E10 Fuel - Emission control error

[illings]

I own a 1.4 TFSI Q3 and have using E10 fuel since it was introduced. However, a warning light (engine symbol) has recently displayed. I took the car to a local garage, and he said the engine is running ‘lean’ due to the newer E10 fuel, and I should revert to using E5 Super Unleaded fuel.

Has anyone else had similar problems?

[Steve Q]

If.the car is experiencing problems just run it on e5. I run a classic car on e5 as E10 it had an erratic idle. Please bare in mind E10 corrodes the rubber fuel lines faster thus running the risk of fuel leaks in the fuel bay and potential fire. In theory most 2011 on cars can run on it but if your cars having issues it's definitely not worth the risk. 

[Magnet]

Hello Steve,

Steve Q has a good point, but I would be seriously surprised if this 7 year old car would be suffering this issue simply from  using E10 - older vehicles possibly. 
As I understand it E10 has been in use on the continent for years, and we don’t seem to have had our attention drawn to major issues, even on older vehicles. 
If this were mine, I would be entrusting a diagnosis to a local trusted independent, before believing the issue is just fuel associated - with this modern vehicle. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Steve. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Stevey Y]

7 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Steve,

Steve Q has a good point, but I would be seriously surprised if this 7 year old car would be suffering this issue simply from  using E10 - older vehicles possibly. 
As I understand it E10 has been in use on the continent for years, and we don’t seem to have had our attention drawn to major issues, even on older vehicles. 
If this were mine, I would be entrusting a diagnosis to a local trusted independent, before believing the issue is just fuel associated - with this modern vehicle. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Steve. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth the British E10 fuel is slightly different from the European version as its blended at refineries here, the VOSA guidelines on the new fuel even tells you you will get less MPG as it burns that much better and the evaporation rate is higher, the problem is the new fuels main extra additive is Bio Ethanol which is wonderful on a race car but needs some serious research before stating that all the cars on the VOSA list are ok to use it, lets face it the manufacturers don't care if it hastens the demise of your existing fossil fuelled car because then if it breaks you will eventually be forced to buy a Milkfloat.

I cite the case of the phasing out of five star fuel at the end of the seventies, the government said all the Jaguar,Mercedes,MGs can run on the lower octane fuel Four star/ Two star, Wrong, they quickly made the transition to unleaded in the early nineties which caused more problems with premature bore wear and valve pocketing in the cylinder head despite the use of lead substitute additives this merely slowed the process down the end result was the same, rattling valve gear as the valves were trying to meet the tappets, one of my friends dads made a fortune skimming cylinder heads to up the compression to deal with the lower fuel octane and fitting harder valve seat inserts and on some occasions fitting sodium filled valves to stop the seats from self destructing in the extra heat caused by the unstable burn quality of the fuel which by now had virtually no top flight lubricity enhancer in it, the government don't care as its a win, win, situation as look at the revenue in VAT alone that will be generated from expensive repair bills and it helps them towards the final solution they think is best for us, no conventional engined cars.

Steve.

 

 

 

 

[illings]

Two months on, and the car is running fine on E5 petrol.

No-one else has reported similar problems, so maybe I was just unlucky with slightly contaminated fuel? (Tesco)

Thank you gents for your posts.

Steve