http://www.shell.com.au/extreme/ Came across this on another forum and thought it might be of interest (though i know not many people, if any, here use Optimax). I havn't gone through the stuff written on the site but it contains 5% Ethanol and costs around 1.32 per litre according to some who have filled up. This was also posted in the thread, but not sure how reliable it is: "First up let me state that I work for Shell and was part of the Team at our Geelong Refinery that produced this fuel. Anything that I write here are my own comments and not those of Shell. This is not intended to be an advert but there are a few inaccurate pieces of information here so I thought that I should set the record straight. I have been watching this thread since Monday but was sworn to secrecy until today. Only about 10 people at the Refinery knew what we were making (it was a very closely guarded secret). Optimax Extreme is NOT just normal 98 Octane Optimax with 5% Ethanol added (anyone could do that ). It is a completly new formulation that takes advantage of the combustion properties of Ethanol to give a cleaner burning fuel that is also 100 Octane. Due to the formulation (it is lower Benzene than normal gasoline and also has much lower Sulfur) it is more difficult to make and therefore will be a higher price than standard Optimax. It is available now in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney & Melbourne (I filled up at Richmond in Melbourne today). Check the website: www.shell.com.au/extreme for details of where you can get it. Testing by Dick Johnson Racing on their dyno and have seen increased power and torque over the normal rev range for road cars over standard Optimax. His testing also indicated that it should deliver better fuel economy over standard Optimax. Shell has labelled all Optimax Extreme bowsers as containing 5% Ethanol. Shell aren't doing anything sneaky around that."
I wouldn't trust the 'shell worker' story either And it still doesn't answer about possible injector damage. It's safest simply to avoid it.
Problems Problems that I can see - Your car needs a full retune to run it. Meaning you may be limited to only this fuel and car will run crappy/rich/ping on others - If ethanol in the mix of fuel already made the fuel consumption worse even while leaning out the mixture, imagine the consumption after you rich it out to a safe level (not so envionmentally friendly anymore hey) - It has been assumed ethanol in the fuel has killed old style injectors on our cars (see twinturbo.net and search for ethanol) - Nissan does not recommend the use of ethanol in fuels for any of their cars built before 2004 - Even if the mixture was safe, not responsible for killing injectors and properly tuned, are our other fuel components designed to withstand ethanol in them (eg as ethanol eats through rubber) - Whats wrong with BP Ultimate?
THE SHELL WORKER .... et al ........ = crap >>>>>!!!!! .. consider this .. if it was a completely new formulation, if it was cleaner burning and all the other associated claims ... why then did not shell, initially market it as such, as something, new, special, better ..?? instead of just trying to sneak it onto the market virually throught the back door ..?? .. sorry, just does not compute ..!!!!:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:
Followed the links """Nissan: Nissan vehicles manufactured from 1 January 2004 onwards are capable of operation on ethanol-blended fuels up to E10 (10% ethanol), providing that blending of the ethanol component to the petroleum component of the fuel has been properly made at the fuel refinery (ie there is no "splash-blending" of the fuel). For Nissan vehicles manufactured prior to 1 January 2004, Nissan Australia does not recommend the use of E10 because of drivability concerns and/or material compatibility issues.""" Followed shells links to australian gov website and supposedly this is straight from the importers
just to throw a spanner in the mix, my g/f works at a warrenty company, that sells warrenties for cars such as nissan,holden ,ford, mitsubishi etc etc.... they are reducing the policy lengths and coverage on new vehicles due to release of ethanol fuel.... hmm...
As a matter of interest... Holden in Australia manufactures E85 engines for export to Brazil. The following is from the Government Department of Environment and Heritage: How is ethanol used as an automotive fuel? Brazil is the largest user of fuel ethanol in the world. It is the only country that utilises ethanol blends at concentrations higher than 10%, with the exception of the use of E85 in Flexible Fuelled Vehicles in the US. Currently, 18.9% of the cars in Brazil operate on 100% ethanol. The remaining cars are optimised to run on blends of 22% (to meet the range of 20-24% blends). Brazil consumes nearly 4 billion gallons (15 billion litres) of fuel ethanol per year. Dedicated and optimised engines and fuel system materials are manufactured for the 22% ethanol/petrol blend. Most of Brazil's vehicle production is indigenous (including Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford and General Motors Holden), with both domestic and imported vehicles optimised to meet the unique fuel supply situation. All petrol fuels sold in Brazil have an ethanol content ranging from 20% to 24%. The only other available fuel is neat (100%) ethanol. For the complete article Ethanol
thanks for that article cliff ..have printed it out for closer review ..... just hope that the aus department does not have a vested interest in promoting ethanol ...??
I've just finished a book for a publisher Baz That goes into incredible detail as to how we should halt global warming. Ethanol based bio-fuels and nuclear energy are touted as being the only viable means to stop it! It's a big book (500 pages) but certainly opened my eyes and has changed my thinking radically. I've got a copy here if you want to borrow it.
will grab it at some stage, cliff ... this issue is going to become much bigger ..... worth having a look at the fed chamber of automobile industries site .. and the list of damage/issues identified by m/v manufacturers as caused by the use of ethanol in motor vehicles .....as well as the list of vehicles which m/v manufacturers state should not use ethanol.....
