Gas question

wa8yxm wrote:
Well.... I have seen the lab test reports, And the warnings from the engine makers, and have checked out the chemistry. There is evidence to suggest that higher concentrations of alcohol may damage engines NOT designed for it (Mercury Outboard Motor's test) Of course if the engine IS designed for it,, Then that test would not apply.

And there is a fact that alcohol contains less energy per gallon that gasoline so your MPG suffers with Alcohol. Without double checking the research (Which I do not feel like doing just now) I believe EtOH is about 10 percent less powerful, so E-10 should cost you 1% in MPG. That said I have seen much greater claims.

This I do know.. I ran low level alcohol (1-2% in my cars in the winter for many years (Standard/Amoco gasoline) before they were bought by BP.

They added HEET gas line antifreeze to the mix (At least when the driver was adding it, If they added at the plant I doubt they used that brand).. This is basically shellac thinner or Wood Alcohol, Works much like the grain alcohol they use today but a bit more expensive.

This worked as a gas line antifreeze because it dissolves water and carries it along into the combustion chamber where it is turned into steam and exhausted out the tail pipe.

Works very well in fact as I and a few others have proven.

I'm not sure what that water is doing to the engine either.

One of MANY byproducts of burning regular non Ethanol gasoline is WATER.. So, really any extra water which may be in suspension via Ethanol is not going to cause any harm to your engine..

The real concern is what happens when the fuel has been sitting and the accumulated water drop out of the Ethanol.. It creates pockets of water in the bottom of your tank..

In small engines which have carb and fuel tank integrated this leads to clogging of the dip tube screen..

Many other small engines which have tank above the carb will have a valve with screen that goes into the bottom of the tank.. Water will surround the screen and eventually block the fuel..

In carb bowls you will end up with an accumulation of water in the bowl if the fuel sits to long.. This can cause corrosion to the bowl and even jet tube.. Pretty simple fix for this type is turn off the fuel from the tank and pull the drain plug on the carb duel bowl and drain out any leftover fuel..

For those who are chicken littles.. For your information pretty much every state in the US HAS been getting Ethanol laced gas since the 1970s.. The only difference from then to now is the concentration was boosted from a few percent up to a max now days of 10%..

Remember "Gasahol" from the early 1970s? It didn't sell well so Ethanol was creatively hidden in regular gasoline to stretch out the supplies..