Gasoline with 10% Ethanol....safe ??

[WATERWINGS]

I have heard of gas now with 10% ethanol, and wondered if it was safe to run in a 200 2.4 with 150 psi compression?

I also hear that soon there will be gas that is 100% (??) ethanol.

Is either one safe to use?

[Hottrucks]

before anyone else say's it it will eat Skater fuel tanks!!!!! but according to Jerry Skaters are unsafe so this may help owns in the long run !!!

from what I have read and understand it collects water?? and eats rubber parts?? doesn't sound like good Sheet but I think we better find away around it???

Do a search there are a couple of posts on this subject and none I have read gave me a good feeling all I know is I hope I don't wear out the heads checking the plugs over the next year or so... and I plan on changing water seperator filters alot...

But I'm hear to listen to what people say????

[triple dude]

Old car buffs have said for years that ethanol eats rubber fuel lines.

[chynewalkr]

it broke the plastic fuel pickup in my tank last year. also the gas in the float bowls sat for about a month and totally clogged the orifices up. i suspect it spoils much quicker than not ethanol blends.:mad:

[Propster]

I have been running non-alcohol Texaco or Chevron fuel in the boat, but I run the cheap Arco premium in my little turbo 4 banger car. Alcohol has higher octane than gas, but has lower btu's by volume (i.e. leaner). Fuel injection is an easy fix, I just turned up the fuel pressure a couple of lbs to make up for the alcohol in the fuel. I think once we get everything alcohol compatable, (i.e. gaskets, fuel lines, o-rings, tanks etc) and jet them up, our motors will run fine on 10% alcohol. What choice do we have? Race gas? Av Gas?

[at100plus]

Click SEARCH and type in ethanol, you will find a ton of information, most of it BAD particularly when it comes to the marine environment.

I just saw an article that vaguely states NJ will implement use of ethanol across the state as soon as the winter blend is complete (May 2006).

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1143966001246240.xml?gloucester?local_news&coll=8&thispage=1

GM and some other manufactures are already building flex fuel vehicles to accept up to 85% ethanol also known as E-85. The current mix that is "supposed" to be acceptable to todays cars is E-10 (10% ethanol). From what I hear, all the gas stations are preparing by pulling the fiberglass tanks they just put in the ground to replace the rusty metal ones, and relining them so the ethanol doesn't dissolve them!

[Hottrucks]

I guess my BIG QUESTION is are the pumps going to be labeled??? I would hate to think I was buying regular fuel only to find out the it's a 10% or worse??? It's going to end up like being at the drags, Every time you fuel you have to re tune, sounds like Brucato is gong to have to figure away to put in a fuel enrichment knob on the dash???? I wounder what the big boys are going to do?? I'm sorry thats not covered under your warrenty sir!!! It has been trouble in alot of the two stroke snow machines already but the dealers are so hard up they have been taking care of it and sending the bill back to manufacturer as warrenty???

I guess this is one way to faze out two strokes!!! Just create a fuel that blows them up!!

[at100plus]

http://firstgovsearch.gov/search?affiliate=eia.doe.gov&v%3Aproject=firstgov&query=ethanol&search.x=0&search.y=0
(http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/analysispaper/biomass.html)

[at100plus]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/feature_articles/2006/mtbe2006/mtbe2006.pdf

[Dark Allison]

So will the ethanol mix with the current oils we are using in our outboard motors? I had a guy recently say it won't mix and will wash the oils off the bearings in the motor.:eek: :confused:

[SUPERBASH]

When ethanol was just us on LongIsland nobody else really gived a crap (except at100plus).
But now that its gonna affect "others" two strokes & skaters :rolleyes: .....

[Hottrucks]

I guess if if you had a crack habit knowone would care unless you where pushing it on others???


When ethanol was just us on LongIsland nobody else really gived a crap (except at100plus).
But now that its gonna affect "others" two strokes & skaters :rolleyes: .....

But at least I beat Jerry to the Skater tank thing!!!!

[Superboat Rob]

so what can we do to prevent detonation in 2 stroke outboards????

[Ron V]

so what can we do to prevent detonation in 2 stroke outboards????

You put it in the motor and run it. That's what we've done in Chicago for close to 20 years. Just might not be quite as good of an idea to really run the ragged edge on the jetting, and a really radical motor might not do well with it. I have no firsthand experience with motors like 280s or 300 drags running it, but we've only got countless ones running around this area and I'd bet they aren't all running straight 110 octane race fuel. We bent over and took it like men back in the 1980s. Now everybody around the country is hemmhoraging over it and hell, I thought it was a done deal in any urban area long ago! I was surprised to hear that New York just got it recently. Worst thing it has done to me was eat the shellac off the cork floats in some of my old outboards. That is solved by updating them with composite floats or by coating the cork with a gas tank sealer like POR-15. Some rubber hoses and fuel system components take a hit from it, but mostly the hoses made in the intermediate era, like 10-15 years ago. The new stuff is no problem. Also, the REALLY old hoses don't seem to have a problem with it either. My Johnson and Evinrude fishing motors have the original neoprene hoses on the motors and tanks that are 50 years old. My friend runs a 6 gallon tank and hose with his 70 hp Johnson that came off of his 1967 Merc 1100.

The thing about it going bad quicker has been reported time and again. There have always been bad batches of gas, doesn't mean it is the ethanol every time. But yes, in the chemistry textbooks and laboratories it attracts water. It doesn't keep as long, but 9 times out of 10 a lawnmower will start right up after sitting all winter without even adding Stabil. Store your tanks empty, run a water separator, and go boating.

As for the Skater tanks and tanks in other boats like Bertram, etc. as was reported in this month's edition of Boat U.S.'s Seaworthy magazine, that is flat-out negligence on the part of the manufacturer if the boat was built in the last 15 years or so. Everyone knew it was coming, and those types of expensive rigs are mostly destined for urban areas. They should have known better, it's as simple as that.

Not saying it's as good as real gas, but we haven't had a choice since the early 90s and before that had to hunt for gas that didn't have it all the way back into the '80s. As I recall, Amoco was the last one to give in around '94 or so. It is marked on the pumps here.

[Mark75H]

so what can we do to prevent detonation in 2 stroke outboards????

#1 Make sure your prop and set up are not overloading your motor.

#2 Retard your ignition advance if necessary.

[at100plus]

http://www.passagemaker.com/discus/messages/5/1498.html?1141133145

[at100plus]

http://my.boatus.com/askexperts/doncasey/question.aspx?expertid=2&questionid=10522&cat=

[at100plus]

http://my.boatus.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=54897&KW=ethanol