Ethanol Gas

more like mixing a little lye with yer oatmeal...... I've had 6 rigs go down from ethanol. Three of my John Deere's in the same summer. Cost about 235.00 each to fix them. One of my Suburbans was more like 500.

According to the Wa'Bamagore crowd that's stimulating the economy!

Really, there was an article on it a couple yrs ago....yup, he said that. :)

al
 
I'd prefer the "oxygenated" gasoline from 2yrs ago over the green tinted"moonshine"at the pumps today.
Carburetorated engines start hard,if they'll start in cold temps.
 
They tried this !@#$%%^^ in the 30's wasn't worth a hill of beans then either. Caused same problems. A few are making big bucks off it, rest of us have to suffer with the fallout. It is too bad that all are elected officials? are too busy getting re-elected than taking care of business and instituting some checks on the Terror reign of the EPA. The only green generated by this has been that exchanging hands for replacement parts.
 
Ethanol bashers

Brazil uses a 20 to 25% ethanol blend (depending on supplies) in the same autos that we have. They don't seem to be having the problems you're reporting. You'd rather pollute the ground water with the MTB poison for the oxygenator that the oil companies were selling previous to ethanol? Big oil is pulling out all the stops to kill the renewable fuels, as they won't have total control over what we buy. If it wasn't for the rfs mandate, the oil companies wouldn't use ethanol if they could get it for free, because they don't control it. How much money does this country spend on the military to protect the oil coming from the mideast, and most of that oil goes to the rest of the world, not even coming to us? No aircraft carriers needed to guard ethanol!
 
jlcprec said:
Brazil uses a 20 to 25% ethanol blend (depending on supplies) in the same autos that we have.
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I'd have to see a source for that. How is it that hoses and seals in Brazil react differently to ethanol than they do here? Weed whackers have to have the fuel lines replaced every year if ethanol gas is used. Not by suggestion, but because they simply dissolve. The BTU content is lower, so it takes more gallons to get the same energy out creating more exhaust, and that exhaust is more likely to clog catalytic converters. Ethanol gas just has not turned out to be the good idea it was promoted as.
 
Vibe said:
I'd have to see a source for that. How is it that hoses and seals in Brazil react differently to ethanol than they do here? Weed whackers have to have the fuel lines replaced every year if ethanol gas is used. Not by suggestion, but because they simply dissolve. The BTU content is lower, so it takes more gallons to get the same energy out creating more exhaust, and that exhaust is more likely to clog catalytic converters. Ethanol gas just has not turned out to be the good idea it was promoted as.
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Thank you vibe........ I gener'ly stand down when an Obamapoligist steps up because they're incapable of running the numbers but you are a working engineer. THANK YOU for pointing out that emissions per MILE is the only relevant marker.

And BTW, it doesn't hurt to point out that ENGINEERS KNOW THIS STUFF! You don't have to use terms like "just has not turned out to be" because, as an engineer, you can easily predict outcomes. Ethanol is and always has been a boondoggle. You cannot make the numbers work without lying or claiming "conspiracy."

I just lock right up when somebody hacks out an old saw like "bumblebees ain't s'posed to fly" or "that airchine don't s'posed to fly but jus' look ..."

al
 
Brazil has offered gasoline or ethanol to their populace when we were dabling in the odd-even license plate number system gas rationing days in the '70's.
Gasoline prices in Venezuela in 2012 was .12 cents per liter.

There are legalized crooks amongst us!!
 
We've been using ethanol blend in all our gas engines, 4 wheelers, lawnmowers, snowmobiles, cars, and pickups. I've used it since it's been available (over 20 years), and have had none of the issues that the media promotes to discredit ethanol blends.

I did a little research after reading the link that started this thread. The article is published in the "Washington Examiner". This paper is owned by Phillip Anshutz. Looking him up on Google, then Wikipedia informed me that he started out by buying his father's oil drilling company, then some land in Wy. and Colorado where the largest oil field in the US since Prudhoe Bay, AK was discovered in the early 80's. The study cited in the article was funded by the
American Petroleum Institute. So is it any surprise that they found the ethanol blends damage engines? Not to me. Anshutz is listed by Forbes as the 34th richest in the US. The owner of this paper is deep in the oil business.
 
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Our area in West Texas still had undilluted unleaded gasoline when ethanol blend was all you could get in the big cities. On trips to Dallas I would get 10 per cent better mileage without the ethanol. My son-in-law had the same results. Ethanol doesn't seem to harm anything but I cannot see that the stuff does any thing either. Kind of like a lot of politicians.
 
Ethanol: in 2 strokes at normal setting cause the engine to run hot, leading to scored cylinders. So to correct we have to richen the air/fuel ration and use a little more oil mixed in or another additive to compensate. Same thing happens in the four stroke small engines. Now I ain't no working Engineer, but I am a working stiff and I know small engines well. The ethanol attacks the fuel systems in 2 ways first it is detrimental to almost all fuel line parts 2nd it attracts and retains moisture leading to corrosion of metal fuel line parts.
Because the eng are all ready running too hot from the fuel plus the new idiot EPA emission mandates (the units are coming off the line so leaned out that it is amazing that any of them last more than 20 hours of continuous use). Burned valves and scored pistons/cylinder walls are the order of the day. Now I don't know about the rest of you fellows but at $1K / per power head that won't last 20 hours I have a bottom line problem.
Ever wonder why you won't find ethanol in Aviation fuel????? AV around here is the only thing that doesn't have it.
In 60 years I replaced one fuel pump on one 25 year old farm truck, the lever that rode on the cam lobe wore out( $20 for a new pump) in the last 3 years 3 fuel pump assemblies at an avg. price of $350/ea. ( that does not include labor) Now either the oem pumps ain't worth a hill of beans, the stealership is feeding me what I feed mushrooms or something else is going on, you decide.
 
blades said:
Ever wonder why you won't find ethanol in Aviation fuel????? AV around here is the only thing that doesn't have it.
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If you look real close at those cars that require premium gas, and talk to the dealer mechanics, you'll find out that it's mostly because premium doesn't have the ethanol content. The car makers know this and recommend using premium because of it.
 
I didn't mean to start a fight here, just pass on info. I do not believe blended gas can be stored well, ethanol evaporates. It has a certain moisture content. I also believe Consumer Reports proved you get better milage with non ethanol gas, but I don't subscribe to them, only hearsay.

It's not easy to find non ethanol gas, but for the gas I use in small engines and the gas I want to store for emergencies, won't have ethanol in it.
 
well when you get to the engineering side of things they talk btu's/lb....
and e85 has less btu/lb......significantly less...so less mpg and the difference is not made up in the cost at the pump.


in brazil...the cars are not the same that run on alcohol....they have cheap alcohol form the remains of the sugar cane..so very cheap alcohol.(not a substidize governmant corn program)

thier original attempts did not work...cars had very high compression ratio to efficently use the alcohol..think of a vw bettle with a 13:1 cr...
and then you need a gasoline start system....think windshild washer tank and pump full of reg gas.

get some facts and come back


mike in co
 
Ethanol gasoline in antique cars

Ask anyone in an antique car club in your area what they think of gasoline containing ethanol and they will probably give you an ear full. At first we all tried to find additives, but now some stations (Fastrac in my area) have a pump with non-ethanol gasoline. I won't put gasoline with ethanol in my '55 Chevy.
 
Ethanol, like Methanol needs higher compression, and also lots of liquid. When I ran my rail in the late sixities I had a 16 to 1 compression, or close to that, for the methanol to work properly and it took almost a gallon for one run. Nothing compared to what they do now, but this information is strickly information. Why do they use Ethanol now in cars?? From my understand it is cheaper to make, so if they can cut 15% off the top as far as production is concerned! who knows?? ( I ran faster then Coot's 409 :cool::cool:)
 
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