Gasoline with Ethanol

The gas pumps where I normally trade are the same old ho - hum type, summer, winter, makes no difference, never a notice of change,

but was in dallas this week-end and in filling up with unleaded reg. the pump had a sticker on it that read - this gasoline may contain up to 10% ethanol, it runs good, about the same mpg,

but my question is will the fuel system and related parts appear cleaner from the use of an ethanol / gas blend - since ethanol is a solvent / cleaning aid?

mho vfe

Reply to
fiveiron
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If a newer vehicle, check your owner's manual, some fuel lines, sensors don't get along very well with an ethanol blend, but most likely you will end up with cleaner injectors.

Reply to
Knifeblade_03

Ethanol is a solvent, but so is gasoline, in a sense. The ethanol may help you avoid a little water from atmospheric condensation.

I really don't expect you to see any great cleaning contributions from the ethanol.

Reply to
<HLS

Ethanol has excellent cleaning properties for your engine as is does not leave any residue when combusted. FACT: All (gasoline burning) cars built since the 1970's are fully compatible with up to 10% ethanol in the fuel mixture. All manufacturers approve the use of E-10 blends and warrant their vehicles for this fuel. I can back up these claims so if you have any other questions about ethenol fuel let me know. steve

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Reply to
steve goodsworth

In fact the energy content of ethanol is only around 60% that of gasoline. Your mpg on E10 will therefore be around 4% less under otherwise _identical_ conditions. Unless it's a carburetted car - in which case your engine will run a tad leaner.

There are other factors however -- a higher octane rating being one.

Reply to
John_H

Ethanol can hold large amounts of water (it used to be used in small amounts by choice as gas line antifreeze to soak up the water in the tank) so if your fuel system is steel, expect it to rust from the inside out.

You should check with your owners manual. Mine states to only use enough of the mix in an emergency to get to real gas.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
Reply to
Mike Romain

Bullshit!

Jeep CJ's and YJ's up to 1991 plainly state 'not' to use any alcohol mix unless it's an emergency and then to only put enough in to get to real gas and early Jeep XJ Cherokee's state the engine might not run on it even...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
Mike Walsh

well regardless of the outcome, whether we like it or not, ethanol is here to stay - since it is the replacement for the mtbe

product which is being removed from present day gasoline due to ground water contamination / etc..

an article stated that the ethanol was to be mixed with gasoline just prior to delivery to the pumps, due to "instability", and also it cannot be pumped through the pipeline system.

ethanol is a product of the farming community and is trucked to areas where it is to be mixed with gasoline for consumer use..

mho vfe

Reply to
fiveiron

Yup, and the farmers get it by heavy use of fertillizer which is made from - you guessed it - oil.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

"Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote in news:newscache$tdgpxi $xvo$ snipped-for-privacy@news.ipinc.net:

I am sick of seeing such misinformation here all the time. First plenty of ethanol is rail shipped. and only the nitrogen fert. is made using oil stock.(and any where manure is used as fert. much less additional nitrogen is needed already) Also there are other sources of ethanol that don`t use corn per say to make it, and the left over ddg has very good feed value for food animals. They are makeing complete use of the corn value not just makeing fuel. We have been using the 10% blend here for almost 20 years now and other than the small mpg drop you will be hard pressed to tell the diff. The only thing I can tell the diff on any more is a couple of my older motorcycles that run too lean with it because they were pushing the limit for emissions anyway. KB

Reply to
Kevin Bottorff

As I mentioned previously ALL manufacturers (including jeep) approve the use of a 10% (ten percent) blend of ethanol fuel. The use of ethenol in higher percentages will have a negative effect on vehicles as they are not tuned for that level of concentration. As for jeep specifically saying that you are 'not' to use any alcohol mix unless its an emergency is probably put in there because if you get in the position where you need to use alcohol, you were dumb enough to use up all your petrol and not leave enough for the return trip, so it would be a good idea to tell the dumb person that using alcohol for extended periods of time would be a bad idea. I think this is what they call idiot proofing. steve

Reply to
steve goodsworth

Cite please?

This is mindless propanganda spewing with little basis in fact.

Does corn production require fertilizer? Yes. Does some of it come from petroleum based product? Yes. Are the other forms that are used as well? Yes.

Next you are going to tell us that it is a net energy loss using all sorts of incomplete statistics and numbers. For some reason trucking/transportion/distribution counts when we talk about ethanol, but not for oil. For some reason, distillation energy inputs are relevent, but refinery inputs are not. Etc, etc.

I am being sarcastic here, but some of the "reports" I have seen are so ridiculously biased it's almost funny.

JW

Reply to
cyberzl1

Sorry, you are wrong.

Jeep says not to use any mix of any amount no matter how many drying agents they say they put in.

The owners manual calls it 'gasohol' or a 90% unleded with 10% ethanol. It also states to not use any mixes with methanol.

My CJ's 258 bogs down for power on the 10% mix and my mileage goes from

350 miles per tank to less than 250 miles per tank. I have been 'stuck' in an area on holidays a few times where all that's available is the mix.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

Must not be able to drive in most of the Midwest then.

I don't know about all states, but I know that in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin all gas is E-10. I think both Dakotas are as well as Indiana and Illinois.

E-10 does give lower gas mileage. Now that MTBE has been banned, I don't think you will have much other choice however. I think all fuel will be at least E-10 within the next few months(I have heard, but I dont' remember off hand).

If your car is old enough, you can advance your timing a few(3-4) degrees and gain most of the mileage losses back. Depending on your car and driving style.

JW

Reply to
cyberzl1

eat your heart out.:--)

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mho v=83e

Reply to
fiveiron

Out of date, but more complete than most I have seen.

National average is now 158.7 bu/ac. Nearly 13% above the quoted average of 140. 2005 numbers are not out yet, but are probably higher than that(2005 was a good year for most regions).

Many of Pimentel's arguments are based on old or flawed information(please refer to:

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I am not saying that ethanol is the final solution to our energy problems, but it is a pretty good interim solution. At the very least, we are buying our own product vs importing oil. That alone should be worth something to us.

JW

Reply to
cyberzl1

"Sorry, you are wrong. Jeep says not to use any mix of any amount no matter how many drying agents they say they put in. The owners manual calls it 'gasohol' or a 90% unleded with 10% ethanol. It also states to not use any mixes with methanol. My CJ's 258 bogs down for power on the 10% mix and my mileage goes from

350 miles per tank to less than 250 miles per tank. I have been 'stuck' in an area on holidays a few times where all that's available is the mix."

Mike, i'm not doing this to antagonise you but my reports are coming directly from the canadian department of energy and natural resources canada. I have not read your jeep manual so I can't say for sure. I own a 89 jeep cherokee laredo and my manual does not even mention ethanol. I doubt that the millions of dollars spent on researching this topic (not to mention my career) If you still do not believe me I will send you a copy of the text i am reading, as I am a distributer of the drivesmart program. You can send an adress to me if you wish and I will mail it off to you as soon as tomorrow. snipped-for-privacy@switzerresearch.com steve

Reply to
steve goodsworth

Having run E10 fuel for 25 years in hundreds of vehicles, I have yet to see a single one that got lower MPG. I've had maybe a half dozen that I could detect no change from using ethanol, but most vehicles have had positive results, anywhere from quicker starts to better mileage and smoother idling.

The engines that responded less (or failed to respond to) were all high mileage low compression engines that nothing short of a rebuilt was going to help anyway.

Reply to
Raymond J. Henry

And since it can't be pipelined, it has to be shipped to distribution teminals in trucks that burn... you guessed it... oil.

Yeah, ethanol sure is good for the environment, isn't it?

Reply to
Steve

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