Ethanol Free Gas

[superbird77]

Hello all, i was wondering what is everyone's take on gas with Ethanol added. I was wondering if anyone had any issues with running it or if it should be avoided with our older cars? Seems from my research it absorbs water and may cause added corrosion. Whats everyone's take on this. In my area there seems to be certain stations that provide Ethanol free premium gas.

 

[Dennis H]

Ethanol is **** for my 440 and cannot be avoided here. It boils at a low temperature. I add Amsoil 100:1 and have wrapped the lines.

 

[MoparMitch]

I have personally not seen any Ethanol related issues on my stuff. But I'm still waiting. Not sure how much is used here in the Northeast. I'm ready though, If I have to rebuild Carburetors or Pumps.

 

[HawkRod]

The problem with Ethanol is it absorbs water and becomes corrosive. If you leave it sit it will absorb water and start causing problems with your fuel system.

Ray Bohacz, who is a very qualified auto technician, believes that (E10) it is not problematic if you drive regularly and do not leave your car sit more than a couple of months. Even the ethanol-free gas is formulated a lot different than gas in the 70's. But it is what it is, so we need to tune our carbs differently. Once they are tuned, it should work just fine (minus letting it sit).

Having said all that, if I could get ethanol free gas for my old carbureted car I would do it. In my area you can't find ethanol-free gas, so I have no choice...

 

[barnfind]

Made from food type of items and should have remained there IMO. Given the choice Id choose non ethanol premium for my older vehicles.

 

[petieg383]

Try here:

http://pure-gas.org

 

[Car Nut]

I like to buy race fuel, but it costs $8.50 a gallon for leaded 110 octane at certain stations here. Or you can buy concentrate race gas at race.gas.com and blend it with the junk they sell at gas stations.

 

[Photon440]

No problem where I am, Chevron premium has no ethanol in it.

That being said, remember in the 60's and 70's when people would add ethanol in the wintertime to dry out the gas and make sure no water collected in the tank and froze?
http://drygas.com/

 

[monaco66coupe]

I remember well. I worked in the gas station my Dad owned from 62-68. Stations then if less then honest would wait until their tanks were nearly empty before ordering more, so water would condense. Then fill them up. So, water in the gas. My Dad never allowed the tanks to go below 75%. He had a good reputation, and wanted to keep it. Ethanol sucks. it's worse when it is hot out. The fuel doesn't have the same energy, and tends to vapor lock sooner. It is a fact that my 13' Patriot gets 26 mpg with Unleaded, and 20 mpg when we bought ethanol. here we have some choice, but it seems like those choices are narrowing. Damn Guvment!

 

[superbird77]

I'll try and avoid it if possible. I've started to look a bit more while filling up lately, some stations don't have any posting of any ethanol added but I don't know if they legally have to? I know most gas stations normally get their supply from the same sources.

 

[Cornpatch MO]

There are now several brands of additives for ethanol. But non of them tell you just what they do. I am mostly concerned with corrosion and what it does to rubber gas lines and gaskets- soft parts in carburators ...........................MO

 

[shag766]

there is no corn in premium fuel here, so far

 

[Speedbird]

Absolutely no problems in my driver or any of my cars.
73 A body with 318 cop engine, Q jet.
Been running it forever. 74 miles a day, 5 days a week.
That car will run on dog dish water with saw dust in the pan.
I know it can cause problems though.

 

[barnfind]

It's not just for breakfast anymore

Ethanol can be produced from a variety of feedstocks such as sugar cane, bagasse, miscanthus, sugar beet, sorghum, grain, switchgrass, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower, fruit, molasses, corn, stover, grain, wheat, straw, cotton, other biomass, as well as many types of cellulose waste and harvesting, whichever has the best well-to-wheel assessment.

 

[1969CoronetR/T]

There are convenience stores up in Ere PA that sell non-ethanol fuel. They were promoting it last summer at the Country Fair stores (similar to a Sheetz or WaWa convenience store). I only put leaded 110 octane race fuel in my Coronets.

 

[GTX MATT]

It absorbs water and evaporates quicker. It doesn't like rubber hoses, so if use good rubber fuel line where you need to (I believe some is made that stand up to it), it will make it dry out faster. I believe the stuff that is supposed to be used with it is J30R9 or J30R12.

Other than that there is nothing wrong with it. I've been using it in my car for coming up on 7 years. My fuel tank is fine (been pulled for a sending unit), my fuel lines seem fine, my carb has been apart several times for tuning. No issues. The car sat for a year and a half with have a tank full of it too while the engine was out of it. It sits all winter with no strange additives and I have no problems. Apparently some people have had issues with rotting/disintegrating gas tanks and fuel lines, but I'm not sure what they're doing or what their climates are. I live in CT, and our climate is quite bad IMO.

The ethanol actually is actually added to be an octane booster and an oxegenate, which replaces MTBE because MTBE was found to be a carcinogen. Straight ethanol as a fuel actually has advantages. Lead as an additive in gasoline actually mimics many of the properties of ethanol as a fuel source.

You don't notice on a 10% blend (which is stupid to do anyway) but if you run E85 or straight Ethanol your engine would run cooler, make more power when tuned properly, and stay cleaner.

 

[moper]

Matt's dead on but I'll point out two things:
Alcohol fuels do have a higher resistance to detonation, but do not have as much energy per volume as gasoline does, so it takes more to get the same power... Which means your gas mileage will drop a certain percentage and if you're building for it more compression can be run to help minimize that.
And CT doesn't have a bad climate. We have bit sof everyone elses bad climates... Lake effect snow, Canadian cold, NC rain & hurricanes, Georgia heat, and LA humidity. Sometimes all in the same week!

 

[GTX MATT]

Lake effect snow, Canadian cold, NC rain & hurricanes, Georgia heat, and LA humidity. Sometimes all in the same week!

Too true hahah!