http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=24900

Just wondering if Coupe owners should be conerned about the new legislation for unleaded to initially contain 5% biofuel from 2013 and then possible increase to 10% in the not to distant future?

Looks like Fiat have quite a few post 2000 year vehicles that won't take kindly to the "E10" fuel which will be phased in...

i wonder how we are going to get around this one then. wonder what internals will have to change to handle the E10

Probably none, it's a big hoohah over not very much and your ECUs are remappable if needed.

Is the fuel tank in Coupe plastic or metal? Other worry is that ethanol is highly corrosive and can affect older cars with metal fuel tanks.

Plastic.

Not the point though really. What if someone doesn't want their ECU touched and why should they even have to

Government grants for flea remaps? voucher codes for GTEC E10 Chips?

I don't disagree and I did say 'if'.

We didn't want digital TV or unleaded fuel, but have got both and had to get on with it.
It creates work and jobs....

assuming my coupé lasts until then, won't the ECU 'learn' how to adjust the fuelling.
Surely they would have carried out extensive tests on this fuel so the country doesn't grind to a halt?

I should probably wait for the experts to speak on this, but I see three immediate issues: the first is that there may be corrosion problems with parts of either the fuel delivery system or the cylinder head; the second is that the fuel may not burn at the same temperature as 'proper' unleaded; and finally that it doesn't burn at the same speed.

The issue of different calorific value I ignore; you may get fewer miles per gallon but you can't do much about that.

You can't do a lot about corrosion problems, either - and it's likely to be worse for older engines; none of the coupe range are Euro 3 and will not have been designed on the idiotic assumption that some genius will decide that we should replace land used for food with land used to grow inedible fuel.

Burning at different temperatures is unlikely to be an issue on the turbo engines; they've got sodium filled valves to shift heat quickly and they're not particularly close to the line for thermal management, as witnessed by the fact that the power can be doubled without major cooling changes. NA engines might have a problem, though, with either exhaust valves or seats corroding at higher than normal temperatures, even though that extra heat is managed by the cooling without issue (note the difference between extra heat and extra temperature; the first is a measure of how hot something burns and the second a measure of how much is being burnt).

The last issue is one of timing. If the fuel burns faster, then the base timing will require changing. If it's less sensitive to knock, then the maximum advance will need changing (more sensitive will simply mean that the engine will not advance as far before knockback).

That last issue is the one that will require remapping. The base mixture adjust *may* be in range - but I wouldn't take any bets on it being anywhere near the centre of the range. And while the 20v system will advance to the start of knock and then back off - within limits - the 16v simply backs off if knock occurs.

My *guess* is that if there are issues it will be with normally aspirated 4-cylinder engines, it could well require a comprehensive remap (particularly if not on the OEM chip), and it could see off the original valves and seats.

Nothing to worry about, then. I mean, there's what, nearly two hundred 16NAs left out there...