I live in Brasil and did a quick research about gasoline here.

We have 3 categories of gas:
Common (Comum) - 87 IAD (95 RON)
Premium - 93 IAD (98 RON)
Podium (only available at some BR/Petrobras fuel stations) - 95 IAD (102 RON)

IAD = (MON + RON)/2


More info (in portuguese):
- Petrobras
- Wikipedia

I know its may sound irrelevant but I am wondering how worse is the diesel in South America if compared with the African counterpart.

Two years in the Black continent with a 2003 turbodiesel Suzuki Vitara and we had zero problem considering the fuel that could not be better of South American. We were using lots of cleaners & additives though but still..

We are currently in Colombia with a Toyota Hiace 2.5 diesel EURO4 and we are struggling with the colombian biodiesel which includes 5-10% vegetable oil. Thick white smoke & terrible smell every morning is only the beginning and I dont want to think the consequences in the engine in the near future..

I still dont know what Supreme Diesel or Diesel with Techron that MOBIL/ESSO/ TEXACO sell, means and how better it is from common biodiesel.

Any input/ similar experience is highly appreciated.

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The Pin Project | Overland Greece

Great, thanks for that!

Is there always a high ethanol content in Brazilian fuel? Or is it easy to still find petrol with little or no ethanol?

Cheers

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

In Brasil, it's illegal to sell petrol with less than 27% of ethanol content to consumers.

Cheers,
Bueno

Greetings EO

I travelled across Brazil in 2014 on a bike with carburettors and I was worried what the effect would be. Commun, Premium (also called Aditivada) and Podium all have 25% ethanol content, that's the mandated minimum amount. The pumps marked Ethanol are 100% ethanol.

The first time I filled there was local guy at the pumps who owned a Harley and when I asked him what the difference was between Commun and Aditivada He pointed at the pumps and replied.

"That's shit, and that's less shit"

He wasn't happy with the fuel quality and he was a local.

I always tried to fill up on the Podium but it's very expensive and only available at some Petrobras stations.

I only did about 3000km in Brazil so I can't tell what long term use of high level ethanol will do you vehicle. What I read was that it degrades rubber components (fuel hose) and that it can impact the Nikasil coating on engine cylinders that have it, my bike has both of these. I don't know any other effects, Google is your friend.

Riding the bike on the open road I didn't notice much loss of power and the fuel consumption didn't change much. The biggest impact was starting the bike in the morning and riding while the engine was cold/warming up. It was difficult to start, low power and prone to stopping at idle so I was always blipping the throttle to keep the revs up. Leaving towns in the morning was always exciting with the bike trying die while in traffic.

I hope that helps

IanJ

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Always have plan B, and maybe plan C
www.travelswithkitty.com

Gracias por la informacion!

By the way, we use products of Bluechem Group (Powermaxx/ Protec) for cleaning/ maintaining our diesel engines with excellent results ;-)

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The Pin Project | Overland Greece