There have been times when ethanol has caused serious problems in my
system, mostly blended concoctions, sometimes straight from the
container. The 10% blends are usually less problematic than the higher
%ages. Never plugged anything up, usually quite the opposite, and I
have to drain my tank frequently when using ethanol-based products. It
has on occasion caused a part to melt at a most inopportune time,
usually in the middle of the night when you really need it to help get a
friend where she wants to go. At that point the EPA-mandated rubber
exhaust control parts usually fail as well due to some incompatibility,
occasionally to the amusement of some of the parties involved and the
shame and anger of others. Yes, it could happen to you if you use too
much ethanol.
I find it warms things up, even with ice in it, though when the ethanol
blend is really cold it does have a salubrious effect on internal
combustion temperatures, particularly in the summer. High temperatures
can cause excessive ethanol consumption and should be closely
monitored. I have seen excessive consumption cause excessive
combustability too, in some systems which probably should not use it at
all. Usually something breaks in that case, or you need to call the
police for some help. Some find the sugar additives to be beneficial
for the intake tract (mostly women for some reason), at least in the
short term, though usually pay the price for that ingredient later with
a very messy exhaust and serious head problems. Usually they need to
change filters afterwards too and purge the system multiple times.
Older ethanol supplies usually run more smoothely though, not sure why,
but tend to be more expensive. The corn-based products from Kentucky
and Tennessee (domestic), and stuff from Scotland (imported) lead to
excessive idling though, but seem to run well with both pickups and
fancy Euro iron. Most of the mass-produced brands of lower-percentage
blends ("lite") are less filling and really should only be used with
BMWs and other wuss-mobiles by guys who don't know any better, ditto the
white French blends that are popular in the blue states. The generic
domestic stuff you get cheap at the 7-11 runs best in pickups and
beat-up old ricers in the red states. Acceleration and overall handling
are diminished by higher percentages of ethanol.
In Brazil and the Caribbean islands they have some sugar-cane derived
stuff that does not appear to have much ethanol in it, but it will cause
your engine management system to lock up fast. I have in the past sworn
off further use of ethanol, but have always come back to it, except for
the imported cactus-derived Mexican stuff, which is eventually very very
extremely terribly toxicly bad no matter how you use it or what you put
it in -- it can kill your system real fast, or at least make you wish it
were dead. You will definitely pay a price for that, no tax breaks there.
YMMV
--R
Peter Frederick wrote:
Ethanol can cause problems in some fuel systems were the rubber or
plastic parts aren't compatible with it. Not a problem since the EPA
required "oxygenated" gasoline some time back, as ethanol is common.
I've seen ethanol blends as long as you have, and never actually heard
of anyone having problems.
Not that they cannot occur, usually being softened or melted parts, or
occasionally slop from the tank plugging everything up, sometimes even
going through the fuel filter.
Large amounts of gas line antifreeze or ethanol in the fuel are the
only way you can get sugar to damage an engine, by the way. Only seen
it once -- usually the tank plugs up or the syrup from the water on
the bottom of the tank plugs something, but the one true case I saw
was when a fellow put a bunch of gas line antifreeze (ethanol/methanol
mix, I believe) in his daughter's car because he thought it had a lot
of ice in it. Filled the combustion chambers with half burned sugar
syrup, very messy.
Peter
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