Ethanol feedback...

[cyrmanj]

Hi all:

In about 4 months all the gasoline in my country (Costa Rica) will have 5 % of ethanol. I was wondering if someone here uses E30's with such a mix? I own an E30 1987 325i. I have been told to clean the fuel tank, injectors and also that many plastic parts, such as seals may deteriorate at a faster rate.

Can anyone offer some advice, share experiences, etc... THX!

[Farbin Kaiber]

Paging Heeter.

[AlarmedBread]

ethanol doesn't cause any problems, especially at such a low concentration. 5-10% is actually good for your fuel system as it displaces water in the winter time and keeps things slightly cleaner than gasoline alone. Makes additives such as heet useless (no not heeter)

A lot of people confuse ethanol and methanol which is where many e-horror stories came from.

[cyrmanj]

ethanol doesn't cause any problems, especially at such a low concentration. 5-10% is actually good for your fuel system

Thanks for the good news, there's a lot of talk around here about old cars would deteriorate, but I think it refers more to carburated ones. Have you used your E30 with such a mix?

[rwh11385]

All cars in the US since ~1975-77 have been approved for up to 10% ethanol. Definitely not unusual to see pumps putting out E10 on the east coast when I was there.

[cyrmanj]

Thanks guys, I also have another doubt, it is a discrepancy actually: Some say that it would be better to use octane booster with the ethanol mixed gasoline, however I've also read that ethanol actually has more octanes than gasoline? Also I've told that the more octanes you have it would helps increase the compression on the cilinder, hence avoiding detonations before the piston reachs the top of the chamber... Sorry if couldn't explain myself quite well, anyway what do you think?

[mattdk318i]

Ours contains "up to 15%". In sc

[cyrmanj]

Ours contains "up to 15%". In sc

Wow! That's way to much. Back here in Costa Rica, most of the car fleet is old, haha... hence I was worried. And your E30 hadn't suffer the consequences of such a high mix?

[Farbin Kaiber]

Up to 15% in the winter in California, then when the heat comes they back it off to 5-10%.

[lennon]

here in florida all of the pumps now say "contains as much as 10 percent ethanol". im not sure how long theyve been doing it, but ive slowly seen the stations add this sticker to their pumps over the past couple of years. i havent had any problems with it.

[rwh11385]

here in florida all of the pumps now say "contains as much as 10 percent ethanol". im not sure how long theyve been doing it, but ive slowly seen the stations add this sticker to their pumps over the past couple of years. i havent had any problems with it.

the labels are in a lot of places as at least 30% of the nation's gas is E10. It's part of the RFS policy and one of the reasons gas is cheaper than it could be currently. also, why the USA is now the top ethanol producer in the world.

the main advantage is in places that require RFG (reformulated gas) with either MTBE which is carcinogenic or ethanol which is not and reasonable cheap and better for environment / country

http://www.epa.gov/OMS/rfg/whereyoulive.htm

If you live in red, you are already getting 10% ethanol pretty assumably

[Farbin Kaiber]

SoCal pump.

[cyrmanj]

ethanol which is not and reasonable cheap and better for environment / country

+ 1

[Vedubin01]

Chevron does not have Ethanol in their gas as of yet. Ethanol mix burns about 300 btu's colder and thus worse gas mileage. Chevron is my gas of choice.

[z31maniac]

ethanol doesn't cause any problems, especially at such a low concentration. 5-10% is actually good for your fuel system as it displaces water in the winter time and keeps things slightly cleaner

Yup, when the ethanol strips the protective coatings in the fuel system, then the water ends up in the bottom of the tank and rusts it, I would definitely consider that a good thing.