Ethanol Gas Bad???

[Spoolin Hooligan]

my buddy was researching ethanol gas. And i was wondering is anyone has heard about it damaging our older cars. if stored for to long gas seperates and forms water layer. eats seals. and after a while when seperates it lowers the octane.

 

[John Larkin]

Nope, another myth. But fuel-testers.com will convince you that its true and will gladly save you from pain and agony if you buy their test kit for $31.95. Lab rats get cancer from Sweet n' Low more often.

 

[Spoolin Hooligan]

Nope, another myth. But fuel-testers.com will convince you that its true and will gladly save you from pain and agony if you buy their test kit for $31.95. Lab rats get cancer from Sweet n' Low more often.

Haha I think that's the site he was looking at

 

[Daniel Jost]

Funny thing is ethanol has been used in fuels for probably 20 years now it doesn't matter if it's 10% or 80% it's still exposed to it so it will get the same effects... which are none... I have run E85 in my car for several years now with no ill effects, though I do put no ethanol 93 in for the winter since it will absorb moisture and potentially rust the tank when sitting for a long time.

,Dan

 

[Madcat455]

Nope, another myth. But fuel-testers.com will convince you that its true and will gladly save you from pain and agony if you buy their test kit for $31.95. Lab rats get cancer from Sweet n' Low more often.

Not true.. .I've seen first hand what ethanol gas does to motorcycle carbs if they sit for a while... 4K mile bike, sat for 3 months with 10% eth blend in the bowls(ran beautiful before it sat) ... all gummed up. $700 rebuild later, sat for 3 months again with non eth gas = no issues. 6K on bike then.

Motorcycle shop told me about the ethanol gas issue... said they see it all the time. to the point they have a list of Non Eth stations to hand out.

 

[Pronto]

Ethyl fuel has been used since the 1900s in cars. It's really nothing new.

 

[novaderrik]

your car will explode after your gas tank disintegrates..

 

[Spoolin Hooligan]

your car will explode after your gas tank disintegrates..

I'll have to watch out for that

 

[novaderrik]

I'll have to watch out for that

better keep a close eye on it, given all that i've read online from all the experts..

on a related note, i just got home Wednesday morning from a pretty epic road trip from my house in west central MN down to San Antonio, TX for a family reunion.. the car was my 86 Camaro with a vortec headed 305 that has somewhere between 9.5:1 and 10:1 compression ratio..

i got to try the gas in several different states- Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.. i always ran the cheapest 87 octane that was available. the car was tuned for MN gas before i left and it ran perfect on it.. Iowa gas is crap- it started hard and detonated under the lightest loads. Missouri gas was a little better- it still pinged, but it at least started better.. Arkansas gas was pretty good, as was Texas gas. Oklahoma gas was also pretty good, but the mileage was down a little bit. i can't remember which states have ethanol and which don't, but i did 3923 miles and burned 163 gallons of gas over an 8 day period..

it would be interesting to see the results on a TR- i bet hotel parking lot head gasket swaps could be whittled down to a few hours after a week on the road, assuming the same quality fluctuations hold true on the higher octane fuels as the cheap stuff i used..

 

[charlief1]

If I knew you were coming down this way I'd have offered you some Mequite for smoking Derrik. Just cut a bunch down and you could've taken some how with you.

 

[novaderrik]

If I knew you were coming down this way I'd have offered you some Mequite for smoking Derrik. Just cut a bunch down and you could've taken some how with you.

thanks, but an 86 Camaro is mighty packed when you have 2 people living out of one for over a week, and then the inevitable souvenir stuff just adds to the pile.. but some fresh mesquite would have definitely covered up the "dead feet" smell that had accumulated in the car.. those were her words, not mine..

 

[INEEDAGN]

better keep a close eye on it, given all that i've read online from all the experts..

on a related note, i just got home Wednesday morning from a pretty epic road trip from my house in west central MN down to San Antonio, TX for a family reunion.. the car was my 86 Camaro with a vortec headed 305 that has somewhere between 9.5:1 and 10:1 compression ratio..

i got to try the gas in several different states- Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.. i always ran the cheapest 87 octane that was available. the car was tuned for MN gas before i left and it ran perfect on it.. Iowa gas is crap- it started hard and detonated under the lightest loads. Missouri gas was a little better- it still pinged, but it at least started better.. Arkansas gas was pretty good, as was Texas gas. Oklahoma gas was also pretty good, but the mileage was down a little bit. i can't remember which states have ethanol and which don't, but i did 3923 miles and burned 163 gallons of gas over an 8 day period..

it would be interesting to see the results on a TR- i bet hotel parking lot head gasket swaps could be whittled down to a few hours after a week on the road, assuming the same quality fluctuations hold true on the higher octane fuels as the cheap stuff i used..

X2 on the iowa gas is crap. I'm still jealous of the fact that they have E85 on tap just about everywhere, but their actual gasoline sucks balls. I think it's an Iowa law that all gasoline must have at least 10% ethanol content. My GN didn't like that crap one bit, octane OR mileage. Now when I visit the TFW I fill up in missouri before going in and coast it on back to missouri or nebraska before filling up again.

 

[novaderrik]

every gas station i stopped at in Iowa had a choice of E10 or straight gas. i think i stopped for gas only 3 times in that state. the E10 was always about 15 cents cheaper per gallon, so that's what i got.