In this morning’s newspaper there is a column that states gasoline may now contain 15% ethanol (E15). There are mixed reviews regarding the impact this will have on newer and older vehicles (corrosion etc) and the negative impact it will have on the environment.

I’m sitting here trying to figure out if less is really better especially if in the long run I am still paying more for fuel and maintenance?

Any ideas?

 

Around here gasoline can only contain up to 10% ethanol and they have to label the pump. I know that I can't use it at all in my lawnmower or Sea Doo's. It may take longer so I know that it will finally mess up your car so I don't use it in the Vette period.

 

In these cars,,I'm pretty sure it won't do harm in the long run as they are set up for ethanol blends already. NOW everything I've read,,there is a slight MPG loss as the % of ethanol goes up. I don't like the E blending,,but you cant get away from it,,so what you gonna do?? Glad that 10% is the limit here as well !!

 

In my owners book it reads, Use only pure Gasoline, I know its getting hard to find, and you sure pay more when you can find it, But as for now I will only buy pure gas, and pay the price. (2002 Coupe).

 

Same here, 10%. For a while, probably up until Summer, this year, there was only 1 station quoting "ethanol free gas," he was selling it at comparable prices, but all of a sudden the "May contain 10% ethanol" stickers were on the pumps.

Where do you buy ethanol free gas?

 

I havent found any down here in Slidell either!

 

The article I read was posted in USA Today's front page

 

The local tv station had a short story on this last evening (10-13-10) & said this would be for autos made in 2007 or later. I not keen on this ethanol thing (buying votes?)

 

Ethanol,
When used in moderation does not cause major problems (in you or the car). The big problem is when water gets into the fuel. Gasoline and water don't mix and can easily be filtered out by the station filter and your car filter. Ethanol ABSORBS water chemically; so when you get water contaminated fuel the water is injected into the engine. The symptom of this is a car which either will not start or is “hard starting” and will idle poorly until warmed up. At full operating temp the car will run fine. In cold climates, the water in the fuel will turn into ice crystals in the fuel lines and potentially block the filter or injectors. This is why ethanol is STRICTLY PROHIBITED in fuel for light (piston) aircraft.
I got a tank full of water last year after a big snow melt (luckily in my old school TBI truck). It took two tanks of fuel treated with STP fuel dryer to clear out the problem.
BL = Ethanol and water DO NOT MIX, unless the ethanol is SCOTCH and the water is ROCKS!

 

Scoth on the rocks is good and water and ethanol is an issue as the % of blen goes up as does the reduced gas mileage

 

Here we go again...

15% ethanol will not hurt any Corvette made since 1990. In addition, the lack of mileage can actually be made up for with tuning. If you leave your stock tune in the car, yes the 15% blend will degrade your mileage about 1-2MPG depending on what you're coming from. However, your motor will actually be safer due to the higher octane rating and it will run cleaner (less need for sea-foam, techron, etc).

If tuned correctly, you can maintain your mileage with 15% ethanol.

BTW, I'm running 10% right now (living in Sothern CA) and my mileage on my 2003 Z06 is about 18-19 on the streets and 28-31 on the freeway. I have a clogged cat right now so my mileage has dropped a little, but once I get that fixed it will be back to what it normally is. AND I don't ***** foot my car. I drive it hard and I run it through the gears every single time I drive.

I don't get why so many people are so against having any ethanol in their gas considering it has more upsides than downsides.

EDIT: For those of you talking madness about water and corrosion; do you realize how long a car must sit for E15 to collect enough water to even be traceable?! Seriously, E85 doesn't collect enough water to make a difference in 3-4 months of sitting.

 

Correct. However, they're trying to push it to cars dating back to 2001

 

"Here we go again"
Thanks for the clarification. I apologize for repeating this but I was recently transfered back to the mainland and was unaware that this was happening in the US; I was in transit from a foreign post and must have missed this previously: However, with that said I still love this post.

 

If you ever way down yonder in Jesuit Bend, we have a Conoco Station here with 100% Gasoline! The Conoco-Phillips refinerery is only 5 miles away so this gas is trucked right in so it doesn't go through the ethanol mix process. It is even written on each pump. It is only 91 octane but I haven't had any problems with it.

 

In this area, we have only 10% ethanol, but I'm sure it will go up. The problem as stated above is a very solid chemical reaction. For older cars the effect can go from rusted out fuel lines (ie: engine fires) to really crappy fuel milage. And all this from the EPA, the very same agency who wants more overal mileage from all new cars and at the very same time, madates the use of 15% ethanol, which since it burns at a lower temperture empties your fuel tank faster and your MPG goes all to hell. All this from our wonderful government ! This is a big mistake, but our leaders press on . . .

 

I recieved a company wide email saying the same thing yesterday...


btw, I just typed all this in so the typos are likely my fault and not my source...

 

THe GOvernment keeps pressing us engineers to make more fuel efficient cars while handcuffing us with this Ethanol.

How about this -- An immediate fuel savings can be accomplished by simply making our traffic flow more efficient. Since cars and trucks burn the most fuel while they are accelerating we need to control "stop and go" driving.
How to do this? Easy – eliminate unneeded stoplights! You know the
stoplights that are put in places that stop 20 vehicles to let one
vehicle out when they are plenty of safe opportunities for that one
vehicle to get onto the main road.
Do the math – if the light cycles every 3 minutes and stops 10 cars for each cycle, this amounts to 200 cars per hour! Spanning this for 12 hours during high traffic times of 7:00 am to 7:00 pm this amounts to 2,400 cars a day that need to accelerate from a dead stop from that one unneeded light! Now multiply this by days a year…. We have 250 or so work days a year so this is 600,000 cars a year that have to stop and accelerate from ONE UNNEEDED STOPLIGHT!
Now think about how many unneeded stoplight are around every town of every state in the nation. Think about the national fuel savings.

There is your F-ing Solution!

 

It's always our fault

 

This whole ethanol thing really pisses me off. They tried all this back in the mid eighties and it failed. It really screwed up a bunch of cars back then. While they seem a little more tolerant now the whole thing is still a scam. You still burn the same if not more foreign fuel due to the lower fuel economy. I've seen this crap eat the galvanized coating off the inside of fuel tanks and lines.

And then to add insult to injury they have bacon priced beyond practical because ethanol has the price of corn driven up. I miss my bacon.

 

Ethanol has always been and shall always be.......... a political boondoggle. A whole industry emerged out of Washington efforts by Al Bore. There is a good chance the tax credits for this industry expires in December of this year. The EPA idiots may have painted themselves into a corner.