Ethanol and Powertrain Damage

Post by **disneyd** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:32 pm

What do you guys think of this?

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/c ... 058678.htm

Pewter Sonoma · Post by **Pewter Sonoma** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:50 pm

From what I have read (hours and hours of research, btw), Mr. Wallace's first 5 points are all accurate and correct. If anyone want to see the actual results of ethanol over time (graphs and data), I can dig up some reports on the net. They are pfd files; I can reference pages if you want.

I mentioned it in another thread last week (debate: Obama fuel...); if ALL of America's corn industry was made for US tranportation usage - it would only fuel SEVEN %! (7%) of our current demand. 7% is nothing! And wanting to up it to 15% is BS if you ask me. It's going to do nothing for us over time from a polution or energy independance standpoint. Over the long haul, it's going to cause increased engine wear and no reduced emissions.

Points 4 and 5 hit it on the head.

gbwrx · Post by **gbwrx** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:52 pm

I think we should have a choose instead of having to go to the pump and get 10% and possibly 15% in the future.

scottgib · Post by **scottgib** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:55 pm

This was a foolish move in many ways. Draw, shoot, aim!

Scuffcakes · Post by **Scuffcakes** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:55 pm

A few things struck me about this article:

1. The author quoted scientific studies and provided clear facts.

2. Armed with these facts, his conclusions make lots of sense.

This isn't the type of "news" reporting I've been used to.

SilverMaxima · Post by **SilverMaxima** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:33 pm

Scuffcakes wrote:A few things struck me about this article:

1. The author quoted scientific studies and provided clear facts.

2. Armed with these facts, his conclusions make lots of sense.

This isn't the type of "news" reporting I've been used to.

No kidding. Just reading this article brings a tear to my eye. E15? Really? A lot of vehicles on the road can barely, if at all, handle E10. Unless you drive a flex fuel vehicle (and I know of ONE PERSON, out of all the people I know), your auto can't handle anything higher than E10. And according to this article, E10 is too much for several makes/models.

Wheelman_13 · Post by **Wheelman_13** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:46 pm

So where again in west knox sells non "enriched fuel"?

SilverMaxima · Post by **SilverMaxima** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:34 pm

Wheelman_13 wrote:So where again in west knox sells non "enriched fuel"?

Exxon in Solway, all grades pure gas last I heard. Conoco at Walker Springs.

My Maxima seems to run fine on E10, but it's never seen anything else for an extended period (more than 1 fillup).

tscott · Post by **tscott** » Tue May 26, 2009 5:25 am

Every day I become more and more pissed off.

Budman · Post by **Budman** » Tue May 26, 2009 6:43 am

The Texaco on Lamar Alexander across the street from Blockbuster in Maryville is ethanol free for us Maryvillians!

TedV · Post by **TedV** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:18 am

my diesel doesn't have a drop of ethanol in it. Ethanol is for drinkin

Pewter Sonoma · Post by **Pewter Sonoma** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:24 am

SilverMaxima wrote:
Wheelman_13 wrote:So where again in west knox sells non "enriched fuel"?
Exxon in Solway, all grades pure gas last I heard. Conoco at Walker Springs.

My Maxima seems to run fine on E10, but it's never seen anything else for an extended period (more than 1 fillup).

I filled up at the Exxon in Solway a few weeks ago and I got horrible gas mileage. Next time, I filled back up at the Citgo you mentioned, and my mileage went back to where it was (~225 miles per tank.). Perhaps i had my right foot in it more? I'm not sure, but I found it odd the difference in fuel economy. I'm sticking with the Citgo on Kingston Pike from here on out.

Wheelman_13 · Post by **Wheelman_13** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:31 am

That sucks a bit because that is the hell out of the way for me. I suppose I will just have to deal with it, and maybe run down there before doing anything too enthusiastic with the car. So far, I haven't noticed the MR2 having too much issue with the E10; although I can tell a difference between junk-station gas (weigels/Kroger) and BP/Shell.

Are there any fuel additives/snake oils that might mitigate some of the issues that ethanol may or may not cause?

OvenMitts · Post by **OvenMitts** » Tue May 26, 2009 9:18 am

While I agree that the government shouldn't mandate ethanol increases, and this whole movement stinks to high hell of rotten political bullshiite, I still haven't given up on ethanol. I do think its wrong to force the unwilling to buy mixed gas, but I think if packaged and used correctly, ethanol can help us. Large-scale production from corn is not going to work, but future methods like switchgrass look more promising. We MUST start weaning ourselves off of oil now, and off of internal combustion completely in the further future, and I think ethanol could make baby steps in that direction. The real solution is to decrease our already-massive energy consumption to a level that the planet can sustainably provide.

FWIW, I've run several mixed tanks of up to ~E30 through the Sube, and experienced no performance losses, no big MPG losses, and no problems thus far. (but hey, not everyone builds 'em like subaru does!

Mike998 · Post by **Mike998** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:46 am

I never considered the possibility of the Ethanol blend being too high. That was a really good (although scary) article.