Ehanol/gas blend questions

Here in NY our gas is now 10% ethanol blend. I have heard some reports about problems with this blend compared to plain gasoline. Concerns include - not storing well longer than 30-60 days(drawing moisture and ethanol separating from gas, causing low octane/ poor combustion). Also not as good for older 2-cycle engines.I have already noticed a slight drop in gas mileage in my car - (Chevy Impala - 1 mpg or less drop). I know other parts of the US have been using this blended gas for awhile so I hoped some of you with experience can let me know if there is any truth to this. Also I am wondering if gas stabilizer helps prevent any of these problems. I am mostly concerned with having problems with chain saws etc, as well as my older gas tractors that arent used much over the winter. Thanks in advance - Hope everyone here had a good Thanksgiving.

ethonal is not as good a just strait gas and you are right it does decrease your fuel millage, I do use it in most of my cars and tractors as well as small engines and have had no problems, I do have one car that does not perform well with it so I just pony up the extra $.10 a gallon. I do think we better get used to it, however I think it is a crime to use a food product for fuel.

I have been using it in Farmalls and a 51 GMC 3/4 PU as well as a 57 CJ3B jeep sense 1986. I have had no issues and never used any snake oil for additive either. A small carb adjustment for power and idle might be needed, but there are not problems. It also (because it is alcohol) acts like dry gas, and should prevent condensation based H2O from settling out in the fuel tank/lines (prevents freezup in the fuel system. It can loosen some deposits (like a carb cleaner) when first used, but in a unit that is being operated regularly no issue. JimN

MN has had that fuel for years, and more recently, E85. Yes, the mileage is lower- our 03 Caravan drops about 11% when we use E85, and the fuel is usually 40 cents per gallon cheaper, so the math works out to our advantage. You are talking about a 10% blend, which has been used here for many years without problems. It"s a great winter blend, because the ethanol absorbs water and we don"t need HEET or similar products in the winter. Food issue is a non-issue. We are not short of corn in this country, the corn being used is field corn, and the distillers grain byproduct is an excellent cattle feed. Some plants even capture the CO2 and market that. Henry Ford planned for his cars to run on ethanol- gasoline was a byproduct back then. At the 10% blend, you should have no short or long-term problems with that fuel. Years ago, gasohol was a problem- that is methanol- it cleaned the crud out of tanks and plugged filters. Ethanol is not the same product.

Been using it here in MN since the mid 80's I believe.

The one problem with it is it cleans out varnish over time. You will likely plug up a filter in an old vehicle, cleanning out your fuel system.

Milage can go down a bit, the cost of the blend should be cheaper, not that you see it when it's govt mandated of course. According to many studies, the most ecconomical & close to best milage blend is about 25% ethanol. While it has less BTU's per gallon, at that rate most engines are creating a more efficient burn front in the cylinder, and gets a tad more useful energy out of the whole mix. As well you can use the octane of the ethanol & use a bit less refining of the petrochemical part. In theory somewhere about 25% E would be ideal for the average vehicle.

Here in MN a few stations have started selling E30 for that reason.

A lot of folk blend their own, putting a bit of E10 in the tank, and a bit of the E85 in the tank, coming out somewhere near E30.

I've never had any troubles with a small engine, I cut a lot of wood & my wife is mowing about 3 acres of lawn on the 2 places. Same mower for 7 years now.

The gas in my bulk tank is probably 2/3 6 months old, and 1/3 is 9 or 12 months old. Got more diesels around here, don't go through the gas as fast.

I can't say as I've experienced any problems with the stuff (other than filter plugging). I hear a lot of stories coming from states that have a heavy oil industry in them, but around here, not much of an issue.

--->Paul

(quoted from post at 11:36:00 11/27/09) Here in NY our gas is now 10% ethanol blend. I have heard some reports about problems with this blend compared to plain gasoline. Concerns include - not storing well longer than 30-60 days(drawing moisture and ethanol separating from gas, causing low octane/ poor combustion). Also not as good for older 2-cycle engines.I have already noticed a slight drop in gas mileage in my car - (Chevy Impala - 1 mpg or less drop). I know other parts of the US have been using this blended gas for awhile so I hoped some of you with experience can let me know if there is any truth to this. Also I am wondering if gas stabilizer helps prevent any of these problems. I am mostly concerned with having problems with chain saws etc, as well as my older gas tractors that arent used much over the winter. Thanks in advance - Hope everyone here had a good Thanksgiving.

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ust let it sit around 6 months & use you nose. If it still smells OK, then you have a nose problem.

what are we going to do when we run out of coal and oil

We have had it here in MA for some time the only problem I have noticed is it wont last as long. 30 days after that performce will drop it will still run mybe after 60+ days it will be hard to start. Sta bil doesnt seem to help as much as it use to. I work in the arbor equipment bussness and chain saws seem to run fine on it. just make sure to stir up the gas in the saw before starting and the can before refueling. I use 93 in all my saws and tell my custormers to use at least 89. 87 doesnt have any detregants added to it. the best thing to do is only buy a small supply of fuel at a time for your saw. plus my old chevy truck ran better on ehanol then the old MTBE gas.

(quoted from post at 12:44:39 11/27/09) what are we going to do when we run out of coal and oil

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nyone alive today won't live that long. Don't worry. Be happy.

Depending on the year of your Impala, it may be E-85 compatible. I have run my old tractors and small engines on E-85 with no problems. Just had to open the mixture screws about 3/4 turn. On one engine I forgot to drain all of the E-85 out of it and it caused corrosion in the carb probably from moisture.

I lost about 10% in mileage when the changeover began. However, there are now two stations in town that no longer sell gas with ethanol. The have signs saying "no alcohol in our fuel". I have been buying at those places even if they charge more. Mileage going back up. Alcohol fuel is higher octane and should not cause a ping in your engine. It's just that it produces less power than gasoline. Henry

I run ethanol exclusively so I can't tell you if it hurts the mileage or not, except for the 92 S-10 four cylinder. I record every drop of gas that goes into it for no special reason. I just do it. A year ago or so I switched the S-10 to regular gasoline for five tankfulls in a row or about fifteen hundred miles. There was no difference in mileage, but this is only one case with one vehicle. Except for a 76 Plymouth that I once owned, I've had zero problems with fuel systems on any of my gas vehicles.

This fall I decided to quit using my 550 gallon gas barrel that dad bought new in the middle sixties. It has been used exclusively for gasoline the whole time and the last ten years it's held 10% ethanol but only a half fill at a time because I don't use it that fast anymore. It had always had an electric pump on top of it so it never was sucked completely dry and I don't ever remember the drain plug being removed. It also had a vacuum/pressure type of cap on the fill hole if that means anything.

After the barrel was pumped dry I did remove the drain plug and expected to get a 45 year collection of rust and water, but to my surprise the ten gallons or so that came out was clean and water free. The last couple of quarts of gas was rusty but that was about all there was.

I caught the gas in a couple of pails and poured it straight into a couple of tractors using a funnel with a screen to catch the few chunks that were there. The sediment bulbs on those tractors collected no water at all and they ran fine. Just a little example of the cleaning abilities that E10 has, whether it be good or bad. Jim

As long as you will burn it right out use it, if it will set for two weeks buy Premium without the 10%. I loose 1mpg on my Jeep(computer). I have a JD 445 garden tractor that set 60 days with a for sale sign on it,now the tank has 1 1/2 of syrup in it when the gas went bad it also destroyed the in tank fuel pump. I have been cleaning carburetors for the last month trying to start tractors that have been sitting for 2 years(Estate). If you saw the inside of the carburetors and the gas tanks you wouldn t buy any ethanol.

We haave been using here in IOWA for over 25yrs and the B Farmalls run just fine even sitting in shed all winter then starting in spring NO gas tank problems. Some cars do vary with gas millege quite a discussion on the radio WHO Des Moines on the subject of gas millege. Its hard to believe all the tales on this subject when it comes up on this site of course some people couldnt change a flat tire either. Exports of corn were at all time high and still carryover so the BS about food is BALONEY.

It will clean old tanks as sed before , just steir it around dump it out the tank and carb will be clean ,let sit a few days and dump. weve had it here in Iowa fors maybe 30 years.Youve got to do some thing knot just sit and wonder!!!