Author Topic: E15 ANOTHER FUEL FIGHT  (Read 1244 times)

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Offline Eccentric

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Re: E15 ANOTHER FUEL FIGHT
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2014, 03:40:17 pm »
Aaron, what types of issues are you seeing specifically and would they be
Exclusive to alky fuel? 

I'm not having any issues with my equipment now, as I switched to non-eth fuel a couple years ago.  When I still ran eth pump gas I saw the issues I listed a couple posts ago. I did not get those from some PM article or the internet.   I still see many of the issues I listed in the equipment owned by friends and family that run eth fuel. 

Not letting old fuel sit in machines does mitigate the water issues..............except when the water is already in the fuel from the gas station storage tanks.  As with ethanol concentration, the water contamination levels are inconsistent.

Running fresh eth gas does not mitigate the rubber/vinyl/plastic fuel system component degradation issues.  That's what I'm still seeing with equipment owned by friends who only run 'fresh' eth fuel (and who sometimes use the 'wonder' treatments like Startron). 

Unless the machine is drained immediately and completely after each use, the fuel system components are in constant contact with ethanol.  It's fresh..............but it's still ethanol.  There's a reason why the manufacturers keep changing the materials they use for fuel lines and other components.  I don't like running machines dry all the time either.  There are issues that come with that practice (but that's another discussion).

I also continued to see these same rubber/vinyl/plastic component issues with my own equipment before I finally found a good source of somewhat reasonably priced non-eth gas and switched for good.  Fuel lines were lasting months rather than years (same with 'duckbills').  Carb diapragms were lasting a year (at most) as opposed to multiple years.  O-rings swelled and/or ****.  Fuel caps and other plastic parts started cracking.  Etc...

Eth gas does make machines run leaner/hotter compared to non-eth gasoline at the same carburetor mixture settings as I stated previously.  That's not something made up by PM or others.  IF you are able to tune for the ethanol fuel, this can be compensated for.  Fixed jet carburetors don't allow us to compensate for it.  Limited adjustment carburetors may not allow enough adjustment to compensate either. 

Then there's the issue of eth concentration consistency (or lack thereof).  If you tune your machines for fuel with 5% concentration, and the next batch is 20%, you're going to have issues unless you can retune for that batch of fuel.

The damage I saw in the 1990's was not just "in fact" brown sludge from MTBE/eth mixing.  Saw some of that, but it wasn't the sole cause of the problems.  Letting fuel sit in machines wasn't the sole problem either.  Corrosion was not the sole problem either.  As I stated before, I saw many new (as in bought on Friday and burned up on Saturday) machines damaged by eth gas. 

MTBE was terrible stuff for different reasons, including groundwater contamination.  Heck, stations in my area had JUST completed the mandatory tank replacements (using fiberglass tanks) when MTBE became mandated.  Not long after that, it was discovered that the MTBE was goin' right through those tanks into the ground.  Several stations were shut down.  Not good.  MTBE was also terrible with rubber components.  Turned fuel lines to chewing gum.  Saw that with my own equipment.  I still remember a guy arriving at work as his fuel line (1980's S10 Blazer) completely failed.  Gas pouring onto the parking lot.  He's lucky it didn't catch fire and burn to the ground.  His fuel line was like taffy.  I actually sought out the stations that were using ethanol instead of MTBE as their mandated oxygenate (just to get away from the MTBE).  Those were mostly 76 stations at that time.  Learned (first hand) of the problems with running eth gas shortly after that...

I don't intend to keep going over this.  I've stated my observations and experiences enough.  Either you agree with my conclusions or you don't.  Doesn't matter to me.  You asked a question and I answered it.  I'm sorry that my answers don't agree with your conclusions.  Doesn't make my answers less 'valid' or give cause for suspicion that I got them from some magazine article or blog.   I'm not some yokel that read a bunch of 'internet' paranoia and/or got spun up by a PM article.   

 

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