Ethanol in small engines
I ran across this guys comments in a zero turn mower review and a guide to ethanol free stations "David S Boyd Duffys Outdoor Power Equipment August 25, 2014 Gary, I am a Hustler dealer as well...
Forum Discussion
westend wrote:
I would say that the guy quoted is covering a defect in the fuel delivery of Kawasaki engines and is incorrect about most things in that quote. Yes, ethanol added gasoline stores with more problems than a gasoline blended without but he is totally incorrect about blend rate, vapor locking, and engine build tolerances.
I've got a copy of or bookmark to a study done that shows "fuel adulteration" is becoming rampant.
Unscrupulous gas station owners are adding their own alcohol to the gas in the storage tanks. They then sell the 'over-proof' gasoline and pocket all the mark up and road taxes on the increased volume of fuel.
In some places people are also not just adding alcohol, but also spiking with water. Alcohol is hygroscopic, it absorbs water and holds it suspension. If it's a station on the highway this could go on for years and be extremely difficult to detect or prosecute. If a station that sold a 1,000,000 gallons of gas a year added just 2.5% water and 7.5% alcohol that would be $300,000 (minus the cost of 25,000 gallons of alcohol) in extra profits and a boatload of bad fuel for the travelling public.
