is detonating before the piston has reached the point where it starts to go back down.

I can confirm that higher RON fuel makes no difference with a standard K series engine.

A few weeks ago when petrol was around €1.30 here, I put 20 litres of "Aral Ultimate 102" in my MGF. That's just about the highest grade you can buy here, similar to "Shell V-Power Racing", I guess. It really made no difference, I didn't notice any changes whatsoever.

For the most part, all that high-octane fuel is just clever marketing. Naturally aspirated engines will almost invariably not benefit from it (which isn't counting all the big V6 and V8 engines which commonly do require RON 98 and higher in the first place).

That said, I always get 102-octane petrol for my Audi, although on the inside of the fuel intake lid it says 95 (I think ). It's got a 1.8-litre turbo engine, and it does make the engine run smoother. It's not just my imagination, it really does. Still no increase in power output though. And if there is, it's not noticeable.

So, the overall verdict on super unleaded in UK is?

Yay or nay

[Or the observation: there isn't one......?]

Probably nay performance wise but maybe the higher grade cleans better ?

I'm still interested as my car is re-mapped to run on higher octane, it runs fine on 95 but the exhaust appears to crack and pop more with Momentum 99 or Shell Nitro and it does use less than a standard TF135 as we have proved over many thousands on miles of parallel touring, 4.5 litres per tank actually .

adrianclifford wrote:Probably nay performance wise but maybe the higher grade cleans better ?

Sounds like it is worth trying and seeing what the results are...?

Camarillo Brillo wrote:So, the overall verdict on super unleaded in UK is?

Yay or nay

[Or the observation: there isn't one......?]

In my experience - NAY - http://www.fuelly.com/car/mg/f/1999/talkingcars/131476 - I use regular in the UK where I do shorter journeys but on a like for like trip I see no improvement in power or in consumption.

Why not, it won't do it any harm, cost wise it's not much more so run your tank down and fill with Momentum 99 and see how it feels. I guess you're not re-mapped.

I'm not, MEMS 2.0 can't be remapped

And you can't claim Necter points on Momentum 99, and they pay a large portion of our accommodation on our euro road trips.

adrianclifford wrote:Why not, it won't do it any harm, cost wise it's not much more so run your tank down and fill with Momentum 99 and see how it feels. I guess you're not re-mapped.

Thanks Adrian - yes, I will give it a go.

What is re-mapping...?

Remapping = reprogramming of the ecu which controls the engine parameters. See http://www.kmaps.co.uk/ Although it might not be possible on your as the earlier ecu's are not remappable.

nigelandjo wrote:Remapping = reprogramming of the ecu which controls the engine parameters. See http://www.kmaps.co.uk/ Although it might not be possible on your as the earlier ecu's are not remappable.

As Nigel says, that's exactly one of the benefits but you need MEMS3 electrics.