Australian E85 conversion

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Sorry to answer with a question, but "why?"
I run on 91 RON with no problems, despite the suggestion that 95 RON is required.
E85 has the potential of increased power but somewhat worse economy. I'm not sure that the engine could exploit the E85.
I guess that you could run one tank of E85 without conversion to see what happens. From what I read a few seconds ago a modern car is unlikely to be damaged by one tank. (Others say 10% ethanol is the limit!)

 

Do your track your fuel use now? The price offset apparently matches the drop in distance per tank; about 26% but you should measure that and not take it for granted. See if you can arrange a before and after emissions test.

 

In our v I've noticed no difference between 95 ron and E10 so I obviously go for the one that's $0.12/L cheaper!

 

I have been running my taxi on 91 RON for the last two years, and have just had to have the injectors cleaned as they were starting to misbehave - engine running roughly on start, and big increase in fuel economy - 4.8 l/100km to 5.5 l/100km. Have now switched to 95 RON - to date, no difference in the fuel economy, that is, back to the 4.8 l/100km.

Not willing to run E10.

 

Isn't E10 'cleaner' in that it dissolves crud on injectors and similar?

How's your EGR valve Aussie? Mine had to be replaced at 79k miles, probably due to the taxi use.

 

In general 98 RON is the cleaner of the petrol family, but that is because of specific formulations rather than octane level. My reference is petrol company marketing material on the side of their pumps. I didn't think that ethanol of itself was a cleaner. I've seen biodiesel de-gunge so effectively that one tank filled 3 fuel filters, but I haven't heard anything similar with "biopetrol".
Australia doesn't have winter petrol formulations except for E85, which becomes E70 or similar. In Canberra and alpine regions, winter diesel is sold so presumably winter E85 would be required too.

 

Apart from cleaning the injectors, I have not replaced any component in the car other than expendables as per the standard services (generally just the filters, as well as the oil). Now at 150,000 kms.

 

I'm at 190,000kms and have used 98 from the start. No problems with injectors except for a problem at 6000 kms which was fixed under warranty. I posted some photos of surprisingly clean inlet manifold at about 180,000 kms when I cleaned the EGR ports. I have no belief that E anything is cleaner than normal fuel, especially if you take into account environmental damage during the agricultural and manufacturing process.

 

I've never used 98 as I always thought it was not needed have have used 95 since new. I understand our American friends use 92 RON as standard (when converted to our ratings) with no ill effects.

But I'm sure 98 has more detergents and cleaning additives in it and since filling up with it last time, my car has run much smoother. Maybe it's worth paying the extra? Esp now my car is getting on a bit.

 

I'm sure it varies from country to country but I first noticed 98's benefits with my old 1990 Camry after 160, Kms with Iridium spark plugs the plugs were still clean when I changed them. The Australian manual says premium is preferred but that may be specific to Toyota's knowledge of our fuels.

 

So what are your fuels? Anything like ours?

92 unleaded (not sold in UK)
95 Premium unleaded
98-102 Super unleaded

 

E85, 91, 95, 98 Premium all unleaded. Different distributors have different names for Premium, e.g. Caltex Vortex, Shell V-power. I don't know what if any formulation differences there are between us and UK. These all apply in Victoria. I believe some States have moved down the ridiculous path of mandating 10% ethanol in 91.

Along with losing our entire car industry by 2017, I believe Shell is also looking at selling all it's Australian assets.

 

The price to pay for your successful currency I believe

I know personally that it is also affecting your tourist industry. Australia was always a 'holiday of a lifetime' destination over here, unless you had family there of course, but it is now so expensive that it's ridiculous. Your tourist board do keep advertising, but I fear they'll have a job on.

 

The dollar doesn't help but ideologically shackled politicians don't either. German labour costs are much higher than ours but they succeed by staying ahead of the pack and the German govt provides considerable help. Tourism is only one string in any country's economic bow.

 

Those articles are very interesting. It seems that they've added a charger to the existing HV battery rather than add a larger battery. I'd rate an engine block heater above topping up a small battery, but it all adds up.
Halving emissions is quite a feat. It would be nice if Australian registration rewarded low emissions over the life of the car, then the kit could pay for itself.

 

Bio fuels is another one of those faux green cons. If we were just using waste agricultural products or domestic waste cooking oils to make it then fine, but the reality is that to produce sufficient biological mass to produce meaningful quantities of bio-fuel we are destroying prime food cropping land and pristine wildernesses. Australian sugar production is just adding to the stresses that are killing the great barrier reef.