Talking About The Damage That Ethanol In Gasoline Does To Small Engines

[av8tor17b]

He's a real piece of work, isn't he?

[av8tor17b]

The problem isn't ethanol in the gas. Ethanol has been blended into gasoline since the late 1970's. The problem is small engine manufacturers who refuse to design their engines and carbs to handle ethanol mixture. Rubber hasn't been used in automobiles since 1979. Viton has replaced it in cars. But are small engine manufacturers following suit?

[VAhostnet]

@av8tor17b Ah! I've been wondering when someone would make this argument. It's the argument that no matter how much harm the government does with their "solutions", it's up to the manufacturers to overcome the effects...at the consumer's cost, of course!

I've got a better idea. How about stopping all this forced ethanol nonsense in the first place!

[Husqvarnapro12]

spend 200 bucks for a new carb this year thanks to ethanol and my mower get at least 3 hrs use every day

[ugotsmacked1]

theirs a fleet farm that sells non-ethanol in my hometown. so their not all gone yet.

[mrsmashthings]

hey in a bit i am going to get off my butt and try and start some weed eater powered mopeds

[doutchyounow]

ethanol is not whats causing the problem.

gasoline and ethanol will not "blend" without a corrosive catalyst.

i dont know what the catalyst is.

i do know that what kenneth is showing you is true because i see it everyday too.

the catalyst melts rubber,plastics,corrodes aluminum.

shame on the oil companies for sell us expensive pisspoor fuel

[circusboy90210]

there would not be such a problem if you just change the fuel lines and etc. if you own something that does not run on this demand your goverment give you alteratives for your older equipment. government should not be able to mandate things that damage peoples property. 

[dadcolo]

OMG, didn't know about the small engine probs it creates, the more I look into Etoh use in gasoline the more I find mis-information spread around. . I burn 2 more gallons of E-10 gasoline to get my 400 miles from my tank that I got with real gasoline. I pay $6 more to use that E-10 to keep that 400 miles. Pipelines can't transport it, so more trucks are on the road to move it for blending. that's it, they figured how to make more money off us. we went backwards! :-(

[NormanLA]

@mondiesle How do you know that this video was brought to us from Exxon Mobil? You don't. You made that up.

[bradzcustoms]

The reason for the mandate is money. They tell you its to help the enviorment,they tell you its to help the local farmers....ect. It really all just boils down to more money in someones pockets. Think about this. better for enviroment? then why are cars (like mine) going from 25 mpg to about 18 after using 10%. I still drive the same miles, so there is more gas sold...more taxes paid. Parts going bad ... more parts sold, more taxes paid... think about it. now lets see the 20% damaging things

[xploron]

My neighbor borrowed my lawn tractor and filled it back up with regular gas (With ethanol), I've always used super (with no ethanol) all summer with no problems and still continue to use super. Would this 1 tank do permanent damage? 'Cause I started having problems after that 1 tank of gas with ethanol, I managed to get it going it's still sputtering a bit...

[gavincurtis]

There is a special place in hell for the IDIOTS that put ethanol in gas. It is an abortion that has done millions of dollars damage to NEW equipment. 10's thousands $ to me personally all 2005+ machinery. All boats w/o fuel injection are wrecked. Because of complaints we finally have 3 service stations selling NON ETHANOL gasoline and have lines because of it.

[insimenate]

@gavincurtis That's interesting. I didn't know service stations were permitted to sell gasoline without ethanol in it. I thought it was a federal requirement to include it. Didn't the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 extend the target of the amount of biofuel (usually ethanol) that must be mixed with gasoline sold in the United States to 36 billion gallons by 2022?

[gavincurtis]

@insimenate The first one was at the Marina in our neighboring city because of engine/carb damages. The boat repair shops were backed up 3+ weeks repairing ethanol damaged motors. The ethanol free pump was so popular they opened a 2nd at their sister fuel station. Finally, a third fuel co-op set up a Premium pump with non-ethanol gas.

Green sludge forms in the carb clogging the filters, jets and orifices.

Google non-ethanol pump location. There are sites dedicated to locating one near you.

[VAhostnet]

@gavincurtis This is a good find you have! I've updated the description of this video and added the URL of the page where you can find websites for locating non-ethanol pumps in your area.

[MightyCarnac]

Is it possible there's some other problem besides ethanol? I'm in the Washington state rain forest, we have 10% ethanol and I don't see these problems. I have a riding mower and a walk behind both with Briggs motors and they start right up in the spring. I don't drain the gas. No water in the gas even in this climate. Also have two string trimmers - one has a leaking primer bulb but the thing is 20+ years old. I'm not saying you're wrong but I can't explain why we don't get these problems.

[VAhostnet]

@MightyCarnac I can guarantee there is water in your gas. Apparently, your engines are able to run despite the water. The reason I know is that ethanol attracts water out of the atmosphere. It's a known scientific fact. But just because many engines are adversely affected by ethanol doesn't mean that all will be. Does that fact eliminate the negative effect? Of course not!

[MightyCarnac]

@VAhostnet If your gas tank is capped it's not exposed to the atmosphere except the air in the tank. I'm puzzled to know where all this water is coming from. Okay, in the interest of science I did some checking. I have a 1-gallon plastic fuel jug which contains about a quart of 50:1 two stroke fuel. It was mixed last April (I labeled it). I emptied it into a clean container and examined it carefully under direct sunlight. Not a drop of water on the bottom. Nada.

CONTINUED....

[MightyCarnac]

@VAhostnet CONTINUATION.…Next I emptied the fuel tank on my pressure washer which was about a quarter full - it's got a bad pump so hasn’t been started since early last winter. Some dirt on the bottom but not one drop of water. Incidentally the engine started normally and runs fine.

Again I’m not saying you’re wrong about ethanol but our gas pumps are labeled 10% ethanol and we don’t see anything like the problems you describe. I wish I could explain the difference.

[VAhostnet]

@MightyCarnac Well, I can tell you that those of us who experience problems keep the caps on our gas tanks, too, so that's can't be it. After all, most engines are unsafe to operate if the gas cap is off. Further, I can say that I fasten it tightly, and I'm sure others do too.

I did find one interesting thing in Wikipedia. Apparently, ethanol and water are "miscible", which means the ability to mix in all proportions into a homogeneous solution.

[VAhostnet]

@MightyCarnac Conintuing...So it's possible that you have water and don't know it because it hasn't separated. It's also possible that there's something about the way the manufacturer mixes the ethanol with the gasoline that causes a problem. You'll note that in the video, Ken mentions how area gas stations have been caught with larger proportions of ethanol, in some cases well over 30%. There may be something about the way this happens that causes immiscibility, i suppose.

[VAhostnet]

@MightyCarnac Also, none of this addresses why the ethanol causes so much physical damage. Water (so far as i know) isn't going to corrode tubes and other engine parts the way ethanol apparently does, as Ken's demonstration showed.

[9971explorer]

According to the mechanic that repaired my vehicle, it can damage vehicles also. So beware. I found out the hard way.

[wrestlemaniac202]

My motorcycle and jeep can't run on anything above 10% ethanol nor my dirt bike or the chainsaws on the engines and trucks at the firehouse

[VAhostnet]

@mondiesle Beg your pardon? What are you talking about? This video was brought to you by people who are sick of having ethanol muck up their lawn mowers, string trimmers, chain saws, recreational vehicles, etc. A solution that harms people is no solution.

[johnathonmelby]

yah i use 91 non ethenol and i used to use 87 ethenol in my snowmobile and it ate at the fuel lines into jell not i use the good stuff and never have problems when all my my friends use that crap and have to rebuild there engines

[stevenmorookian16]

Yup, I am tired of changing fuel lines, carburetor gaskets, and having to empty out gas that went bad from sitting too long. STOP THE ETHANOL

[Qtech71]

Great information...thanks.

[NateN34]

Wow, sweet, I'm fucking over my engine...

[warmmail]

Motorcycles are affected greatly and automobiles are at the very least suffering degraded MPG figures! 

[walkingfreak]

My engine litterly flooded on my toro wheel horse tractor cause the float was full of gas and had a small enough hole in it to fill with fuel and keep the fuel flow open. completley sucked. so im out the door 12 bucks until i can get the money

[soverato3]

nice you have rc cars too! :D

[MarkRSill]

I'm one of the victims of Ethanol, thanks for explaining many of the problems with this junk. I fly a carbon fiber aircraft with Rotax 4 stroke engine designed to use high octane unleaded auto fuel, not 100LowLead that airports use. Shell premium worked for years with no issue...not any more. I found a leak in the bottom of the plane as the fuel tank is integrated into the fuselage. The ethanol is eating the composite resins. This gov't mandate is bull crap.

[VAhostnet]

@MarkRSill : There's no doubt about it; this is a major problem that doesn't get enough attention. I'm sorry to hear about what happened with your fuel tank. A plane isn't exactly a small engine vehicle, so it's both interesting and disturbing that a larger engine vehicle is also being adversely affected. Thanks for sharing.