Ethanol mixed fuel

BellevueSilvy · December 18, 2002

Just a quick question is the gas that is blended with ethanol good to run in our trucks I have an 02 Silverado with a 4.8. Just wondering what thought and inputs are, since that is the cheapest gas out here in the grain belt.

CMNTMXR81 · December 18, 2002

It's done solely for emissions purposes to replace MTBE fuels (which is an acronym for some big fancy bunch of words ).

I'd personally rather have corn power (which is where ethanol is derived from) than that nasty MTBE stuff.

December 18, 2002

It is NOT good for your truck. Alcohol makes a lot of hp at a cooler temperature than gas(Alky dragsters, Indy cars, Modified Stock cars, etc), but it is EXTREMELY corrosive. Any metal parts that ethanol or methanol come into contact with will corrode at an accelerated rate. Racers that use alcohol constantly need to replace fuel system parts due to the corrosion.

I never run any alcohol in my rigs unless it is completely unavoidable.

On another alky note, the cheaper gas companies use alcohol to displace the condensation and water that is in their gas. Sometimes they post "contains ethanol" on the pump, sometimes not.

On more alcohol quick fact and I'm done.

It's martini time!

sincityZ71 · December 19, 2002

I know most of the stations back in Nebraska have ethanol in their gas (except in the big city(ies), but it is pretty small amounts, depending on the octane grade you get. Never have heard of any problems with it at all, lots of family and friends have been running it for a long time, and I also have run it in my trucks before. Corn power is good.

Now on the other hand, E85 should only be used in the engines that are designed for it, like the new GM truck engines that have bi-fuel capabitlities, because it is mainly ethanol (85%) with a little gas.

CMNTMXR81 · December 19, 2002

It is NOT good for your truck. Alcohol makes a lot of hp at a cooler temperature than gas(Alky dragsters, Indy cars, Modified Stock cars, etc), but it is EXTREMELY corrosive. Any metal parts that ethanol or methanol come into contact with will corrode at an accelerated rate. Racers that use alcohol constantly need to replace fuel system parts due to the corrosion.
I never run any alcohol in my rigs unless it is completely unavoidable.

On another alky note, the cheaper gas companies use alcohol to displace the condensation and water that is in their gas. Sometimes they post "contains ethanol" on the pump, sometimes not.

On more alcohol quick fact and I'm done.

It's martini time!

We've been using Ethanol here for a long time and I've yet to have fuel system problems! ???

It's a little different with Alchohol injected dragsters as they run on 100% alchohol. The unleaded we run with ethanol in it probably has .00000001% in it. (I'm being sarcastic on the .00000001% part)

But you get my point.

GM does have a problem primarily on FWD V6 cars with injectors corroding causing misfire problems, but that has more to do with cheap brands of 87 octane fuel moreso than ethanol.

bobc · December 20, 2002

I know most of the stations back in Nebraska have ethanol in their gas (except in the big city(ies), but it is pretty small amounts, depending on the octane grade you get. Never have heard of any problems with it at all, lots of family and friends have been running it for a long time, and I also have run it in my trucks before. Corn power is good.

Now on the other hand, E85 should only be used in the engines that are designed for it, like the new GM truck engines that have bi-fuel capabitlities, because it is mainly ethanol (85%) with a little gas.

Alcohol belongs in a cocktail not in Gasoline...

Gasohol and older vehicles do not mix. I'm sure vehicles mfg'd in the past 10 years are better able to handle the stuff... but the older the vehicle the more likely you are to have problems. I personally *hate* gasohol and have had nothing but bad luck with the stuff.

later!

bobc

December 21, 2002

Believe what you want, and I'm not knocking claims of no problems with gasahol.

I know what alcohol does to a fuel system. I've seen it, worked on the fuel systems that use it, and replaced the parts it eats up.

If 100% ethanol is bad, why would 10% be good?

maybe if you don't plan on keeping your vehicle for the long haul, it's an acceptable risk to take.

My truck has 97,000 miles on it, and there are no plans to get rid of it. My wife's new Tahoe has less than 1000 miles on it, and it will be with us until the we drive the wheels right off of it.

No alcohol will be run in either vehicle unless it is absolutely unavoidable!

Jsledder · December 22, 2002

I ran ethanol (10% blend) in my 94 suburban and had 160k on it when it got it totalled out and not 1 fuel system problem the whole time. I use it in everything that runs on gas around here and can say I notice a difference in the way my sled runs with it.

I just got a 98 Chevy and it had 68k on it when I brought it home and it ran great, filled up 4 or 5 times and put in ethanol and on my last trip I noticed it had no power and wouldn't take off for diddly, thought I had some major problems but then realized that the previous owner may not have been using ethanol. So I bought an 11.00 fuel filter and replaced it and the problem was gone in 10 minutes.

I have also heard that Ethanol can harm some components in the fuel tank that are made of rubber and the ethanol will dry that out and you'll lose pressure, but we'll see about that.

I am also sponsoring a Pro-Stock dragster that is running a motor on Ethanol and he said there is a noticeable difference on the dyno compared to premium gas or even race gas. Not to say if you use Ethanol you'll get a "dragster" response from your engine, just that it's being proven. I hope more of the states start selling Ethanol at the pumps.

MCourson · February 21, 2003

It is NOT good for your truck. Alcohol makes a lot of hp at a cooler temperature than gas(Alky dragsters, Indy cars, Modified Stock cars, etc), but it is EXTREMELY corrosive. Any metal parts that ethanol or methanol come into contact with will corrode at an accelerated rate. Racers that use alcohol constantly need to replace fuel system parts due to the corrosion.

Alcohol is corrosive. Thats an understatement. I racin karts on race days if we are going to let the kart sit for more than an hour without practicing or running the motor, we pull the fuel lines and run the engine on WD-40 until it chokes down. We have ruin to many Mikuni carbs that aren't cheap to take any more chances. We even have to run special "Tygon" fuel line to keep it from hardening. But my experience is only from methanol. The only way i would run ethanol would be to run E85 in an E85 approved motor.

onezip · February 22, 2003

i run ethanol(gasohol) in my 1971 amc javlin my 1995 blazer(135.000 and counting miles) and my 2001 1500 4x4 chevy with34000 miles..plus all my other vehicles i have had over the years.. fords and jeeps too..no problems with the fuel systems...i dont run anything else UNLESS I cant get gasohol!!mind you i have burnt gasohol since it has become available and besides that is 10% less of my money going the saudis and 10% less oil imported!!

cyrylyn · February 22, 2003

Believe what you want, and I'm not knocking claims of no problems with gasahol.
I know what alcohol does to a fuel system. I've seen it, worked on the fuel systems that use it, and replaced the parts it eats up.

If 100% ethanol is bad, why would 10% be good?

maybe if you don't plan on keeping your vehicle for the long haul, it's an acceptable risk to take.

My truck has 97,000 miles on it, and there are no plans to get rid of it. My wife's new Tahoe has less than 1000 miles on it, and it will be with us until the we drive the wheels right off of it.

No alcohol will be run in either vehicle unless it is absolutely unavoidable!

So.. what parts did you replace, exactly? A lot of the injection components are made out of plastic..

Just because 100% alcohol is bad, doesn't mean 10% is bad too; your engine won't run well if it's FULL of oil, but that doesn't make the other extreme any better.

I buy gasahol over MTBE whenever possible. Never had a problem in any vehicle.