Jonny Ray wrote:
Already in the UK there have been numerous reports of cars lack of performance and sputtering engines. From my understanding the main danger is leaving vehicles standing with E10 in the engines thus forming a sludge in the carburettor and also whereby it attacks the modern plastics. Imo best to just boycott and pay the little extra for E5 or using Shell high octane. Like I said I'm not even risking it in any of my Vespas and a lot of my friends will not put it in their cars.
I've not heard of any cars lacking performance Jonny but it is possible this could happen temporarily because E10 is very effective at cleaning the fuel system when you first put it in which, like fuel injector cleaner, can make an engine run rough for the first couple of days or so. In fact, the change over in the UK is going very well and of course, many garages took on E10 at the end of July and during August, ready for Sept 1st, the day by law that they had to offer it. I started using it in July from my local garage without any negative effects on my cars or bikes. Most folks didn't even know they were using it because they didn't read the signs in the garages. Using it in a car or bike that is not designed for it once or twice will not harm the engine or other parts in the fuel system.
As you say, it's really only the fact it goes off more quickly compared to E5 that is the area of concern for most folks. But this is really only if you leave your car or bike standing about for weeks at a time. And lets not forget E5 goes off relatively quickly too. E5 starts to go bad after just 6 weeks but still remains useable for a few more weeks. E10 goes off earlier at about 4 weeks or so, but still remains useable. The one thing to do with ALL fuel, including non ethernol fuels is to shake the tank about a bit to mix the additives and prevent the engine from sucking large amounts of the sticky muck that builds at the bottom of the tank. Your engine will also cope better with the tiny amounts of water at the bottom of the tank if you mix the fuel with a shake rather than letting it induct "laying" water from the bottom of the tank.
Don't forget it reduces particulate matter in our environment (a main consideration) and reduces CO2 because it comes from renewable sources. The particulate matter is as dangerous as white asbestos according to the WHO. It's a win win situation, just not everyone knows it yet! As said above in anther post, E10 problems are vastly overplayed even by some so called professionals on the internet.
EDIT: just a note. More and more of our ethernol in the Uk is produced from waste products. This also has the effect of reducing ozone gases.