A fuel thread

[flynrider]

Gas with 10% ethanol has been the only oxygenated fuel available here in the Phoenix area for at least 10 yrs. It's mandated by the EPA, so there's no ethanol free option.

I haven't had any problems with it in my modern vehicles (those with fuel systems designed to use E10). None of the vehicles sit unused for long periods of time, so old ethanol isn't an issue (I don't have gas powered lawn/garden equipment).

I have had ethanol related issues, but only on old vehicles whose fuel systems were not designed to handle alcohol. My '69 Mercury ragtop had an issue with 1/4 inch rubber fuel lines that swelled like hot dogs. My old '59 Cessna was inadvertently fed E10 once and it dissolved the carb float. Alcohol laced fuels are strictly forbidden in aircraft (most of which were built in the 80s or earlier) for exactly that reason.

[ChipBeck_imp]

Agreeded except for the LIBERALS rant.Greedy big business owning the Senate and enough of the House is too blame.

Bob,

Ethanol is not in your fuel because of "greedy big business". That's not my opinion, that's a fact. Gasoline manufacturers were forced to use these additives by "greedy big government" regulators, many at the state and county levels who thought they knew more than fuel makers. In my home state of AZ the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors specified a boutique blend of gasoline 15 years ago that contained MTBE. This blend was not used any where else in the United States. A different blend was used in the summer than the blend used in the winter. The inefficiencies involved in this folly drove prices up significantly for drivers in the Phoenix area. In addition, both Chevron and Mobil pointed out at the time that MTBE did not break down in the atmosphere and that tests showed it would eventually end up in the areas ground water. The MCBOS bureaucrats ignored those findings and specified it anyway. Five years later we had MTBE in our groundwater. Only then did our regulatory masters switch to ethanol and they filed a lawsuit against Chevron and Mobil for groundwater contamination. They lost that lawsuit.

15 years ago there were over 250 different blends of gasoline stipulated and required to be manufactured in this country by governmental jurisdictions from coast-to-coast. If you actually think that this extremely costly, wasteful, and inefficient boondoggle was cooked up by greedy businessmen then they must be the stupidest businessmen on the planet.

Government can be wasteful and inefficient because they take their money by force and compel citizens to behave in counterproductive ways using that same force. No private business compels or forces me to do anything. They must compete for my business and I choose who I want to buy my products from. There is no greed in the private sector compared to the government sector that offers only two choices. Those two are to 1. Comply or 2. Go to jail.

Cheers,
Chip

[Tripod_imp]

Getting quite political for a fuel thread on a motorcycle forum.

Here is a list of vendors that sell ethanol free gas in Arizona: http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=AZ

I run ethanol free fuel in my vintage motorcyles, vintage cars and small engine motors. Any newer vehicles get the ethanol fuel, no problem.

Oh, and my family and I farm approximately 7,000 acres in the Ohio counties of Wyandot and Marion.

[The Spaceman_imp]

If ever there was a thread that needed to closed, this one is it.

[the Ferret]

Yea this thread has run it's course. started about gasoline, ended up about politicians. Lets shut it down.