Ethanol Fuel; Friend or Foe
The pros and cons of ethanol fuel have many different views. A blended fuel known as E10 is simply unleaded fuel and 10% ethanol.Ethanol 9 Ethanol is a pretty word for alcohol or even corn. Other names you may have heard it called is gasohol, RFG (reformulated gasoline) or simply gasoline.
Alcohol extended fuel can be 10% ethanol by volume or 5% methanol with 5% cosolvents by volume. Information about boats will show you how alcohol extended fuels can damage fuel systems, cause performance issues and also attract moisture that will corrode metal parts in the fuel system.
There are different ways to check the content of ethanol in your fuel.Ethanol 6 I purchased a kit years back from my local lawnmower shop. The kit was sold by Briggs & Stratton for 7 or 8 bucks. The part number at that time was 100023. The kit is easy to use and has everything that you will need, just follow the instructions. Just because the pump says 10%, well you know what I mean.
Another thing that can happen that most folks are unaware of is called “phase separation”. This information about boats happen if you put fuel in the boat that is already contaminated with water and the other is called diurnal temperature cycling.Ethanol 8 This usually happens to boats kept at your dock or on a mooring. What happens is that in the heat of the day fuel tanks heat up and breathe out and naturally when it cools in the evening they breathe in. The breathing in draws in moisture which causes condensation.
When phase separation occurs you end up with pure gasoline as the top layer in the tank and a mixture of water and ethanol as the bottom layer. Since the fuel tank pickups are in the bottom of the tank you are naturally drawing this mess into your engine. Information about boats will show that engines will try to run on this mess, NOT good. I personally have never seen this happen but I have been told by many friends of it happening to them.
I had an engine in my shop years back that had been down the road at the local shade tree mechanic. These guys obviously didn’t check anything and repeatedly tried to start the engine.
The problem with this was that E10 fuel had been put into an old tank. You know after years of leaving tanks empty at the end of the season that mess that forms in the bottom of the tank that looks like shellac. Ethanol unlike gasoline is a solvent. The ethanol loosened up that mess and suspended it in that bottom layer of gas. Their repeated attempts to start the engine drew that gook up into the engine and the next morning the engine would barely turn over.
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