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Gas

romany

New member
Did a lot of touring in Washington State this year and was wondering about the affect of ethanol gas blend on the engine. Positive negative or neutral? Anyone care yo weigh in on this. I've heard it can affect carburerators and fuel sensors.
 
In the DFW Texas area that is all we have ( unless you drive to one of the E-Free stations in the outlying areas) Nothing bad has happened in 2 years and 26000 miles on my 09 RT. It however does NOT make as much power or mileage . I drive to Gainesville, Tx to get gasoline for lawn equipment and ATV use . It Will screw up small engine carbs.
 
Did a lot of touring in Washington State this year and was wondering about the affect of ethanol gas blend on the engine. Positive negative or neutral? Anyone care yo weigh in on this. I've heard it can affect carburerators and fuel sensors.
I think that at this point it's all been designed in to run on the ethanol blends. There have been many threads on it and while it does work the way it scavenges water it has been fouling things up when left to sit untreated. Most report less fuel economy with the ethanol blend.

In the DFW Texas area that is all we have ( unless you drive to one of the E-Free stations in the outlying areas) Nothing bad has happened in 2 years and 26000 miles on my 09 RT. It however does NOT make as much power or mileage . I drive to Gainesville, Tx to get gasoline for lawn equipment and ATV use . It Will screw up small engine carbs.
IMO it's a great idea and your small equipment will thank you for it. Last fall I bought 93 octane "real" gas- no ethanol to over-winter my small engines. Of course I still treated the fuel with stabilizer but the results were very good.
This has all become such a big deal that it is now possible to purchase non-ethanol gas- usually in quarts- at small engine shops because it is so much better all the way around. OM
 
Also, Stihl and many other manufacturers will not honor warrantys if ethanol is found to be used.

At lowes the other day an old man brought back his brand new Poulan chainsaw.
The guy at the ruturn desk removed the gas cap-took a sniff and said "you have ethanol in here. Your warranty is void."

Ken
 
If all of this is valid, I guess their are no small engine warranties in CA because there is no ethanol free gas available here(except certain very expensive racing fuels).

Every engine in this state runs on ethanol blended gas. I don't like it but that is the way our "special" regulations work.
 
gas

As far as BMW BIKES from about 1980, E-10 gas is ok. Now E-15 that is totally differant. :blah
 
small engine shops and dealers are beginning to sell non-ethanol in quart containers from their shelves.

Ken
 
Also, Stihl and many other manufacturers will not honor warrantys if ethanol is found to be used.

At lowes the other day an old man brought back his brand new Poulan chainsaw.
The guy at the ruturn desk removed the gas cap-took a sniff and said "you have ethanol in here. Your warranty is void."

Ken

I don't like E10, and I think pretty much everyone agrees that engines would be happier burning pure gasoline, but short of buying specialty fuel for small engines, visiting a marina or an airstrip, owners in many parts of the country have little choice.

I was in the "new chainsaw" market myself last year and in my research, both Stihl and Poulan support use of up to E10 in their current models (while pointing out that they don't like it either...), so on a still-under-warranty Poulan ... I'm not sure what the guy at Lowes was doing .... Can really sniff a gas tank and tell if it is pure gasoline or E10 or does the boutique fuel have a special scent? :scratch

Anyway had I been the unhappy Poulan owner I'd have called BS on him:

http://www.poulan.com/customer-support/faq/chain-saws/

http://www.stihlusa.com/faq/products/limited-warranty/
 
Can't buy anything that doesn't have SOME alcohol in it. Regulations used to require stations to mark their pumps with alcohol content, but when the laws changed and ALL gasoline had some alcohol content up to 10%, they stopped having to label the pumps as long as it has less than 15%. There are a few places--out in the sticks usually--that still label the pumps and they claim to have alcohol-free fuel, but I think they are a scam (they get their fuel supplies from the same tanker trucks as the other stations). Looks as if E-15 is on the way and manufacturers will have to deal with it. Next-gen bikes will have to run on it.

I don't like alcohol in my fuel and I agree that the engine makes less power and gets lower mileage, but doesn't seem to harm the engine components nowadays. I guess it's one of the prices we pay to live in a complex society.
 
Royce:
Some of them may indeed be a scam - There is one gas station in my (general) area that claims ethanol-free, and I have tested it and indeed it is without ethanol.

The test is simple to perform ....
Here's one description:

http://autofuelstc.com/autofuelstc/pa/ethanoltest.html

If you use a graduated cylinder you can get a very good estimate of the percentage of ethanol that is in the fuel. If there is none the "water level" ( meniscus ) will not move after agitating the mixture and letting it stand........
 
Royce:
Some of them may indeed be a scam - There is one gas station in my (general) area that claims ethanol-free, and I have tested it and indeed it is without ethanol.

Jim Bob, while I allow that there may be some stations somewhere that still have a source of alcohol-free gasoline, they are undoubtedly few and far between. I have watched several stations in my area closely over the years and they all seem to use the same two or three suppliers; doesn't seem to matter if the name of the pump says Woods or QT or Conoco or BP or whatever. I find it curiouser and curiouser when I hear the political jibber-jabber about ethanol and E-15 and E-85 and whatever the topic of the day happens to be. I am so cynical any more that I simply assume if a politician's lips are moving, he/she is lying. I hate living like that.
 
While driving I have never had a problem with any of the ethanol gas. It wasn't until I parked my Goldwing for a few months as well as my kid's dirt bike. When I came back to use them, no go. Had to rebuild the carbs on all the bikes I parked....that ethanol junk they sell here in GA turned to jello. Sea Foam has done a great job of keeping things clean with that garbage gas.
 
Here is the specialty fuel Ken spoke of and I have been mixing on my own. It would seem to be that about $15.50/gal is about as inexpensive as you can do it. My small equipment loves it and the smell of real exhaust is a trip down memory lane. OM

ProductDetails.png



small engine shops and dealers are beginning to sell non-ethanol in quart containers from their shelves.

Ken
 
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