E85 Fears

[cpaddock]

An article at Autoblogreen this morning has resurrected the issue of E85
(Ethanol additives) not only worsening our gas mileage and performance
in cars but mounting evidence shows internal damage to small engines of
all sorts which have not had the protections which are in newer cars.
any one experienced this problem? The fishermen here have been complaining loudly for some time about their motors turning to s**t thanks
to the powers that be messing with our gas. Hope VV is addressing this issue....
Curves ahead!

[Baja_Traveler]

The problem is not so much that E85 is bad for engines, it's the fuel tanks. Alot of the larger boats have fuel tanks made out of fibreglass, which are then foamed inplace between stringers in the hull. Constructing it that way saves a ton of money over a large aluminum tank fabrication. The system works great, until a high solvent liquid gets poured into it - like alcohol. The alcohol eats away at the ester resins, over time destroying the tank and plugging fuel/water seperators and filters. The East Coast fishing fleet has been complaining about this for years - million dollar Egg Harbor's, Grand Banks and Trojan fishing boats need to have decks ripped up to replace fuel tanks. The aviation community is also well aware if the problem, as alot of the new "fast glass" aircraft use the same fuel tank construction. Many airports are able to get non-alcohol premium mogas for aviation use, but others don't, so pilots have to keep a heads up on what's going into the tank.

[ziggy951]

If the entire system is not designed for its use then yeah, of course there will be problems. The larger problem is the inflated cost of food "IF" we use corn as the commodity to create E85. There are far greater solutions available that will have a positive economic impact rather than a negative one.



Z

[timo2112]

Hi everyone i have to jump in on this real quick -- I USE ALCOHOL as a gas additive , have for six months now and my truck and suv run fine
actually cleaner than before !

Get a Book called alcohol can be a gas ! very good reading, tells you everything you need to know.. if you go to e85 or more then you have to convert some things in your engine , i'm using 50-50 mix with regular gas.
Doesn't get me better mileage but it's a lot cheaper and cleaner!