Ha ha! That's a good one!

This is a fuel pump in Chinguetti - http://tinyurl.com/yle2ec . And it's the only reliably working pump in town, because it is not dependent on the failing power network, just a muscle operated manual handle.

I've been told that true to the spirit of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles aimed at reducing vehicular air pollution in developing countries through the promotion of clean fuels and vehicles, the guy running the fuel station decided to go green.

So, he will now only sell environmently friendly uleaded. But to meet local demand for the traditional stuff on which every African car has run for ages, he will improve on the formula by mixing unleaded with brackish water, sand, rust flakes, used engile oil and goat urine in the usual proportions.

Have a good day and don't give up searching the web for other interesting UNEP proclamations.

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Roman (UK)

>>>So, he will now only sell environmently friendly uleaded

Well ,this is a common misconception

There is nothing "green" about unleaded . The only enviromental thing about this is that it lets you drive a car with a catalithyc converter without poisoning (killing) it .
The "green" thing in cars is the converter . This is what makes nowdays cars "greener" . Unfortunately all these platinum/pallaidum cathalist in the cat-converter are destroyed in presence of lead.hence the need lead-free petrol .

in other words , a Peugeot 505 petrol is as toxic using leaded than Unleaded. The only benefit of unleaded is that lets you run cars using catalyzers .

Javier

I wonder why the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles says that all sub-saharan Africa is unsing unleaded now, as there is only leaded?????

Yes, definitely, leaded fuel is better for the engine, but not for the catalitic converter, and what I am afraid about, the electronic parts.

It seems that I will have to stock up (especially in Mauritania), if there is no gasoline at the pumps.

BTW, do you know, if in places like Atar or Ayoun is possible to find gasoline?

Or maybe somebody will sell me diesel for sans plomb.

Is this relly true :"So, he will now only sell environmently friendly uleaded. But to meet local demand for the traditional stuff on which every African car has run for ages, he will improve on the formula by mixing unleaded with brackish water, sand, rust flakes, used engile oil and goat urine in the usual proportions."?

WELL , you can probbably find petrol in Ayoun and in Atar . Even from some odd petrol station. I woulndt worry at all about the quality of the fuel (well , not that much )
The biggest issue is that as less and less petrol is sold in Mauritnaia , Petrol is no longer sold in petrol stations , and is more commonly found in convenience stores , sold in Yellow plastic drums

These vendors , more often than not , they mix petrol with oil , as most of the petrol is gonna be used in mopeds , generators , etc.. so you could find yourself filling up with petrol and oil mix .

while this is not particularly bad at all , your mileage will vary , and definitely your car will make a nasty smelling white smoke in the exhaust .Other than that .. will run ok .

Electronics dont really care at all about which fuel are you filling up.All electronic management units have knock sensors in the block , so they can advance the timing just before knocking . Using leaded petrol -which is a bit higher RON- will make the EFI computer to advance the timing a bit , and hence getting more horsepower , etc..

Regarding the story about petrol being mixed with water , sand , etc.. I dont believe it at all . African petrol may be dirtier , but that´s cos the storage facilities are dodgier. They wouldnt do that on purpose.

have a nice day

Thank you Javier.

Lead+oil=very eco-friendly

Having just driven through, Morrocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso since Nov 2006...on my bike.
The last time my bike got unleaded fuel was in Layouune, Western Sahara at an Atlas gas station there. Since then, its been leaded all the way. One of the pompeistes in Mali in January was mentioning that they were gonna going to Super instead of essense but I hadn't heard of unleaded. I couldn't find Super in Mali whereas everywhere else carried it.
Javier right's the leaded with thrash your catalytic converter(if you have one) and foul your sparkplugs earlier. Other than that, I haven't noticed anything else...
Hope this helps.

edde

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edde
93 BMW K75s
www.motoedde.com