ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

[B.M.W II]

I dont know if anyone has heard about this yet or not. But some boaters hear in Virginia have had problems with the ethanol blended gas, it sounds like this stuff is clogging up filters and carbs even eating away the gas tanks and some rubber parts. From what I have read you cant mix the old gas with the new ethanol blended stuff or have water in the tank, this will cause the ethanol to seperate and live a black sludge in the bottom of the tank.I have a web site for everyone to check out. (http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/fueltest.asp) I'm going to check it out now. Later guys, Joe

 

[Silvertip]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

You are getting half the story right and the other half is wrong. If the fuel system is clean to start with you will have absolutely no problem with the switch in newer engines. We in the midwest have been using ethanol blended fuel for years. The problem of clogged fuel filters and the need for carb rebuilds is true in older dirty systems. Any gunk in the fuel system is loosened by ethanol since it is a good cleaning agent. Ethanol is also known to attack some metals (older carbs) and some rubber parts. Engines from the mid 80's and up should weather the storm just fine. Replace the filter (buy two as you may need to repeat this a few times), clean the carbs and reassemble with new kits. Once the fuel system is clean you will have far fewer fuel related problems with gum and debris as you did before. Alcohol and water mix so nothing separates and turns to a black gunk. Thats simply garbage that was already in the system. Mixing old gas and new is also a rediculous statement since Ethanol is added to regular gas to make the blend. In fact my new Impala runs on E-85 (85% Ethanol and 15% gas). I can switch back and forth at will between regular gas (85% regular & 15% ethanol) and E-85.

 

[B.M.W II]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Well (upinsmoke) the only thing I can say to that is you need to read the artical from the web site. Your new impala is made to run of E-85 and its does not run in the water its not in a marine environment. So tell me thats half the truth.I am one of those guys that has a older motor 1984. I dont know about the rest of you guys but my pockets are not real deep these days. This is a web site to the local news channel, read what they have to say. (www.wtkr.com) I only trying to get the word out about this. I'm not trying to get bashed here. It seems that it affects fiberglass tanks the most. Thanks, Joe

 

[Silvertip]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Ok - the tests were run on 1968 vintage boats with fiberglass tanks. Nearly 40 years old. Did I not say that "older" engines would have a problem. Besides, the engines are not having the problem, the fuel systems feeding them are the cause. My comment about E-85 was to counter your statement about not mixing old gas and blended fuel. Mixing ethanol with regular fuel is how you get "blended fuel". The "My gosh the world will end using this stuff" is rediculous. How do you think people in California that owned carbed two strokes felt when they were told they can no longer use them. Times change -- generally for the better.

 

[JB]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Non-repair topic

 

[JRJ]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

No problems here.

 

[B.M.W II]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Like I said I was just putting the word out to those who may be affected by it. As for me it makes me no difference if they can make it run off of watermelon juice. It just might be cheaper. But haveing an older boat and motor I am going to take the necessary precautions. By makeing sure my tank and lines are nice and clean.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Yep, I've seen a couple fuel lines completely melt away after running ethanol. Not to mention fuel pump diaphrams, carb gaskets, o-rings, and 'cleanings'. Fair warning for engines that we entrust our lives with.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

we are seeing some issues here as well, especially in larger boats with 150 gallon+ capacities.<br /> 99% of marine fuel systems have atmospheric vents, it allows the ethanol to absorb huge quantites of water that will then seperate and create all kinds of havoc from tank corrosion due to the acids from the gasoline and water to rusting fuel rails and lines that then clog injector and fuel filters. so far about the most we get is 15%, if we go above 25% you will see massive amounts of engine failures.<br /> its all money .

 

[Silvertip]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Rodbolt -- can you even buy 25% blended fuel in your area? I believe 15% is the max most cars will tolerate unless they are set up for E-85 so I'm curious as to why or how a marina would get a 25% blend.

 

[KM2]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Ethanol may be cleaning out the dirty fuel systems and causing a few dirty filters and clogged carbs but its not going to destroying anything built in the last 15 or so years. <br /><br />Something older I would be looking for non blended gas. <br /><br />Minnesota has required 10% ethanol fuel in all blends for 10 years. It's difficult to find a station with one pump that is pure gas. I believe it caused a few similar problems in the beginning but MN has lots of lakes and boaters and if ethanol was a problem I would know about it. <br /><br />Almost all cars and boats are designed to tolerate up to 10% ethanol. Every gas motor I own says so in the owners manual. Because this seems to be a auto and marine industry standard I doubt that you are buying anything at the pump that is more than 10% ethanol. <br /><br />I think adding ethanol is a good thing. At these prices it helps lower the cost per gallon, it adds octane, better for the enviroment and we use less arab oil. <br /><br />I have another theory on the water issue. These big tanks have water in them and the ethanol which is alcohol is mixing with it. After a tank or two all the water will be out of the tanks and the problems will be gone.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

sorry, but the 10% blend adds no octane...the milage is worse than std fuel, and it still will eat the gaskets out of some carb kits and the guts out of some fuel lines.

 

[jtexas]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Ethanol is not mixed at the refinery (no pipelines from the cornfields); it's trucked to terminals (better for the environment?) and mixed in the storage tanks, or in some cases it's just mixed right in the delivery trucks. So E-15 might be 15% ethanol, or 10%, or 20%, who knows?<br /><br />But maybe at least we can stop paying farmers to not grow corn.

 

[swist]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

sorry, but the 10% blend adds no octane..., and it still will eat the gaskets out of some carb kits and the guts out of some fuel lines.<br />

Wrong and wrong. Ethanol raises octane - read any technical discussion of fuelds, suich as at the ChevronTexaco webs site. <br /><br />Any gaskets, fuel lines, and other rubber parts made since 1990 are designed to tolerate 10% ethanol.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

I've been running the stuff for years without a problem, and all I have are older engines. Maybe it just hasn't happened yet. No choice for me really, you can't get just plain old gas around here.

 

[Captain Paul]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Which states run 15% ethanol in a blend? 10% is the number I see at the pump (except e85 of course made for ffv's) Minnesota is trying to mandate an increase to 20% in the future, but it's 10% now, and stricly monitored by State Weights and Measures. Have refineries changed anything else in their blends over the years besides oxygenates? I would guess they probably have.

 

[B.M.W II]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

OK guys, you say its cheaper but on the news just last night they said the blend is more expensive than regular gas. This is new to this area of Virginia its just starting to show up here. And they talked about how some stations would be out of gas for the change over to the blend. They have to clean the tanks and some have had to replace the pumps. From what I can tell the stations in the city will get the blended stuff but the stations in the country or more rural areas will have the nonblended gas. I am worried becouse I have one of the older merc outboards, 1984 150 Blackmax. I have just got this thing running good. If the prices go up any more here I will have to start useing the paddle. 2.91 reg, 2.99 mid, 3.02 pre. Im telling you guys watermelon juice is sounding good.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

There is an issue with some states not being able to get enough ethanol to meet the blended fuel requirement. This will be a short term problem as ethanol plants are coming on line regularly. I too have been running blended fuel for years with no problems.

 

[Gone]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

2-cycle engines running premix need to be cautious with ethanol mixtures. As the ethanol absorbs moisture it separates from the oil. In severe cases the engine will not get any lubrication as the oil stays in the fuel tank causing catastrophic engine failure.<br /><br />Oil injection systems are mostly immune to this.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: ethanol blend gas WARNING !!!

Are there any additives that can be used to fight off this deterioration? Are there new fuel related parts that should be installed to curb the effects(Either in the Tank, Lines, Carb, Etc.)? Would my 91' 70 Rude be affected by this? I pre-mix by the way....