Just had an email from a racer with a very, very expensive engine, he believes failed through using Gull fuel. It had run perfectly well on BP98 and he is less than happy at the damage he believes was caused by the Gull fuel. I won't publish the whole email here, but it is an extract of the email sent to Gull.
"We immediately went to work to find the source of this fuel problem and discovered that the foam from the tank had become brittle and broken bits were found in the fuel lines the tank outlet the two inline fuel filters and we replaced the high volume fuel pump. The engine seemed to run fine after static testing and we assumed all was well for the qualifying laps in the afternoon. As my practice had been cut short in the morning I decided to go slow for the first four laps before putting the hammer down for a faster time. without warning 2/3rd of the way around the track the Engine suddenly blew with smoke and steam coming from the exhaust and from under the bonnet. At this point I cut the throttle and coasted down around turn 5 and pulled off onto the grass, while doing so a geyser of steam erupted from the left side of the car. Prior to this catastrophic event the car temperature gauge was showing no abnormally high temperatures, around 100 C, which is normal under Race Conditions.
The car was towed back to our workshop and we checked under the bonnet to find an oil leak out of the head gasket on the front corner of cylinder 1 and virtually all water hoses blown. We removed all the foam from the tank as we had a surge tank anyway and we didn??
moparpete,
Feb 11, 12:01am
smac wrote:
Mobile do a 98 as well, just not around here.
Just an added point on Mobil Syn8000. The Ethanol blend is only in the greater Wellington region according to their website. I`ve checked with Mobil customer service and the store manager in Hillcrest Hamilton before filling the Charger, and he said the Synergy 8000 they sell is definitely true blue 98Ron WITHOUT Ethanol.
tamarillo,
Feb 11, 2:06am
Blimey, we can't get any 98 down south! Very interesting results though, might do some testing on my old Audi to see if mpg is better on 95 compared with 91 which is only choice I get here in Nelson. Does gull import or refine it's own? Interesting.
neville48,
Feb 11, 9:36am
Why would BP get 98 from Singapore when they blend their own fuels in NZ. Please tell me where this info came from. Are you also insinuating that BP 98 is an ethanol blend ?
whqqsh,
Feb 12, 5:36pm
I was a regular Gull user simply because our local was so cheap especially with pay at the pump being even cheaper, used to get between 420-450kms/tank (city driving) in my Telstar. Now prices have dropped & a few other brands are now cheaper I use either our local Z or Mobil. surprisingly, the first tank I thought Id just been a lightfoot or done a load more motorway driving than usual, I got around 470km. Now I regularly get 450kms (usually when Ive done a bit of towing or had the deck loaded up) to 480kms for the same fuel load. IMO that offsets more than a few cents a litre & this damage just adds to the reason to stay away. BTW When I use the V8 the difference is more obvious although accurate figures are harder to prove as it gets a shoeful sometimes, heavy towing & sometimes open road long cruises so direct comparisons tank to tank would be inconsistent.
clicker5,
Feb 12, 8:03pm
Have you tried the Mobil equivalents
plasticboys,
Feb 12, 11:48pm
x1
i think the more power it puts out without rejetting you then don't have to put your foot to the pedal as much to go the same distance , so you use less fuel?
thejazzpianoma,
Feb 13, 1:40am
Nope, doesn't work that way. You can potentially tune an engine to put out a little more HP on E85 than it could develop on normal high octane fuel. But you can't really tune it to use less fuel. You certainly won't use less fuel in a standard engine either.
In other words, you are not making the car more efficient, just more powerful. It's not like direct injection vs multipoint injection where you get an efficiency increase so can have both more power and more economy.
mrcat1,
Feb 13, 9:01am
All the 4 fuel companies have a hand in Marsden point refinery, it doesn't make 98 octane fuel so BP and Gull both import it and most is from Singapore, Gull will blend it with Ethanol here from Fonterras Whey factory and a lot of Ethanol is stored at the mount. I think you would find BP only adds its own additives here when the tankers are under the gantry same as the other fuel companies.
mrcat1,
Feb 13, 9:07am
You can only add 15% Ethanol to petrol before you need to start rejetting the carbs or injection system, I used to run a super kart on pure methanol years ago and its jets in the carbs was double what you would use for petrol.
smac,
Jan 12, 9:48pm
Been doing some dabbling and thought somebody somewhere might be interested in the early result.
When I first got my 2008 G6E Falcon I did a lot of testing to figure out the best fuel to use: 91, 95 or 98. After a lot of tanks/k's I determined that for MY car and my use, best bang for buck was 98. Got me further for every $ spent.
Anywho, recently I've finally got around to giving Gulls' 98 a whirl, as the car is suitable for E10. I do a reasonably high number of K's so I'm not worried about fuel sitting in the tank, water buildup etc
My first few trips have shown the Gull product is using between 2-5% more fuel per km. On the flip side it costs more than 10% less.
Well who would have thunk it?
intrade,
Jan 12, 9:58pm
so you got a flex fuel engine? personally i would use a additive once a year to prevent etanol problems they are called ethanol dryer or similar the additives and do some research how your car runs flex fuel, i just did read about a failed flexfuel engine restting the flexfuel with scantool can only be done when knowingly less then 10% ethanol is in the tank. this was on a vehicle whom calculates the ethanol with a algorythm not with a ethanol sensor.
timmo1,
Jan 12, 9:59pm
Yeah ethanol has a lower energy density so more fuel is used for the same result. but, as you mention its often cheaper.
smac,
Jan 12, 10:18pm
Ya the main reason being that the engine is Aussie and they have all sorts of regulations forcing the sale of ethanol blends now. People here whinge about some of the greenie initiatives but the aussies are way more aggressive.
quickbuck,
Jan 12, 10:40pm
Only 2-5% more fuel, that does indeed surprise me.
Well done on your extensive testing and posting the results.
lissa25,
Jan 12, 10:44pm
have you ever tried it in your mini? I run mine on Gull 98 and it gives better results than anything else available around here. I would use BP ultimate instead, but it is a tank of gas round trip just to get to the nearest stockist.
smac,
Jan 12, 11:02pm
Nope. I have a stock 1000 which is fine on 95, and a 1380 that needs 98 (compression is around 11:1 from memory). I know there's a fair bit of discussion on the topic and to be honest I've not really followed it. Even those who say it's OK admit there's a bunch of things that need to be checked (fuel hose type, pump, carb seals etc) and basically I can't be bothered! There's plenty of BP 98 around here, just not in Napier it's self which is a bit of a pain. Gives me an excuse to go for a longer blat when I do need a top-up though :) Mobile do a 98 as well, just not around here.
quickbuck,
Jan 12, 11:17pm
Also an Ethanol Blend.
socram,
Jan 13, 2:43am
Are you running hardened valve seats in the Mini? 11:1 is quite high.
I am steering well clear of Gull for the 1970 cast iron head/block car, as I really don't think it is suitable from what I have read. It runs as well on BP98 as race gas, but a part tank of race gas now and again puts the lead back in and that apparently has a residual effect for a few thousand kms.
Not in a financial position to have hardened seats fitted though the engine has only done about 3000kms since it was restored in 1994 and taken off the road 2006. It is only used for trackwork now but only revs to about 5,200rpm anyway. Your 1300cc Mini probably revs to 7,000rpm+, so would get a bit of a head/valve hammering!
thejazzpianoma,
Jan 13, 2:45am
If running ethanol in old/non compliant vehicles, you may well want to watch this. even just the first few seconds.
Ya head is ported, big valves, hardened seats etc. Certainly saw north of 7000rpm in the last autocross I did.
melonhead1,
Jan 13, 4:01am
I'm not at all surprised that the Barra engine loves its Octane. The N/A ones have a decent compression ratio. They're great cruisers.
bwg11,
Jan 13, 4:36am
For once I am completely with Jazz on this one.
I would not consider using Gull in my classic Cooper. Seldom driven classics have enough issues without looking for them. My 1275 runs on 12:1, I use BP 98, with a good dose of Nulon octane booster before track days etc. The Nulon booster also has an additive claimed to prevent seat recession, and appears to be working.
clark20,
Jan 13, 5:23am
I went back to BP98 and are very happy with the results, does go better once the computer catches up
craigs_workshop,
Jan 13, 5:53am
Gull is not good gas
so the hotted engines ive driven say
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