Brazilian fuel

[ScorpioRunner]

I read an old thread here about fuel in Brazil containing 27.5% ethanol, I'm curious as to how motors handle such high ethanol content in Brazil, most owners manuals I've seen here in OZ state no higher than 10% ethanol is to be used or you void warranty and a lot of riders I know wont use E10 unless they absolutely have to so do the bike motors in Brazil have a shorter lifespan or is 27.5% ethanol not a problem

[JockoT]

You will probably find that bikes for the Brazilian market have much lower compression ratios, or some such mod, to allow them to run on the local fuel. Manufacturers sell different versions of every vehicle, in each market the sell to, to meet local requirements.

[E1]

Originally Posted by JockoT

You will probably find that bikes for the Brazilian market have much lower compression ratios, or some such mod, to allow them to run on the local fuel. Manufacturers sell different versions of every vehicle, in each market the sell to, to meet local requirements.

Why would the bikes have their compression ratio's reduced when such high ethanol ratios are used in Brazil?

Ethanol is an octane modifier that boosts octane rating, so 27.5% would mean the octane or AKI would probably be substantially raised, not lowered.

In terms of its octane rating, ethanol has a rating of 113...When you mix 10 percent 113 octane ethanol with 85 octane gasoline it increases the octane two points to the normal 87 octane most consumers use. So the higher the ethanol content, the higher the octane.
https://mnbiofuels.org/media-mba/blo...-for-beginners

[JockoT]

Originally Posted by JockoT

You will probably find that bikes for the Brazilian market have much lower compression ratios, or some such mod

As I said, "or some such mod". I was speculating that the models sold in Brazil were different from models sold elsewhere to cope with the fuel difference. Perhaps much higher compression ratios? The crux of my post was that different markets often have different specifications. Sorry if I confused the issue.

[alexantao]

Hi ! I'm from Brazil.
I don't know if I can help, but I may try.

Yes, the Fuel here contains a lot of ethanol. Last year the govenment tried to raise it to 40%, but ti didn't succeeded.

Back in time, due to a petroleum crisis, Brazil started producing cars that ran exclusively with ethanol. Those cars were adapted versions of those running gasoline, but some parts needed to be adjusted, because ethanol is more corrosive, and I don't know the terms in English, but there's an adjustment on the "ignition point" that are different from gasoline to ethanol.

Nowadays, with the electronic fuel injector, all cars are "Flex", you can put any kind of mixture gasoline/ethanol and the motor will run. Of course the efficiency is not perfect, but this is the cost for such modification. With ethanol, the motor has more "power", but you run less than gasoline (lower KM/l), about 30% less, the ethanol also has an effect to clean the motor, but the gasoline lubrificates more. The "ignition point" of those cars are not the perfect for gasoline nor for the ethanol.

When the gasoline prices are too High, sometimes it's better to put ethanol exclusively.

Hope I could help.

[alexantao]

I'm really sorry, I didn't see that you were taking about motorcycles.

So, to complement, there's STILL NO FLEX motorcycle here.

All runs gasoline, but by law, all gasoline has 27% of ethanol, and what I said is true for motorcycles, they are prepared for that.

Also, the ethanol mixed on the gasoline are not hydrated, but the ethanol sold as fuel is.