Originally Posted by
hills
JMHO ... but i think the ethanol has more to do with an EPA screw up and national security. If you look at the history of this ... it might not seem so far fetched.
Up until the mid 1970's tetraethyl lead was the anti knock additive in gasoline. The EPA outlawed the lead compound as an additive and required that MTBE should be used instead. This is when we did the transition from leaded to unleaded gas. MTBE seemed to be okay, but over time they came to understand that it was seeping into underground fresh water supplies all over the country. The EPA created an ecological disaster.
It was at this point that the EPA again changed the law. They stopped using MTBE and instead used small amounts of ethanol as the anti knock agent.
Sometime around 2004, the EPA, under the George Bush Jr administration required that certain quotas of ethanol had to be blended into the nation's fuel supply. Given the time and place it's more likely that they did this as a measure to reduce our dependence on imported Arab oil. I think you could probably say our dependence on imported oil was the nation's biggest security hole at the time.
This new fuel is much more corrosive that regular gasoline. The oil industry spent billions refitting it's tanks, pumps, and underground piping to accommodate it.
If you reason it through .... this new fuel wasn't even thought of back in 1995. That's ten years before the law was passed. How could the automotive companies know to build for a corrosive fuel like E-10 ?
The thing with the gaskets is fair enough. The thing is that this has more to do with small engines and carbs. I'm having to replace the carbs on my small engines about every 4 - 5 years now. Another issue i'm seeing alot of is with rubber fuel lines going from the tank to the carb. They need to be replaced with fuel line stamped as low pressure ethanol compatible. Another biggie is phase separation with a gas / oil mix. I've lost three chain saws to ethanol blended fuels.
Boats have a problem with this fuel. The ethanol in the gas combines with water vapor in the air of the tank and starts phase separation. The local marinas here carry unblended fuel for the boats. The pump at one of the marinas went down a couple of weeks ago so the lobster fishermen have been coming to our station for gas. They're running into problems with our E-10 because there's so much fog lately. You don't want to be 10 miles out to see and have your engine conk out on you .... that could be life threatening.
Same issue with small aircraft that run on gasoline.
E-10 is generally okay for modern fuel injected cars and trucks that you use as your daily driver. Beyond that ...there are problems. It's generally recommended that you use the fuel up within 30 days from the time you got it at the pump. It doesn't have a long shelf life.
E-85 is another matter altogether. All small engine and some automotive manufacturers specifically tell you not to use it. Pop the gas fill on a car and truck and there are usually instructions on which fuel to use.
Ever hear of "gas line dryer?" like "Heet"? it contains alcohol. Yes it attracts moisture. It also doesn't ignite very well at low temps especially the closer you get to sea level. You should never let a car sit with low fuel for very long. It will attract moisture, yes E85 more so than E10 gasoline.
E10 isn't corrosive. Neither is E85. I have run E85 in my flex-fuel car for over 80,000 miles and the one before that 50K miles. I've run E85 in my non-flex truck with no problems - but then I am at high altitude so not as much air so the O2 sensors can enrich the fuel mixture so it only runs a little lean, I wouldn't do that at or near sea level.
Methanol and Ethanol blends have been around before 1995. Remember "gasohol" in the 80's?
Not my video
People with Evo's and STi's run E85 without changing anything besides the programming and fuel injectors and they don't have any issues and can run more boost etc...
This video is bias but independent tests have shown the same thing - with enthusiasts on car forums. Again, I could care less about the politics around gas and E85, I am just talking about the fuel.
Sorry for going so far off topic even if it is related.
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