ETHONAL BAD
08-28-2007, 10:00 AM
#21
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Citrus County, FL
Posts: 8,007
RE: ETHONAL BAD
The local companies simply put additives in the gas after it has been placed in the tanker truck that delivers to the stations. The Discovery Channel or History Channel has a story on gasoline. I think it was one of the Modern Marvels shows.
so yeah, cheap *** gas (walmart) FTL. plus, locally i have noticed if i get gas from the shell's around here on occasion or the wife fills up (she'll go anywhere [:@]) the car will "ping" more
08-28-2007, 10:01 AM
#22
MF Administrator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 8,191
RE: ETHONAL BAD
In the mid-Atlantic states, our gas is blended with 10% Ethanol & 90% gas. It's done strictly to lower emissions, which is a good thing. The negative is that E-blended gas provides less mpg, and by my calculations the loss is greater than 10%. So you end up buying more of it to go the same distance.
08-28-2007, 10:21 AM
#23
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location:
Posts: 1,062
RE: ETHONAL BAD
They actually owtlawed MTBE......methyl tributyl ether. Cancer causing was the cop-out. The real problem with it was that 1-2 ppb's in water could be smelled very easily. Blame the generally lax controls / inspections on underground gas tanks. Not that I'd want to drink MTBE, but it is far superior to iso-octane (which is the replacement) as a gasoline additive.
08-28-2007, 11:16 AM
#24
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Charlotte NC
Posts: 632
RE: ETHONAL BAD
I agree with the pipeline post above. Someone did a nice article about it last month. All the gas that comes into a city (Charlotte here) comes via a pipeline and brands add additives. "Top tier" gasolines (Shell, Chevron) add more additives to get this rating. BP is the brand that Ford recommends, and is not a top tier gas. The study that was done in comparision of the brands showed no less wear or valve build-up on lower tier brands.
OK, I found the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...gas-usat_n.htm
OK, I found the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...gas-usat_n.htm
08-28-2007, 11:34 AM
#25
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location:
Posts: 394
RE: ETHONAL BAD
E85 is 85% ethanol - 15% gasolineand it is very corrosive. Cars that are meant to run on E85 have either plastic or stainless steel tanks , gas lines and any thing else that comes in contact withethanol because of its corrosive nature.
08-28-2007, 03:14 PM
#26
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Pa
Posts: 763
RE: ETHONAL BAD
E85 is a blend of fuel, not the name of straight ethanol. Personally, I would give anything to be able to run it in my stang... I can already hear people going "why the heck would ya say that?". Simple... It's 115 octaine, and costs less than $3.00 a gallon. Anyone here checked the price of Cam2 110 or 115 octaine lately?
Also, for it's corrosive nature, in older vehicles, it will eat seals and gasketsfaster than twinkies get eaten at a Jenny Craig convention unless those seals have been replaced in the last few years. It's also not very carberator friendly due to poor atomization at lower fuel pressures. Most newer vehicles that aren't designed for E85(and especially ones that were manufactured after the MTBE ban) can handle a tank here and there with no major issues BUT YOU WILL KILL THE MOTOR IF YOU RUN ITCONSTANTLY. Keep in mind, that your fueling while running it will be WAY off. E85 does not burn like gasoline, and your AFR's need to be very very different.
My next project that is Chevy powered is going to be one of those LSx based 5.3 liter engines that are flex fuel capable, running about 25 or 30 pounds of boost andfeed it nothing but E85, and I'm going to stuff it into something that is in the Sub 3000 pound range.
[sm=gears.gif]
Also, for it's corrosive nature, in older vehicles, it will eat seals and gasketsfaster than twinkies get eaten at a Jenny Craig convention unless those seals have been replaced in the last few years. It's also not very carberator friendly due to poor atomization at lower fuel pressures. Most newer vehicles that aren't designed for E85(and especially ones that were manufactured after the MTBE ban) can handle a tank here and there with no major issues BUT YOU WILL KILL THE MOTOR IF YOU RUN ITCONSTANTLY. Keep in mind, that your fueling while running it will be WAY off. E85 does not burn like gasoline, and your AFR's need to be very very different.
My next project that is Chevy powered is going to be one of those LSx based 5.3 liter engines that are flex fuel capable, running about 25 or 30 pounds of boost andfeed it nothing but E85, and I'm going to stuff it into something that is in the Sub 3000 pound range.
[sm=gears.gif]
08-28-2007, 04:10 PM
#29
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Citrus County, FL
Posts: 8,007
RE: ETHONAL BAD
a couple quotes worth reading...... i prefer chevron/texaco (same additives) but seems shells stuff is keeping clean too.
Shell, a Top Tier brand, bases its claims on a test by Southwest Research Institute. The laboratory ran an engine for 5,000 hours, using Shell fuel on half the cylinders, an unnamed fuel in the other half. The Shell cylinders didn't have deposits, and the others did, the lab report says.
Shell has several demonstration cars that work the same way. In 16 tests of 5,000 miles each using different brands of gasoline, the test cars' intake valves had just one-eighth the residue with the Shell brand as with other, unidentified brands, according to data that Shell provided to USA TODAY.
Shell has several demonstration cars that work the same way. In 16 tests of 5,000 miles each using different brands of gasoline, the test cars' intake valves had just one-eighth the residue with the Shell brand as with other, unidentified brands, according to data that Shell provided to USA TODAY.
The strength of additive packages varies, but meeting Top Tier standards can require 2½ to five times as much additive as the EPA requires, according to Buczynsky and Shell's Mueller-Belau, whose company is a Top Tier participant. Even so, it adds less than a penny to the cost of a gallon, Buczynsky says.
08-28-2007, 10:34 PM
#30
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Now in Sunny SOCAL
Posts: 1,308
RE: ETHONAL BAD
E85 ethanol fuelis 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, hence the term E85. It is "Flex Fuel" and it is only for vehicles that are flex fuel rated. And, yes it can damage a non-flex fuel vehicle. It will cause our cars to run extremely lean. This is not good at all. Mostpump gas is "oxygenated" to reduce emmisions.That means they have added a very small percentage of Ethanol to the gasoline.This is not the same as "E85". So, never, everput E85 in your tank unless your car is "Flex Fuel Rated".
ORIGINAL: Sleeper05
e85 ethanol is not dangerous to your motor. It will only be mixed up to about 15% by volume. The simple fact that it is potentially in there will NOT affect the octane rating, because the mixture will still have a minimal rating of 87.
e85 ethanol is not dangerous to your motor. It will only be mixed up to about 15% by volume. The simple fact that it is potentially in there will NOT affect the octane rating, because the mixture will still have a minimal rating of 87.