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Does anyone use an ethanol protection additive?

Started by gavin116, 23 June 2017, 01:31 AM

gavin116

I was chatting to another classic car enthusiast, and he was adamant that I should be using an ethanol protection additive to guard against the effects of ethanol on the flexible fuel lines (as far as I know on a K-jet 450 around the fuel pump and fuel tank only). Something like Miller's Oils EPS Ethanol protection additive was recommended.


What do you guys think?
1979 450SE "Mrs White"
2022 Touareg-R 3.0TSi Hybrid
[url="http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/"]http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/[/url]
[url="http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613"]http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613[/url]

ptashek

I've decided to try one recently - Millers VSPe power plus. It has additives that should protect against ethanol in fuel, can raise octane by up-to 2 points, and supposedly is also carrying some lead replacement, which our cars don't need.

I've noticed little difference in how the car runs on E5 fuel (the 95 we get in Ireland, with 5% ethanol), except for a small drop in consumption. Hot starts are still a pain in the back.

What I have used with good results is Liqui-Molly fuel stabiliser, which only inhibits fuel oxidisation and corrosion from water absorbed by the ethanol. But that was for longer storage over winter only. That one I'll definitely use again.

I can't tell if either does anything to protect rubber lines from ethanol, as all my lines are new and made from hose compatible with any fuel type - "nitrile rubber" I believe is the name.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

UTn_boy

Lucas, the early cars, 1972-1974 350se/sel and 450se/450sel, did require leaded fuel.  Though, I'm unsure of when the need for leaded fuels went away regarding Mercedes.  I'd guess sometime in 1974-1975 maybe?  Just guessing though.
1966 250se coupe`,black/dark green leather
1970 600 midnight blue/parchment leather
1971 300sel 6.3,papyrus white/dark red leather
1975 450se, pine green metallic/green leather
1973 300sel 4.5,silver blue metallic/blue leather
1979 450sel 516 red/bamboo

ptashek

Quote from: UTn_boy on 23 June 2017, 02:00 PM
Lucas, the early cars, 1972-1974 350se/sel and 450se/450sel, did require leaded fuel.  Though, I'm unsure of when the need for leaded fuels went away regarding Mercedes.  I'd guess sometime in 1974-1975 maybe?  Just guessing though.

There are conflicting signals on this coming from Mercedes-Benz.
On the one hand, they said in response to a question asked by someone of this forum that no post-war, or indeed pre-war, Mercedes engine specifically required leaded fuel.
The original reply, from 2006, is buried in a thread on this forum.

Then, there's the website of Mercedes-Benz Australia, which states, that 280SE/SEL models are OK to run on unleaded from May 1978 onwards, and 450SE/SEL/SEL6.9 from July 1976. But it also states, that these dates apply explicitly to Australian model versions, directly imported via MB Australia.

I have found no such information for Europe or South Africa, which - based on the conflicting statement from MB themselves - leads me to believe that all European model engines were specifically designed to run on unleaded, 98 octane fuel. This is certainly confirmed by manuals I've seen for euro models, across many model years, including pre-1975.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

UTn_boy

Well, maybe it was according to the car's domicile? Up until the late 1970's leaded gas was all the U.S. had.  Bear in mind that My reference was more towards cars made through 1972, and was targeting the very early 3.5 and 4.5.  However, those early generation V-8 engines were adopted by the first W116 cars, as well.  Conversely, my 1976 280S requires regular unleaded while the U.S. manuals state for the early cars to use leaded petrol.  So it's a toss up. We may never know the truth. 
1966 250se coupe`,black/dark green leather
1970 600 midnight blue/parchment leather
1971 300sel 6.3,papyrus white/dark red leather
1975 450se, pine green metallic/green leather
1973 300sel 4.5,silver blue metallic/blue leather
1979 450sel 516 red/bamboo