Ethanol?

[imported_74baja]

Hey,
I did a search for this and was suprised to not find anything. Do we need to worry about running our outboards with all the ethannol that is in land gas station gasoline these days? I always fill my 12 gallon portable tank up at the land gas station on the way to the ramp (I have a 2 stroke 1999 Johnson 115). My neighbor was saying something about something he heard about boat engines and ethanol. I know there was an article about it in boatUS magazine a while ago, but Im sure i tossed it by now.
Any thoughts?
-Jack

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Ethanol?

Merc had something on it, and my link wants me to log on now.. never asked that before.....10% is OK for outboards

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Ethanol?

Oil mixes fine with gas, but not at all with alcohol. That's a problem with any 2-stroke. But not so much a 4-stroke.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Ethanol?

here we go again, do the search

 

[jtexas]

Re: Ethanol?

your motor will do just fine on E-15, don't even try it with E-85.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Ethanol?

Good grief folks, give it a rest. We in the midwest have used E-10 since 1997. If you have a dirty fuel system, E10 will clean it up, "possibly" plug up your fuel filter and "possibly" result in the need to clean the carbs which should "probably" be done anyway. Once cleaned up, the engine will live just fine unless its so old enough that the existing fuel system components can't tolerate E10. Even then, the rebuild parts probably will be E10 tolerant. I ran a 1995 Evinrude 50 for 9 years, 7 of which were on E10. I rebult the carbs as a preventive measure and was pleasantly surprised by how clean they were. I should add that I also run SeaFoam in every tank of fuel (then and now). There is one downside to E10 -- if you have a fiberglass tank (not plastic) you have a potential problem which may require replacement of the tank.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Ethanol?

Have had no issues with ethanol blended gas. The gas mixes with the ethanol O.K. and the gas mixes with the oil O.K. so there should be no issues with oil mixing in with an ethanol blended gas.
VRO systems should be just fine as it is not premixed.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Ethanol?

Bottom line is where are you going to find gas without ethanol?

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: Ethanol?

Bottom line is where are you going to find gas without ethanol?

In quite a few states 91 octane is avalible ethanol free and usually listed as "off road only, for use in collector cars, boats, and small gas engines only". Its what I run itin my car which requires 91 octane. E10 91 octane I get 24-25mpg on the freeway, I see 29-30mpg on 100% dinosaur gas.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Ethanol?

Got to love those dinosaurs eh !!!!

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Ethanol?

In quite a few states 91 octane is avalible ethanol free and usually listed as "off road only, for use in collector cars, boats, and small gas engines only". Its what I run itin my car which requires 91 octane. E10 91 octane I get 24-25mpg on the freeway, I see 29-30mpg on 100% dinosaur gas.

Interesting, I haven't seen any in SE Va.

 

[jimmbo]

Re: Ethanol?

Ooops wrong forum

 

[jtexas]

Re: Ethanol?

In my state only the hi-polluting counties are required to have oxygenated fuels. Get a little ways out of town you can get all-dino. But at $3.00/gal I mostly fish close in. Plus which I'm leary of mixing ethanol & non-ethanol fuels. Cause of the phase separation phenomenon.

 

[KM2]

Re: Ethanol?

A 10% blend of ethanol will not effect your mileage by that much RancherLee. Your difference in mileage has to be the result of something else. Driving conditions most likely. Things like wind, speed & load have a large effect on MPG.

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: Ethanol?

A 10% blend of ethanol will not effect your mileage by that much RancherLee. Your difference in mileage has to be the result of something else. Driving conditions most likely. Things like wind, speed & load have a large effect on MPG.

Yes it does, Every car I've owned gets better mileage on 100% dino over E10 ESPECIALLY in the winter when its -20*f. My Lincoln Mark VIII (4.6L DOHC cobra engine) gets 20-21 city/ 29-30 @ 75mph highway on dino gas. With E10 I get 18-19city /24-25 @ 75mph highway on E10. In the winter my Mileage drops to 15-16 city/22-23 @ 75mph with E10 and only drops roughly 1-2mpg with 100% dino gas. Its starting to become a tossup now though, E10 and dino 91 octane use to be ~5 cents difference, now they want 20-30cents more for dino gas. My wifes olds intrigue also constantly averages ~2mpg better off 100% dino gas. Do you ever wonder why people in other states that used to run E10 only in the winter as "winter grade fuel" complained so much about crappy mileage in the winter?