06-11-2015, 08:45 AM
I'm a big fan of getting off of foreign oil and also breaking the oil monopoly that's existed in this country for the last 100 years. To that end I've been doing much research on alternative fuels and particularly ethanol. The country of Brazil is currently almost completely if not 100% free of the foreign oil dilemma because of their extensive use of ethanol. I have found lots of information to prove that ethanol is completely safe for almost every vehicle made since the late 90's.
With my current mix ratio, I currently run approx. 42% ethanol in one of my vehicles. Worked out that way the last tank because I simply filled it half and half with E85 and gasoline. I can tell you after running it for approx 300 miles that there have been no ill effects. The engine actually runs smoother and cooler.
I also have to address the mpg topic. If ethanol is burned in an engine optimized for gasoline, which all of our engines are, it's not logical to expect it to get the same results as a gallon of gasoline as far as mpg. But if an engine that normally burns gasoline is optimized to burn ethanol, many studies have shown that the mpg increases.
The last item to mention is that there have been no documented cases that ethanol has harmed any engine or parts from it's use. Much of that confusion has come from methanol which can cause problems to gasoline engines. Almost every vehicle manufactured in this country since 1990 is ethanol friendly.
Alternative fuels won't be going away. The Clean Air Act of 1970 will make sure of that. It's interesting reading if anyone gets the time to check it out. I'm not trying to start a heated debate here or anything like that. I'm just a very concerned citizen who wants to break free of foreign oil and the oil monopoly and I'm doing what I can to get there.
With my current mix ratio, I currently run approx. 42% ethanol in one of my vehicles. Worked out that way the last tank because I simply filled it half and half with E85 and gasoline. I can tell you after running it for approx 300 miles that there have been no ill effects. The engine actually runs smoother and cooler.
I also have to address the mpg topic. If ethanol is burned in an engine optimized for gasoline, which all of our engines are, it's not logical to expect it to get the same results as a gallon of gasoline as far as mpg. But if an engine that normally burns gasoline is optimized to burn ethanol, many studies have shown that the mpg increases.
The last item to mention is that there have been no documented cases that ethanol has harmed any engine or parts from it's use. Much of that confusion has come from methanol which can cause problems to gasoline engines. Almost every vehicle manufactured in this country since 1990 is ethanol friendly.
Alternative fuels won't be going away. The Clean Air Act of 1970 will make sure of that. It's interesting reading if anyone gets the time to check it out. I'm not trying to start a heated debate here or anything like that. I'm just a very concerned citizen who wants to break free of foreign oil and the oil monopoly and I'm doing what I can to get there.