Mobil 98 petrol

[Moise]

I too found that statement on the Mobil website confusing. It seems that only Wellington service stations may or will have ethanol added. I certainly haven't seen any labels on the pumps in Auckland.

The other weird thing is they are selling either the Synergy or the Extra fuels at different service stations. Does that actually reflect a difference in fuels, or is it taking time to rebrand the pumps?

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[Moise]

The Mobil at Drury has 98. Looks like they have changed over most of their stations.

No ethanol.

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[rastuscat]

It's happening. I have some Mobil gift cards to use up, and every place I've been in the last fortnight, including Kopu, had 98. Even some of the smaller stations have changed over.

Just checked the fine print on their website. The 98 is E10, so no more for the R1. Back to Ultimate.

Edit:. Read that wrong, it's just some Wellington stations that have E10. That's confusing!

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Dude, I'm ignorant as to the various components of fuel.

Can you advise? What does RON mean? Ethanol portion? How dirty is our fuel, on a world level?

[awayatc]

This copied and pasted informative article hopefully answers all the mon ron and ethanol questions in regards to motorbikes....

Americans are crazy about ethanol. Most of their fuel seems to have at least 10% ethanol and the Renewable Fuels Association will have a huge presence at next weekend’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the largest in the world.
They will be providing free ethanol giveaways and free T-shirts at the 2014 Sturgis Buffalo Chip bar at the rally in an effort to convert riders to the natural juice. But is ethanol really any good for your bike?
While the odd dose of ethanol is ok for most bikes and certainly fine for American bikes on a more regular basis, it may cause long-term damage to most others.
Ethanol is a type of alcohol produced by fermentation of crops such as sugarcane or grain. In Australia, ethanol content in unleaded fuel is limited to 10% (E10) but some countries use 85% or even higher in South America.
E10 is becoming more prevalent throughout Australian service stations and NSW service stations even have to stock a minimum requirement of the fuel.
According to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, only post-1986 bikes and ATVs made by BMW, Harley, Polaris and Victory can safely use E10. No Japanese bikes and no Piaggio products can use it. The FCAI doesn’t mention other brands, but it can be assumed ethanol blends are not suitable.
Ethanol doesn’t work with carburettors or mechanical fuel injection. It is also a solvent which attacks metallic and rubber-based fuel lines, and has an affinity to water that can cause steel fuel tanks to rust.
But one of the confusing things for riders is the octane rating. (Octane is a measure of a fuel’s ability to resist engine knocking or pinging which is an uncontrolled burn in the engine that can cause damage. Higher octane fuels resist knocking.)
Most E10 in Australia is rated at 95 RON which seems like it could be suitable for bikes that require that higher octane rating. (In America it has a lot lower RON ratings as their highest RON fuel is only 91.)
But RACQ executive manager technical and safety policy, Steve Spalding, warns that ethanol-blended, higher-octane fuels may not necessarily meet the correct fuel requirements for a vehicle designated to run on PULP.
While the RON may be high enough, there is another property in fuel, called Motor Octane Number (MON), which is rarely specified on the bowser.
MON is usually about 10 numbers lower than RON, so a MON of 85 would be ok for a bike rated at 95 RON.
However, ethanol fuels have much lower MON numbers than their RON which could be too low for your bike.
Either ask the service/gas station for the MON rating or fill up non-ethanol premium unleaded fuel of 95 RON or higher.
It is always best to have a higher octane rating than a lower one even though modern engine management systems have knock sensors that can handle lower octane.
If there is no choice but to fill up with ethanol fuel, make sure your next fill is with a high-octane fuel.
The RFA will be telling riders that ethanol lowers gas/fuel prices, furthers America’s energy security, and revitalises rural America. However, even those debates are far from definitive.
We won’t begin to tackle the environmental concerns which are not proven anyway, but we do believe it is not doing your hip pocket any favours, even though E10 is usually a few cents cheaper.
There is about 3% less energy content in a litre of E10 compared with unleaded fuel which means your engine performance and fuel economy will be 3% worse, or to put it another way, your range will be limited by 3%.
The price of E10 would need to be at least 3% less than ULP for riders to even break even on the fill.

[Moise]

Dude, I'm ignorant as to the various components of fuel.

Can you advise? What does RON mean? Ethanol portion? How dirty is our fuel, on a world level?

Post 21 in this thread has a good explanation of RON and MON.

The E rating tells you how much ethanol is blended with refined petrol, eg E10 is 10%.

There are NZ regulations for 91 and 95 petrol. This results in a consistency of quality that doesn't always happen in other countries.

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[Phleep]

My '06 VFR manual said ethanol up to 10% was fine. I have had it through a few full tanks from the J'ville Mobil which has 98 with "no more than 10% ethanol" without trouble - Not that I can tell if it is causing tank rust. However currently using BP as it is en route to work.

[nzspokes]

So my Zuki's manual say use 91. But being a global bike, whos 91 do they mean?

I recently started using Caltex 98 and it seems to go better.

[R650R]

Either ask the service/gas station for the MON rating....

That's hilarious right there. Hlaf an hour of your life gone there while teenage gas station cashier phones their own 0800 centre to find out even they prob don't know.

But yeah good informative info there in post.

To my way of thought wouldn't that 3% less energy be a compounded loss when it really matters, eg at full power of heavy acceleration in the same way a little extra drag costs a lot of top speed and vice versa to go little faster you need way more engine power at terminal speed.
We should all be avoiding this ethanol crap like the plague. Bet same shit will happen with electric vehicles.
They'll be 'environmentally friendly' lower volatage charging stations that will be 'cheaper' to use.....

[caspernz]

So my Zuki's manual say use 91. But being a global bike, whos 91 do they mean?

I recently started using Caltex 98 and it seems to go better.

Caltex have 98? Since when...

Been hauling their juice for a while, 95 is the fanciest we deliver.

[nzspokes]

Caltex have 98? Since when...

Been hauling their juice for a while, 95 is the fanciest we deliver.

Maybe I read it wrong but it aint diesel Ive been putting in. From the red pump.

[caspernz]

Maybe I read it wrong but it aint diesel Ive been putting in. From the red pump.

The red handle pump is just marked premium at Caltex sites, without a RON number. Have been asked this a few times whilst delivering onsite. It is 95 Rob, some folks do rave about the Techron additive, but I can't comment on that from personal trial and error.

[nzspokes]

The red handle pump is just marked premium at Caltex sites, without a RON number. Have been asked this a few times whilst delivering onsite. It is 95 Rob, some folks do rave about the Techron additive, but I can't comment on that from personal trial and error.

Cool, least I know now. But is the 91 in my manual the same 91 we get?

[caspernz]

Cool, least I know now. But is the 91 in my manual the same 91 we get?

In NZ the standard used is RON, so if that's what your manual calls for then all sweet.

[jasonu]

That's hilarious right there. Hlaf an hour of your life gone there while the curry muncher who barely speaks engrish gas station cashier phones their own 0800 centre to find out even they prob don't know.

But yeah good informative info there in post.

To my way of thought wouldn't that 3% less energy be a compounded loss when it really matters, eg at full power of heavy acceleration in the same way a little extra drag costs a lot of top speed and vice versa to go little faster you need way more engine power at terminal speed.
We should all be avoiding this ethanol crap like the plague. Bet same shit will happen with electric vehicles.
They'll be 'environmentally friendly' lower volatage charging stations that will be 'cheaper' to use.....

Subtle changes...

[Old Steve]

(In America it has a lot lower RON ratings as their highest RON fuel is only 91.)

NO! American octane ratings are the average of RON + MON, usually 5 numbers down from the RON rating. American 91 octane would be RON 96 / MON 86 so would be very close to our premium.

Don't use our Standard 91 petrol in an engine requiring American 91, our Premium 95 is closest to American 91 (RON + MON / 2 = 90, premium, is better than RON + MON / 2 = 86, standard)