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Thought I’d treat my 23 year old Focus to some E 5 petrol for Father’s Day . Have I wasted my money?
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Hard to say! The engine probably isn't the critical component in it lasting another 23 years.
But I always think they go better with E5/Super+. And when you have washed them.
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I don't think it would make much difference to a 2003 car. But we're advised to put E5 in 20th-century cars to avoid degrading the fuel pipework ?
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There is that. And rotting your carb diaphragms. And avoiding GL-5 gear oil because it dissolves bits of your gearbox. A minefield.
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I put £20 of E5 in the Herald in late October. I got about one mile towards a show I was looking forward to when she started misfiring badly. I managed to struggle home, mostly in second with high revs.
The following week I syphoned the tank and put E10 in. It seems the damage was done. Only just put her back on the road.
My, and other people's, theory is that not enough drivers use E5 to require the filling station to refresh it's tank regularly and are therefore selling 'bad' fuel. May be common in rural areas.
I won't be using it again, it will be easier to just replace the Stromberg diaphragm or the small sections of rubber in the pipeline if needed.
Ted
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Around 2002/03 I was coming back from Manchester and called in at a Shell Station. They had run out of Regular and had only Optimax. A few gallons and set off.
The 2001 Honda CRV was running smoother and bought Shell Premium almost exclusively since then until around 2020.
There were 2 local Shell Stations but now a Shell desert.
It's around 15 miles to my nearest Shell outlet.
I still buy Premium and, if I need fuel and passing a Shell Station, I give the car a treat.
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My granny used to day that it was all the same stuff, just a different label.
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Only use E5 now and I try and stick to one of the brands that has a reported lower ethanol content (which they now seem to have since the end of last year when we started importing ethanol from the US, up until then all E5 had 0% ethanol in it).
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>> Thought I’d treat my 23 year old Focus to some E 5 petrol for Father’s Day. Have I wasted my money? >>
Yes. My TR7 is twice that age and has run fine on E10 since its inception. Likewise for unleaded. A few years ago I had to replace the original short length of rubber pipe that connected the fuel tank outlet to the metal fuel line, but its detrioration was due to age rather than alcohol (bit like me, really).
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Ford Focus - E5 fuel - Manatee
