Some more info on ethanol

[jfoster]

I know some of this may be repetitive and I apologize. I talked to a gas hauler today during an inspection and asked if he knew which service stations gets the ethanol and which ones don't. He told me that when a driver loads the fuel he has to enter if he wants the ethanol blend or not. Some stations want it and some don't. From what he told me (take it with a grain of salt) the stations get a tax break on the ethanol they buy versus pure gas. He also mentioned to what Freebird had stated before on another post about how it will prematurely eat up rubber fuel lines especially on motorcycles. They have to preplace rubber seals in their trailers pretty regularly due to it.

 

I noticed that when my bike was in the shop week before last for the valve adjustment, they had replaced the fuel line to the filter (now I know why).

 

But, basically the fuel drivers know who is selling it and who isn't. I'm not sure how accurate pure-gas.org is ($ changes people's minds). I'd rather know from the guy that just loaded it. Hope this helps some of you guys out and maybe its been addressed before...

Edited February 24, 2011 by jfoster

[SC89Venture]

By accident I put 10 gallons of E85 in my 99 Expedition, she immediately threw on the Service Engine Soon light. This ethanol stuff sux. At the Daytona 500, they taped little green America Ethanol flags on everybody's seat, first lap you were supposed to wave the flags as the cars came by. Mine was on the floor, lol.

[royalstar09]

Ethanol fuel sucks. I refuse to use it. MPG's got to pot, it wears out fuel system components early, tends to seperate when it sits. Nasty junk crap. Im glad im in an area where it is a complete option still. We onlt have a Caseys that carries it.

[JerryT]

Ethanol fuel sucks. I refuse to use it. MPG's got to pot, it wears out fuel system components early, tends to seperate when it sits. Nasty junk crap. Im glad im in an area where it is a complete option still. We onlt have a Caseys that carries it.

 

I wouldn't bet on that. I though MO passed a law a couple of years back requiring 10% blend, then modified it to only when it was cheaper. The problem is, its almost always cheaper. In most states today, filling stations are not required to even tell you they are selling blended gas so how can you tell. The whole ethanol thing is a joke imo. Besides lower BTU values which results in reduced gas mileage, it actually cost more per mile to use it plus all the other issues. Typical gov BS.

[royalstar09]

I wouldn't bet on that. I though MO passed a law a couple of years back requiring 10% blend, then modified it to only when it was cheaper. The problem is, its almost always cheaper. In most states today, filling stations are not required to even tell you they are selling blended gas so how can you tell. The whole ethanol thing is a joke imo. Besides lower BTU values which results in reduced gas mileage, it actually cost more per mile to use it plus all the other issues. Typical gov BS.

 

We only have 2 stations and were assured by our Abels (shell) that it was NOT blended. We pay special attention to it as it tends to seperate, so make a point to NOT buy any blended fuels at the fire station. Now having said that, their is no sure way to tell I guess. But we least were told it was not. Missouri repealed its labeling law in 2002 then pushed the for mandatory ethanol making that a success in 2007 or 2008. I guess from what I researched that 10% is probably in all our fuel and by law they do not have to disclose it. At 10% we have not had any issue if its there. But The pumps marked E85 will cause us issues. Glad you pointed that out, it made me do some digging I was not aware of.

Edited February 25, 2011 by royalstar09

[straycatt]

Michigan has been using a 10% ethanol blend for years, and I have been wrenching on all manner of snowmobile, quad, motorcycle, boat, lawn equipment small engines for many, many years, all the way back to leaded fuel.

 

I make a decent amount of money every year cleaning the fuel systems on hardware that owners did not properly store for the off season lay up. Not once have I seen any deterioration that I could trace to ethanol. The gasoline of today absolutely goes stale and gums up quicker, but as far as ruining hard parts of the fuel system, I just don't see it.

 

Ps. And a lot of the stuff that I work on in my own personal toys are as old as the early 1970's.