Ethanol Blended Petrol

[higgy88]

I've had a few people asking me if I thought that they could use gasohol without causing any damage to their vehicle, as well as my asking myself with my 4 year old Toyota Vios, and I found this site from the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Driving Australia It has a pretty comprehensive list, which I believe can also be used for Thailand as well, and a pretty good description of the issues. Too bad the Thai gov't doesn't do something like this. If the mods want to move this to the motor forum, please do. Cheers.

[Crossy]

....I believe can also be used for Thailand as well....

Unfortunately my personal experience refutes this statement

Both BMW Thailand and BMW Germany stated that my 1994 325i was NOT gasohol compatible (when told the VIN number), the site linked above states that it IS (simply by year, possibly the Oz imports were compatible). Who to believe??

I would seriously avoid putting gasohol in any vehicle unless I had a statement in writing from the manufacturer that it is indeed safe.

I certainly would not trust any compatibility statement from a government desperately trying to promote the sale of a potentially damaging fuel.

[lotus eater]

I would seriously avoid putting gasohol in any vehicle ...

Is the government phasing out 95 petrol or not? Do you notice it's getting harder to find 95 petrol?

[Crossy]

I would seriously avoid putting gasohol in any vehicle ...

Is the government phasing out 95 petrol or not? Do you notice it's getting harder to find 95 petrol?

AFAIK the official position is that they will eventually phase out real 95 petrol, originally it was to be January 06 but there were so many protests from users and many vehicle companies refused to back the change that it was postponed.

It's certainly getting less common although we offloaded the Beemer last year and bought a diesel so I've not been seriously looking for 95 petrol.

An alternative that we investigated was an LPG conversion, my stepson has an early 90's 525i E34 which goes very nicely on LPG, lose a lot of boot space though, runs on petrol at the flick of a switch.

[Luckydog]

My Holden Calais 2.6 runs just as well if not better on 91.......

[Clipped]

gasohol has lower BTU units than traditional petrol, you will not be saving any money...

[bubba]

gasohol has lower BTU units than traditional petrol, you will not be saving any money...

Partially true - 10% blended "95" gasohol contains about 120,000 BTU.

"91" grade petrol contains about 125,000 BTU, or 4% less energy content in BTU terms than gasohol.

At today's prices:

"95" gasohol costs 26.49 baht/L

"91" petrol costs 29.19 baht/L

So gasohol is about 8% cheaper than 91 while gasohol gives you 4% less energy. That would indicate a savings of about 4% with gasohol.

[higgy88]

I started this thread and posted the link for information only. If you do not wish to believe the information, up to you. I highly suggest that you contact your vehicle manufacturer. From what I understand, the postponement of the complete phase out of 95 petrol was to continue building up the ethanol stocks for use with 91, and to address the water contamination problem at many of the filling stations, which I believe was the cause of the problems and protests from the vehicle manufacturers and owners. As far as I know, the complete phase out of non-ethanol fuels in Thailand is still scheduled for 2011, whether any of us like it or not. For those who do not wish to use gasohol, I wish you lot's of luck in the very near future. Cheers.

[madjbs]

Manufacturers defiantly set up their cars differently for different markets depending on the available and quality of the fuels etc.. Therefore it wouldn’t be sensible to follow what they say a car from a different market can take, as it may be slightly different to the Thai version (even small things such as fuel lines), even if it’s produced at the same factory.

Jake

Edited July 16, 2007 by madjbs

[higgy88]

The one thing I absolutely love about this forum is that you can find so many experts on just about any subject you can possibly think of.

[madjbs]

Including yourself right?

Edited July 16, 2007 by madjbs

[lotus eater]

An alternative that we investigated was an LPG conversion, my stepson has an early 90's 525i E34 which goes very nicely on LPG, lose a lot of boot space though, runs on petrol at the flick of a switch.

Can you give some brief info on costs (conversion and running), reliability, power, anything else worth knowing? Can also run on petrol - 91?

Is there a website to get further info (in english) on the conversion possibilities in thailand?

[Clipped]

gasohol has lower BTU units than traditional petrol, you will not be saving any money...

Partially true - 10% blended "95" gasohol contains about 120,000 BTU.

"91" grade petrol contains about 125,000 BTU, or 4% less energy content in BTU terms than gasohol.

At today's prices:

"95" gasohol costs 26.49 baht/L

"91" petrol costs 29.19 baht/L

So gasohol is about 8% cheaper than 91 while gasohol gives you 4% less energy. That would indicate a savings of about 4% with gasohol.

is 4% really worth the loss of performance and piece of mind? when i use gasohol, performance goes down, and the consumption noticeably increased...but my car is old and it powerless making it even more powerless.

[PeaceBlondie]

Keep in mind, that some of the big cities have petrol stations run by big chains like Shell and PTT, that display five brands of fuel, at five prices. So already, you may have a choice between 91 ethanol. 95 benzene, 95 ethanol, and 95 benzene. Or, they might have ethanol/gasohol, but no benzene. Choose carefully and speak clearly.

[higgy88]

All you really need to do is look at the color of the pump.

regular 95 yellow

gasohol 95 orange

regular 91 red

gasohol 91 green

Bangkok Riders Club

And don't forget that what a particular station will be selling next month may be different than what they sold last month.

Cheers

edit, Please feel free to question the list of vehicles in this site also. You should actually question any and all generic lists published by anybody, as well as questioning any and all advice given by anyone, myself included, with the only exception being the people who designed, engineered, and built your vehicle. Happy motoring!

Edited July 18, 2007 by higgy88