Ethanol blended fuel
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52373
Printed Date: 08 Jun 2026 at 6:05am
Topic: Ethanol blended fuel
Posted By: RC1
Subject: Ethanol blended fuel
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2010 at 10:10pm
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ETHANOL BLENDED FUEL, WATCH OUT FOR IT Gull have the fuel marketed as E10 or G Force 10 and is coloured blue at the pumps, Gull are fantastic and say it is not recommended for use in marine engines at this time. Good work Gull.A friend of mine has always used fuel at BP, boat was stored for 4 weeks then experienced running problems on his next trip, engine hard to start, smoking and rough running, it took me a while to diagnose the problem, the fuel tank and filter had ethanol in the fuel system.
Once run on fresh fuel the motor went fine and problems disappeared
Have any other of you boat owners had a bad experience with ethanol blended fuels?
Its interesting to know that I found out from a reliable source that other fuel companies are starting to use ethanol ( up to 10% ) in their fuels and not telling the public.
This is going to cause all sorts of problems in marine outboard/inboard engines.
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Replies:
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2010 at 10:34am
| If you read the US forums you will find what a nightmare ethanol blended fuel is for boats. Water attracted into stored fuel is only part of the issue. Biggest issues seem to be with older engines where the rubber fuel lines etc start to breakdown in the ethanol. There are also problems with the ethanol 'washing' the fuel tanks and liberating years of accumulated crud into the fuel system. If you have a fibreglass tank (more likely in a US import than a local built boat), you do not wnat ethanol blends anywhere near it. If you have any thought that you might get ethanol fuel in your boat, carry a couple (not one) of spare fuel filter/seperators and check the fitted one at the beginning of every trip (and maybe after an hour or 2 of running if you know you have ethanol on board for the first time). |
Posted By: rocko
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2010 at 3:56pm
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Well thats just bloody lovely isnt it? not only they screwing us on fuel prices but pulling a shifty to suit the greenies as well..   top stuff.Cheers for the heads up guys |
Posted By: graham 99
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2010 at 12:20am
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thank's for the warning be going to gull until the others get there act together |
Posted By: RC1
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2010 at 7:53pm
| Only use the 91 at Gull, don't use the high octane G Force 10 |
Posted By: tropic
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2010 at 8:26pm
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Mobil are also doing a trial in Wellington of Ethanol blend, just pulled up at Kilbirnie Mobil the other day to fill tote tank and the attendant on the loudspeaker "this is not good for boat"... check it out http://www.mobil.co.nz/mobilcard/ethanol.html |
Posted By: felixx
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2010 at 8:51pm
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hmmmmm barstools! ------------- Originally posted by TG LMAO felixx, you a sick puppy! hehe |
Posted By: Bruce
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2010 at 9:23pm
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Tagit, can you comment on makeup etc on diesel fuels as well? This is a genuine ask and no way will you be held accountable. |
Posted By: MR D
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2010 at 8:16am
Our local gull's 91 is blended ethanol as well
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RC1 wrote:Posted By: Work_Smart_Not_Hard
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2010 at 9:06am
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Its like changing from leaded fuel all over again. Rubbers breaking down etc... |
Posted By: Bazzman58
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2010 at 10:54am
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Ethanol blended fuels - suitability
Petrol blended with ethanol is now available at petrol stations around New Zealand. This availability will increase as oil companies introduce more biofuels to meet the sales targets mandated by Government. Petrol blended with ethanol, of up to 10% can legally be sold in New Zealand as long as the fuel pump is labeled to show that ethanol has been added to the petrol. ------------- We all have one that got away.. |
Posted By: Murph
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2010 at 2:43pm
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http://issuu.com/liquidnirvana/docs/maritime_moonshine_dec_2009_scan/3 - http://issuu.com/liquidnirvana/docs/maritime_moonshine_dec_2009_scan/3 |
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2010 at 3:13pm
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Posted By: CEEBEE
Date Posted: 06 Apr 2010 at 1:25pm
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Intersting info lads....cheers ------------- I STARTED THE DAY WITH NO FISH AND I STILL HAVE PLENTY LEFT |
Posted By: FreshOffTheBoat
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2010 at 8:02pm
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My two local Gull stations have gone to Gull Regular Plus.. Did some hunting.. and it states "Do not use in marine engines" http://www.gull.co.nz/public/documents/6/9/ETHTIPS.pdf - http://www.gull.co.nz/public/documents/6/9/ETHTIPS.pdf Guess ill be filling up the totes elsewhere.. what if all fuel companies go ethanol? is this the start of the end (of 100% mineral gasoline).. or a new beginning (filling up at topcatch)?
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Posted By: tobez
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2010 at 8:23pm
| i use normal 91 from gull no issues in 600hrs |
Posted By: DeKay
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2010 at 9:13pm
| Mobil Kilbirnie attendant also told me not to use their fuel, good to see them alert to the issue. |
Posted By: Fissure
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2010 at 9:48pm
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check this thread out:
http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/mobil-fuelethanol_topic39483_post557543.html?KW=ethanol#557543 - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/mobil-fuelethanol_topic39483_post557543.html?KW=ethanol#557543
mobil in paremata is the same
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Posted By: Haydan
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 8:20am
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I'd like to know where you heard BP was putting ethanol into its fuel, I'll look into it but I highly doubt its right. It might be hard to beleave but BP is in my opinion the better of the big 4 in NZ (well big 3 now I guess although Greenstone is still pretty much Shell). If its not the case it might be a case of a shady service station doing it in which case BP might very much like to know about it.
I wouldn't recomend plain Gull 91 fuel for a boat either unless you are going to be using it in short order, definitly stay away from Gull Regular Plus and Gull Force 10. I am not sure that their plain 91 is any worse or better than the others I just know its composition is slightly different to the others and that difference will certainly effect its storability. Have always wanted to get some of it tested that has been sitting in a boats toat tank for a month or so but never wanted to take the risk of having it in my toats.
On the Biodiesel (BD) front - Oil companies are starting to look into blending in BD into their fuels. They can legally put up to 5% BD into AGO without telling you (not sure about ethanol) however at this stage this is not occuring, BD is being used by some bus companies etc. but it is not in your service station tanks (outside of a few test stations I beleive in wellington that are sign posted as such.)
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Posted By: Espresso
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 9:25am
I used Gull gas a couple of years ago when I had many tote tanks and a 2 stroke. The stink from their gas (using octane boosters/aromatics to get rating I understand) was enough to never ever use it again on my boat. Now I have a 4 stroke, less totes, but the headache from the Gull petrol stink  Reminds me of some of the crud they sell in USA. |
Posted By: Haydan
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 2:30pm
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Found out today that Mobil sometimes bumps the octane of their 98 up with Ethanol so that might be another one to avoid in your boat. |
Posted By: Double Shot
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 2:51pm
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Think I might be checking out BP in Whangaparaoa just to be sure.... ------------- 70ml of 90deg C water pressurised through 13g of roasted finely ground tamped coffee for 25sec's to make a distinguishing sensory hit called a Double Shot |
Posted By: bluesignature
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 5:23pm
| whats going to happen in the future will all fuel have ethanol added will have to buy fuel specially for marine use is there something we can do or add to this fuel to make it more safe to use in boats i know the fuel in this country has allready caused a few problems |
Posted By: Busted!
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 6:20pm
Dude, where do you get this BS? I contract to a coastal bulk terminal on the odd day and I can tell you that ALL of the fuel in this country is identical with the exception of individual company 'fuel additives' - most of which are shockingly toxic and are sourced through a German outfit. If Gull 91 is a different composition to the other fuel, it's because they run it through different coloured hose. And you can quote that...
There are only a couple of user companies still using biofuel - no one has an operating vacuum distallation unit to my knowledge to process the cow fat and the recession killed those plans. Only Gull is still doing any great numbers of throughput in ethanol blends, and as long as you renew the rubber components in the system as they die the first time around and keep the fuel out of water moisture it is perfectly fine. The water issue is the biggie for boats obviously, the alcohol blends with water more readily than petrol.
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Posted By: RC1
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 7:30pm
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Posted By: RC1
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 7:55pm
| There is a new revolutionary product out that will cure all ethanol problems with fuel systems, details to follow next week. Watch this space. |
Posted By: Busted!
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 7:59pm
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Very good question.
I think that is one reason why diesel is becomming a lot more prevalent with smaller inboards becoming more common in the 7m+ sizes. I know a lot of the marine fuel berths have been pulled out due to liabilites and high maintenance costs as well as the risks of sabotage vs international image (think bp-broken pipe!).
I do know that there will not be much more of a take up of ethanol as the dairy industry output is now entirely consumed by chemical resellers and Gull. It's too expensive to import ethanol for biofuel and there are environmental greenie type implications.
There is an across-the-board issue with oils and fuels and qualities, and the things like oil mono-grades getting less than common in favour of crap spec multigrade.
I'm about say 800m down the road from you Russell, on the other side of the Fire Station, should catch up some time...
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Posted By: plastic
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 8:27pm
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I was reading about problems with Optimax outboards in the States with the blended fuel and Mercury were a bit perplexed as the outboards were made to handle 10 % but were still getting problems. They then did there own testing of the fuel and found that the percentage was all over the place with the highest at 50% blend.
------------- Why is the man who invests your money called a "Broker" |
Posted By: Haydan
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 8:42pm
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I work in the industry. Your partly right, if you buy from any of the big four your buying the same stuff only with different additives (this is true for 91, 95 and AGO - whats called industry cargo - not Jet, 98, Ethanol, BioDiesel or Avgas etc).
Gull currently sources its fuel through one of the big 4, although this is not always the case (they used to bring their own ships in but this is a bloody expencive thing to do when a ship cost over 50k a day to charter. Gull are not restrained by "industry spec" and have much more flexibility on how they can treat their fuel.
Biodiesel is still very much in the pipeworks and indusrty, in and out of NZ, continue to invest significant R&D on it. The major draw back at this stage for NZ is sourcing large quanities of it from acceptable sources and of acceptable quality to safely include in bulk fuels.
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Posted By: Busted!
Date Posted: 22 Sep 2010 at 9:31pm
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Ha, I think I just placed your name to your face there Hayden. I know where you are coming from now, my background is in the chemical side more so than the product but I've been doing maintenance etc in the Mt terminals for three or so years now. The bio thing is pretty much dead until the recession turns around, Wellington is drying ethanol blends off as I understand it as there just isn't the benefit in it at this price point. Gull has the local ethanol market sown up so it's their turf at the mo.
Biodiesel is an issue as well, it's damn expensive to process commercial quantities chemially to bust the long chain fatty acids back to soaps and stable oils and no one has a vacuum distallation plant in NZ yet. Without that the product turns to lard at anything under around 16degC. Not ideal.
As far as Gull, at least they don't have a goat on their terminal so that's a big one-up in my book...
Been out fishing lately?
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Posted By: Haydan
Date Posted: 23 Sep 2010 at 7:20am
| Yip I think we've met a few times at Mobil and Shell. No stuck inside with all the weather and have had bugger all work in the last month (have had work on every good day and none on the bad days - murpheys law) so I'm itching to get out there. |
Posted By: Busted!
Date Posted: 23 Sep 2010 at 8:55am
| Yep, same deal here. I've had the boat out of it's berth once in the last month - either diving onshore, working on boats or at mobil or it's crap. I just about through the book at the weather girl last night - over this totally! |