5 ms·

Does the percentage of ethanol have any effect on the engine?

by amir734jj 4y ago

taterbase 4y ago
Older car hoses can degrade faster from it. You also get less power per liter with the blend but overall no.
- bombcar 4y ago
  It also doesn’t “keep” as well (which is why you should burn non-oxy premium in small engines if you can’t get normal non oxy; or fully drain/run dry your lawn mower at the end of the season).
  - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
    Learned this the hard way with my zeroturn mower this spring. Left a bit in the tank. Gummed everything up. Had to take an air compressor to all fuel lines and clean the carburator. Reasonably priced well built electric tractors and zero turns can't come soon enough.
    - dontcare007 4y ago
      Replaced all my 2 stroke engines with electric last year. It's been awesome.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
0daystock 4y ago
- themitigating 4y ago
  Cars have used 10% ethanol for decades and engine reliability has only gotten better.
  - 0daystock 4y ago
    Sure - and grandpa lived to be a hundred despite smoking a pack a day. Does that make cigarettes healthy?
    - gruez 4y ago
      That's entirely different. The reason why ethanol degradation is a non-issue on modern cars is that they've been engineered to resist ethanol. The reason why grandpa lived to 100 years is through dumb luck.
      - sieabahlpark 4y ago
        So it's purposely to destroy gasoline cars? Sounds pretty wasteful for the environment to take all of these existing cars out, replace them with EVs, and dump the requirements into the electric grid. So what, we need 300m new EVs, and a place to tear down all the current gas cars in America? Perfect, I'll buy a Tesla so Elon gets richer.
        gruez 4y ago
        >So it's purposely to destroy gasoline cars? Obviously the intent isn't to destroy cars, not any more than the intent of driving gasoline cars is to heat the atmosphere. >Sounds pretty wasteful for the environment to take all of these existing cars out, replace them with EVs, and dump the requirements into the electric grid. Get your timelines straight. This all happened decades ago, before EVs were a thing. The cars on the road today aren't getting destroyed by ethanol.
- belltaco 4y ago
  As opposed to centuries of pushing oil and gas pollutants literally down our noses and into the public air? What's so bad about EVs?
  - 0daystock 4y ago
    For one, the production of EV batteries is fraught with its own environmental harms and societal ills. But more simply, gasoline engines provide more freedom of movement and energy independence in the present day. Non-EV vehicles are also easier to work on and maintain, and older cars don't require specialized components just to turn on and run the engine, for example.
    - bryanlarsen 4y ago
      1. Some types of Lithium mining are dirty, but 30kg of Lithium is a lot cleaner than 50 tons of gasoline. 2. Electricity is the ultimate form of energy independence. There are literally billions of places you can trickle charge an EV in the US. You can turn gasoline into electricity a lot easier than you can turn electricity into gasoline. 3. I do all the maintenance on my EV, but I don't on my ICE. It's easier because there's almost no maintenance on the EV. Brakes, tires, wipers and cabin air filter.
      - 0daystock 4y ago
        > There are literally billions of places you can trickle charge an EV in the US. And there's an infinite number of places I can bring a can of gasoline/diesel to. Check and mate.
        bryanlarsen 4y ago
        Who does that? Anybody going to that ridiculous level of preparedness can just carry a generator. Every place I've seen that is off grid but has a fuel tank also has a generator. Electricity is everywhere that gasoline is.
pitaj 4y ago
It's an octane booster, which helps reduce knock.
RhysU 4y ago
Anything past E90 is terrible for motorcycles of all sizes and many small engines.
- xtiansimon 4y ago
  Reading my Suzuki Owner’s Manual it says no more than 10% ethanol, but also under no circumstances more than 5% methanol (wood alcohol). It’s getting so you need a gasoline “nutrition” label to keep your 2-wheel fun machine running well.

Does the percentage of ethanol have any effect on the engine?

taterbase 4y ago

Older car hoses can degrade faster from it. You also get less power per liter with the blend but overall no.

bombcar 4y ago
It also doesn’t “keep” as well (which is why you should burn non-oxy premium in small engines if you can’t get normal non oxy; or fully drain/run dry your lawn mower at the end of the season).
- cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  Learned this the hard way with my zeroturn mower this spring. Left a bit in the tank. Gummed everything up. Had to take an air compressor to all fuel lines and clean the carburator. Reasonably priced well built electric tractors and zero turns can't come soon enough.
  - dontcare007 4y ago
    Replaced all my 2 stroke engines with electric last year. It's been awesome.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

0daystock 4y ago

themitigating 4y ago
Cars have used 10% ethanol for decades and engine reliability has only gotten better.
- 0daystock 4y ago
  Sure - and grandpa lived to be a hundred despite smoking a pack a day. Does that make cigarettes healthy?
  - gruez 4y ago
    That's entirely different. The reason why ethanol degradation is a non-issue on modern cars is that they've been engineered to resist ethanol. The reason why grandpa lived to 100 years is through dumb luck.
    - sieabahlpark 4y ago
      So it's purposely to destroy gasoline cars? Sounds pretty wasteful for the environment to take all of these existing cars out, replace them with EVs, and dump the requirements into the electric grid. So what, we need 300m new EVs, and a place to tear down all the current gas cars in America? Perfect, I'll buy a Tesla so Elon gets richer.
      - gruez 4y ago
        >So it's purposely to destroy gasoline cars? Obviously the intent isn't to destroy cars, not any more than the intent of driving gasoline cars is to heat the atmosphere. >Sounds pretty wasteful for the environment to take all of these existing cars out, replace them with EVs, and dump the requirements into the electric grid. Get your timelines straight. This all happened decades ago, before EVs were a thing. The cars on the road today aren't getting destroyed by ethanol.
belltaco 4y ago
As opposed to centuries of pushing oil and gas pollutants literally down our noses and into the public air? What's so bad about EVs?
- 0daystock 4y ago
  For one, the production of EV batteries is fraught with its own environmental harms and societal ills. But more simply, gasoline engines provide more freedom of movement and energy independence in the present day. Non-EV vehicles are also easier to work on and maintain, and older cars don't require specialized components just to turn on and run the engine, for example.
  - bryanlarsen 4y ago
    1. Some types of Lithium mining are dirty, but 30kg of Lithium is a lot cleaner than 50 tons of gasoline. 2. Electricity is the ultimate form of energy independence. There are literally billions of places you can trickle charge an EV in the US. You can turn gasoline into electricity a lot easier than you can turn electricity into gasoline. 3. I do all the maintenance on my EV, but I don't on my ICE. It's easier because there's almost no maintenance on the EV. Brakes, tires, wipers and cabin air filter.
    - 0daystock 4y ago
      > There are literally billions of places you can trickle charge an EV in the US. And there's an infinite number of places I can bring a can of gasoline/diesel to. Check and mate.
      - bryanlarsen 4y ago
        Who does that? Anybody going to that ridiculous level of preparedness can just carry a generator. Every place I've seen that is off grid but has a fuel tank also has a generator. Electricity is everywhere that gasoline is.

pitaj 4y ago

It's an octane booster, which helps reduce knock.

RhysU 4y ago

Anything past E90 is terrible for motorcycles of all sizes and many small engines.

xtiansimon 4y ago
Reading my Suzuki Owner’s Manual it says no more than 10% ethanol, but also under no circumstances more than 5% methanol (wood alcohol). It’s getting so you need a gasoline “nutrition” label to keep your 2-wheel fun machine running well.