Carbs Damaged By Blended Fuels

[DougD]

I'm not aware of any pump gas being mixed with methanol and sold at retail outlets. It's all ethanol.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DougD

I'm not aware of any pump gas being mixed with methanol and sold at retail outlets. It's all ethanol.

Yes, in my area you can not buy anything but E85, and you can not find non-E85 gas anywhere locally. You can not buy M85 anywhere, even if you tried.

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by Scott_Tucker

We are talking about the shiny silverish plating correct? Not the natural goldish color?

I worked for a carburetor shop for 4 years and came across this plating problem many, many times. It's not the alcohol in the fuel, it's Holley's poor quality control on the plating process. We had many brand new out of the box carburetors that did not work because the plating had chipped off and clogged the passages. If you get one where the plating actually stuck you probably won't have problems.

iIn my case it was actually eating the aluminum in the metering blocks. My mechanic was shocked at the damage.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Yes, in my area you can not buy anything but E85, and you can not find non-E85 gas anywhere locally. You can not buy M85 anywhere, even if you tried.

Its only 10% ethanol in our area, which is pretty standard. But ethanol free gas is def not available here. E85 however is 85% ethanol, 15% gas and is a different animal for FlexFuel cars.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by dcdoug

Its only 10% ethanol in our area, which is pretty standard.

Yep, you're right. It's only 10% -- mind glitch on my part.

[Leecbr]

Larry, hey thanks for the link..Ive been looking for a gas station without Ethanol. It was great to see one on the list in West jordan. It happens to be a couple blocks from my house.
I've been adding a couple ounces of stabil to my gas with each fill up. Stabil is used for preserving gas quality during winter storage. This we already know. It can also be used in small amounts as an additive to help with Ethanol, gunk buildup, and corrosion.

Hello Wayne...How is your cobra coming along? Last time I spoke with you on the phone " B&B stuff " you were recovering from surgery. Hope all is well

[lnfletcher]

One thing you can do if you don't have an ethanol free station near is to add Lucas Fuel additive as it negates the harmful effects of "reformulated gasoline".
Also acts like Stabil and stabilizes the gas for storage.
Adds about 30 cents per gallon but it's worth it for my "baby"!

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Yep, you're right. It's only 10% -- mind glitch on my part.

Yeah, kidney stones passing through your brain will do that.

[Wbulk]

Lee, things are coming along. I'm back working on the car part time.

[WardL]

Probably 90% of gasoline today have 10% Ethanol. There is no significant amounts of Methanol in gasoline. California and Nevada do NOT require pumps to be labeled as dispensing gasoline with ethanol. Washington and Oregon do require pump labels. Refineries make gasoline base fuels at 84 octane and 89 or 90. The terminals blend in 10% ethanol to make 87 octane ULR out of the 84 octane. Similarly for the 91 super or 92 octane super in Wa & OR.

When you hear about premium gasoline without ethanol, ask yourself, where did the ONE station for miles get it? Is there a refinery nearby making 91/92 octane premium basestocks just for that ONE retail site? Not very likely! Think about the logistics of supplying one site, or even 4 sites, with a unique fuel. Was the price about the same? It would be relatively easy to supply a 87 octane fuel without ethanol. Almost impossible to make 91/92 premium without ethanol in today's environment. There are small pockets of the country without ethanol in gasoline, but they are VERY FEW.

[WardL]

In 2005, Congress passed a law (RFS) requiring that gasoline sold by refiners, importers and blenders must contain an increasing amount of renewable fuel, such as ethanol or biodiesel, starting at 4 billion gallons in 2006, increasing each year by 700 million gallons, and reaching a level of 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.

If that wasn't bad enough, in 2007, Congress passed RFS2 requiring refiners, etc, to blend in 36 Billion gallons of renewable fuels (think ethanol) into gasoline by 2022 or the equivalent of 26% ethanol.

What is gut wrenching sick about this is the corn lobby spent $millions buying votes to pass these laws when corn based ethanol does not reduce our need to import oil.

[CowtownCobra]

Ethanol is not mixed in at a refinery. It is "slosh blended" in the tankers used for delivery to stations. Have been incidents locally where the truck driver had a brain fart and delivered pure ethanol to a few stations. Some big bucks were paid out for repairs

[WardL]

Right, I did not mean to imply that ethanol was blended in at the refinery. I think I said the ethanol is blended in at the terminal. The refinery makes the base gasoline. My point is a refinery has to make 91/92 octane base gasoline and get it to the retail site without going through the normal distribution systems that are set up for E10 gasoline. That is not easy (or cheap) to do for one retail station.

[dallas_]

I'm close to springing some cash for an aluminum Fuel Cell.

Is aluminum corrosion a real issue and somthing to consider before going that route?

[lnfletcher]

The reason it is blended at the terminal is that it cannot be sent in the same pipeline at the gasoline. It has to be trucked to the terminal to my understanding.
Makes a lot of since to spend fuel that they are trying to conserve to truck it in to mix it at the terminal.

[RangerMac]

Is there an addative you can put in your tank every so often to mitigate the damage of corrosion of the carbs and associated parts?

[DSM351]

Here in Iowa, we have had ethanol (E-10) here for almost 30 years.

It's not that big of a deal, except the rubber fuel lines aged very rapidly- needing replacement every 3 or 4 years or so. They fixed that about 20 years ago.

I my experience it will not hurt anything metalic unless it sits unused and then absorbs water from the atmosphere, then it becomes VERY corrosive. You just don't want to let it sit, and/or get any water in it, or it is a BIG deal.
That is why the marine users are having so much trouble.

Cheers,

[Skuzzy]

Originally Posted by dallas_

I'm close to springing some cash for an aluminum Fuel Cell.

Is aluminum corrosion a real issue and somthing to consider before going that route?

Here is some light reading.

E85 is far worse.

[lnfletcher]

Originally Posted by RangerMac

Is there an addative you can put in your tank every so often to mitigate the damage of corrosion of the carbs and associated parts?

There is a number of products that you can add to your fill to nullify the effects.
One that I use and has been highly recommended by trusted mechanics in this area is Lucas Oil/5.25 oz. fuel injector cleaner. It negates the harmful effects of "reformulated gasoline". Also stabilizes for storage.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by lnfletcher

One that I use and has been highly recommended by trusted mechanics in this area is Lucas Oil/5.25 oz. fuel injector cleaner. It negates the harmful effects of "reformulated gasoline". Also stabilizes for storage.

This is not the Fuel Injector cleaner, but from the ad it looks promising. http://www.lucasoil.com/products/dis...tid=8&loc=show