E15 fuel may harm your vehicle's engine...

[suspectnumber961]

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news...es-engine.html

The (EPA) recently approved the use of E15 gasoline -- a blend of 15 percent ethanol in a gallon of gasoline. While that may be good news for the nation's farmers, AAA warns that could be bad news for your vehicle's engine.

The auto club went public with its concern because of a survey showing 95 percent of consumers have not heard of the new fuel blend. At the same time, only five percent of cars on U.S. highways have been approved by their manufacturers to use the fuel.

...

The problem is that only about 12 million out of the more than 240 million light-duty vehicles on the roads today are approved by manufacturers to use E15 gasoline, based on a survey conducted by AAA of auto manufacturers. AAA automotive engineering experts also have reviewed the available research and believe that sustained use of E15 in both newer and older vehicles could result in significant problems such as accelerated engine wear and failure, fuel-system damage and false “check engine” lights for any vehicle not approved by its manufacturer to use E15.

Currently almost all gasoline sold at service stations contains 10 percent ethanol. Congress passed the law mandating the additive as a means to stretch the nation's gasoline supplies. But many automobile engines don't run as well on the fuel.

In addition, marine engines have trouble with the fuel blend. Many marinas now sell more expensive gasoline that does not contain the additive.

[radioranger]

Dirty little secret is this, the powers that be think only they should drive, way too many older cars on the road, thanks to fuel injection engines last twice as long as they used to, ethanol is a stop gap way to eliminate them earlier,

[Frank Lee]

Bwah ha ha.

I'd run it in my '59 Chevy and I wager nothing bad would come of it.

[Daox]

That is if you can even find a gas station selling E15. I haven't seen one yet.

[drainoil]

Most all stations here in MN have e10 87 octane as the base fuel and its been that way for many years here. I haven't seen any e15 pumps yet but we have a few e85 pumps here in the metro area.

The thing that gets me is if you want completely ethanol free fuel, which I prefer to run in my marine engine, lawnmower, etc, we have only a few select gas stations here that sell non-oxy fuel and last summer I paid almost a dollar extra per gallon for it over the base e10 87 octane. Its popular with hot rodders, boaters, etc that know the trouble ethanol laced fuel can be when run in older carburated machinery.

As kind of a poor mans experiment, my uncle filled a clear mason jar filled with e10 87 octane and let it sit for several weeks. At about the 4th week it started to break down and looked to turn to varnish. Don't imagine older fuel systems can run very effieciently on this sludge.

Not cool to have your boat motor start running badly or quit altogether out on the water on a nice sunny weekend day because you ran crappy ethanol laced fuel in it-hint speaking from personal experience.

All I ask is give the consumer a CHOICE. I don't mind if they offer %100 ethanol fuel for those that want it, but please leave us that want, the choice to get regular ethanol free fuel without a large mark-up in price.

[Daox]

Small engines are a problem, always have been as far as I know. They're finicky since the carbs have such small orifices. Fuel injected engines don't have those problems as far as I know.

Stabil makes a ethanol additive that works pretty well from what I hear. The father in law just pours in some seafoam in with his gas into the lawn mower and says he hasn't had any hiccups since he started doing so (vs previous he did have issues). So, IMO its not a big deal, you just have to know how to deal with it.

[user removed]

I drove 60 miles to get E0 fuel when I first got the Fiesta. Cost about 60 cents a gallon more than regular E10. Closest station of two in the next county. I could not justify the expense with the savings, not even close. The Fiesta fuel log shows when I stopped using E0 and my 41 year old Honda CB350 runs fine on E10, but I do use mid range in the bike. The bike started running rough until I replaced the original 41 year old points and condenser. Now it runs great on E10. I use stabilizer and every couple months drain the bikes and put it in the truck to get rid of hte gas before it gets too old. I have a 5 gallon plastic gas can with stabilized gas to put in the bikes when I ride them.

regards
Mech

[Frank Lee]

All I ask is give the consumer a CHOICE.

Isn't that what we have?

[WesternStarSCR]

Good grief. Does it still take more energy to make ethanol than it provides?

Luckily in Detroit there are lots of choices of non-Ethanol fuel. The entire gas station will either have all pumps with a sticker about E-10, or no sticker, hence no ethanol.

Same Price. Sometimes, E10 is pricier at Sunoco than E0 at Speedway across the street. Go figure. Less energy per gallon and pricier? Speedway is always busier of the 2 of them.

Unless they start making different shape nozzles to work with different cars, I see zero good of this, except for corn lobbies.

It is hard enough to get people to inflate tires or add washer fluid. Now the non-attention paying American can blindly go and put stuff in that may void their warranty without realizing it.

What a country... start making ethanol off of waste grasses and products, that provide more energy than they consume during production, then efforts such as E-15 may be worth it for consumers and manufacturers. But foisting this, afte the E-85 did not gain traction like corn states hoped, is just a second attempt at the same bad idea IMHO. Corn should be food first. Does more good. Our cars don't eat ethanol very well yet.

Off of soap box...

[Prophecy99]

drainoil check out TCW3, i think you will be amazing by what people are saying.
i haven't tried it out yet but I am very close.
i will also post a new thread on this soon, as it has been around a while but not talked about much here in regards to mpg, and ethanol effects.

Originally Posted by Prophecy99

Best Additive for Your Car? Pennzoil Marine 2 Stroke Oil - Maxima Forums

Been testing

Pretty much it cleans out your engine and helps make up for the problems created from ethanol blended fuels. Over at the maxima forum guys are extremely critical and it actually appears to be generally accepted.