Ethanol could Kill small engines!!!

The small engine-ethanol issue has gone national with a recent report on U.S. National Public Radio featuring an instructor at WyoTech automotive school in Laramie, Wyo., the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute’s executive VP of government affairs Kris Kiser and Ron Lamberty, a spokesman for the American Coalition of Ethanol.

The fact is that running existing equipment—boats, snowmobiles, ATVs and non flex-fuel automobiles—on fuels that they were not designed for presents very real safety and performance issues.”

Alcohol is murder on lawnmowers and small engines. Mechanics insist that as gasoline blended with ethanol takes over at gas stations, small engines across the country will start choking to death.

Alcohol makes engines run dangerously hot. It melts rubber components. Longress says use anything higher than 10 percent ethanol on small engines long enough, and the insides will start to rot.

Millions of chainsaws, lawnmowers and boats could be vulnerable to death by ethanol. This year the government ordered the production of 9 billion gallons of renewable fuel. A decade from now, that number will grow to 26 billion gallons. As the mandate expands, higher blends of ethanol will be pumped from every gas station in America. And unless people know what they’re doing, they could easily fill up with a blend far too potent for their machines. The symbols that read “E-20 E-30 and E-40” show the percentage of ethanol in each gallon of gasoline. E-20 being 20% and so on. Folks think that just because it is being sold at the pump it is ok to run in any equipment safely. Wrong!!!

There are ways to protect your small engines against the harmful effects of ethanol fuels. Additives can be added to the gasoline in small doses to replenish the lubricity and increase the stability of the fuels and protect the seal components from rotting over time. Here is an example. Give it a read.

http://schaefferoil.com/soy_ultra.html

Thanks

Ace

Wans’t the scare back in the 80’s, that running UNLEADED fuel, as opposed to what they called regular (leaded) fuel, gonna be the demise of small engines back then ??? Seems some of the “science” they come up with, just doesn’t come to fruition.

big G

I have read that for each 10% increase in ethanol, gas milage goes down by 3%.
So E-85 gets you 25.5% LESS miles per gallon than unleaded.

For those in the know, is there any truth to the above statement??

I have also heard that it takes about 0.8 gallons of deisel to manufacture 1 gallon of corn alcohol. Any truth to this? If so, the ethanol craze REALLY makes no sense.

More efficient ways to produce ethanol from prarie grasses has been proposed, and from the little that I know, they are working on the technology. I can only imagine that to be a huge win-win if it works as predicted… Greatly reduce erosion issues, increase wildlife habitat substantially, and produce an end product in a more efficient manner.

Although these could all be urban legends… Any ideas?

Mike

I do not like getting gas on my hands when I used my gas auger or weed whip. I found the problem usually was fuel lines that had become hardened to the point the connection no longer sealed. I also had several issues with plugged jets after storage. I stopped putting ethanol in any of my small engines. I buy only the non-oxygenated, it’s always the premium if available at all. I already have the Sta-bil or Sea Foam in the gas can before I fill it.

Yes it is true. Ethanol has less BTU’s per gallon than 87 octane unleaded. I believe it is around 130,000 BTU’s for Gasoline and 87,000 for Ethanol, those are not exact numbers but I believe in the ballpark. So as you use more ethanol you have less energy for combustion meaning you have to use more ethanol to get the same result as with gasoline.

Thanks Mister Scare you into Social engineering Al Gore and any other knee jerk scientist who pushes the global warming agenda.

Too harsh?

From what I have seen, it is more like 10%. For example, a minivan that would get 22MPG on so called regular unleaded (which has some ethanol in it already) will typically get around 20MPG on E85. The scenario most people use is, if E85 is 10% or more cheaper than reg unleaded, use E85. If it is less than 10%, then use the reg unleaded.

big G

I agree with big G. I see way to many vehicles not affected by ethanol and get too many reports of fuel mileage from those using ethanol to believe most of what I’ve read here and other places.

Ace I just realized that I know who you are. You likely don’t know me but I believe I used to service your truck at the old JCF Ford in Eau Claire. You used to have something to do with a musical band maybe?

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Ace I just realized that I know who you are. You likely don’t know me but I believe I used to service your truck at the old JCF Ford in Eau Claire. You used to have something to do with a musical band maybe?

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That would be Ace Frehley!

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That would be Ace Frehly!

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I have also heard that it takes about 0.8 gallons of deisel to manufacture 1 gallon of corn alcohol. Any truth to this? If so, the ethanol craze REALLY makes no sense.

More efficient ways to produce ethanol from prarie grasses has been proposed, and from the little that I know, they are working on the technology. I can only imagine that to be a huge win-win if it works as predicted… Greatly reduce erosion issues, increase wildlife habitat substantially, and produce an end product in a more efficient manner.

Although these could all be urban legends… Any ideas?

Mike

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I have also heard that it takes 1 to 1.5 gallons of fuel to get regular fuel from the middle east to the pump.

What happens when grasses are the way to go and us farmers quit growing corn. What is going to go into making food products? I have also heard that about 50% of corn produced in this country goes overseas. While only about 15% is made into ethanol.

Not that I am for or against ethanol. But, I have been running the 10% stuff in dozens of small engines ever since it first came out. I never use additives as I think they are a waste. Have never had a problem. Some engines are going to go bad no matter what fuel is used.

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Thanks Mister Scare you into Social engineering Al Gore and any other knee jerk scientist who pushes the global warming agenda.

Too harsh?

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No not too harsh.

My position is to simply enlighten the masses who have an interest in taking the best care of their investments in their personal equipment when it comes to anything concerning mechanical wear, efficiency gains and equipment longevity. Rather than expressing deep seated angry political views, perhaps a day on the water catching up dinner for the family is more in order. LOL

But seriously folks lets stick to the facts. To reiterate:
Ethanol Facts:

#1 Ethanol has less BTU content than Gasoline thus less efficiency
#2 Ethanol burns hotter and much drier than Gasoline thus lubricity and temperature concerns
#3 Small engine and outboard manufacturers have not, to this point, manufactured engines to withstand the long-term harmful effects associated with Ethanol blended or similar blended fuels. Not that they are opposed, they just haven’t done it yet.
#4 There is a place for gasoline additive in the the market and this is an example of such a place.

If anyone has technical laboratory results to dispute these facts i would encourage and welcome the Data as this is a continuing education for all of us.

For those of you interested in protecting your investments please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

P.S. Drill baby Drill!!!!!

Ace

Certified Petroleum Engineer

Hey brian> you are correct. It is me. Good to hear from you. Hope you are doing well and good fishing!! Where ya at these days. Still have the truck and it still requires service.

Ace

Sorry Ace, lost track of this post. I’m still in the Ford business, just moved to a small town east of Eau Claire. If you’re on 29 keep an eye out for Courtesy. I’m normally the first face you see when you walk in.

I’ve been trying to recall something about some diesel fuel you told me about several years back. Something that maybe you had a hand in developing or maybe just had info about it. I can’t recall the specifics anymore but when we talked it sure seemed as if this fuel might be something we’d see before long. It must have been some type of bio diesel and, if memory serves me, some of the high points were the cetane rating and the ability to resist gelling?

Anyhow very good to bump into you again.

For what its worth the guy that works on my 20HP Mercury said not to run ethanol blended fuels…he was a Mercury dealer for 20 plus years now just owns a small business here where I live. I think I can trust his recommendations…

Based on what facts?? We haven’t been running the new blended fuels for 20-30 years, have we?? My lawn mower has been running E10 since I bought it, doesn’t seem to have any issues. But that’s only 5 years.

When does ethanol start breaking down and ruining all these motors???

I have owned and been riding bike for over 35 years….. but I can’t tell you how, or myself, seem to win the Tour De’ France.

big G

The guys saying to run only pure gasoline are giving sound advice. After all it is a proven performer. Where they are, in my experience, going wrong is by saying ethanol will ruin your engine. I’m not saying I can prove it will not but I can say it has been proven everyday over and over that engines drink ethanol until it is gone, get refilled, drink it again, and so on and so forth. Maybe engine X will last 250K on pure gas and only 175K on ethanol. How does one prove it was ethanol that killed the engine? It just isn’t happening. By that I mean engine are not dropping dead from ethanol.