Now I am getting confused....about ethanol

I bought a new lawn mower a few weeks ago. No big deal...same old Briggs I am used to. However in reading the manual I noticed it said not to use any ethanol based fuel. Well...I was not real concerned. In my part of the world there was none.
I knew a little about E85, not a lot...but some.
When I got my last new car I got one that is dual fuel. I still have family back east on the farm and if E85 becomes avaliable I want to try it.
Well...last weekend I noticed at my local station they have new stickers on the pumps saying the fuel "can" be up to 10% ethanol. Oops...do we have a problem not.
Ok...looked at girl friends car and it said it could run on up to 10% ethanol....but no more.
It went on to explain the benefits and the hazards of ethanol in fuel systems.
My problem is...I have a stack of old gas tractors that use gasoline...and from what I am reading about ethanol...I will mess up the fuel system if I use it. It will eat up metal unless it's stainless or a special alloy.
So far, only the counties close to me and the one I live in sell this stuff. A few miles away I can still get the gas with the old additive for the lawn mower.
My question is...will it hurt my old stuff? Is there an additive I can get so I can use it?
I know E85 will...but what about 10%? Some of you folks on the west coast have used this for awhile from what I read.
Any help is appreciated.....

However, E-85 takes on moisture, and goes bad, making a mess, a LOT quicker than the real dino stuff.

NEVER had a problem in my "daily drivers", from cars and trucks to ATV's lawn and garden stuff, and tractors, but I DON'T put in stuff that gets cranked up once or twice a year, so the fuel doesn't get freshened up by new stuff on a regular basis.

I've had it in stuff for a LONG time... LONG time.

My 2 yr. old Briggs engine also says NO ethanol.

One thing I have read is that during storage the alcohol will separate out (don't know how fast) and the burning characteristics are different. When I took my Homelite in for repair with a chunk of piston missing, the repair guy said it was because I used the gas with alcohol. Who knows?

This whole issue is loaded with politics with the farm lobby wanting to push alcohol & others wanting to keep it out & both sides lying. The FACTS are hard to sort out.

• Ethanol Test

Copy/paste.
B&S allows the use of oxygenate blended gasoline where the oxygenate content is up to 10% ethanol (gasohol) or up to 15% MTBE (Methyl tertiary butyl ether) by volume. However, ethanol blended gasoline can attract moisture which leads to separation and formation of acids during storage. Acidic gasoline can damage the fuel system of an engine while in storage. B&S strongly recommends removing ethanol-blended fuels from engine during storage. Use of gasoline containing higher than the EPA approved limits, for volume percentage of ethanol more than 10%, or MTBE more than 15%, may cause engine damage and will void engine warranty. Use of the following oxygenates may cause engine damage and will void engine warranty: Such Alcohols include: MeOH (Methanol), IPA (Isopropanol), TBA (T-Butanol). Such Ethers include: TAME Tertiary amyl methyl ether, ETBE – Ethyl tertiary butyl ether,

As you can see,B&S has no problem with 10% ETHANOL as long as you do not leave it in for long term storage in humid conditions.
The do have a problem with METHANOL and some of the other more corrosive alcohol products,but not with ETHANOL.

I also have used 10% ETHANOL blended gasoline in small and large 2 and 4 cycle engines from new to 50 years old with no problem for the last 20 years. The fact is that in some cases,the 10% ETHANOL blend fuel is the only thing that is trouble free in certain machines. My 88 Dodge Caravan needs at least 1 tank in 4 of Ethanol blend fuel or it has starting/rough idle problems.

My cousins 730 JD diesel with gasoline fueled pony engine,used to have terrible fuel system sludging problems with reformulated gas. It seemed that the heat from the big diesel would cause a bad reaction with unleaded regular in that little quart gasoline tank for the pony engine.It often took a month to use up that quart of gas,and the tank and carb looked like they had a layer of pond scum in them. He had constant problems with clogged fuel hose and carb needle/jets. Since switching to 10% ethanol blend fuel(3 years) he has had no more pony engine fuel problems. It seems to work equally well for small engines that see long winter storage,like mowers,pumps and grain auger engines,maybe in part because we have low humidity and do not see any condensation of moisture into ethanol blend fuel. It (10% ethanol blend) seems to stabilize fuel in storage,so we do not see gummed up fuel systems after months of storage.

Take care and good luck.
Jim

Here at Kunsan we have a few Army personnel. Sure is nice to have them here. I went in the AF in Sep. 85, and will do my last year at Dyess after I leave here. Take care, and maybe we can meet up some time and drink a couple of cold ones.

Jim

Jim

"Is STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer safe to use with reformulated gas? Absolutely yes! "

The stabil site says reformulated gas is fine with Stabil and contains anticorrosion additives that should help prevent corrosion if any moisture gets mixed with the ethanol in your fuel.

It's going to cost a bit more over summer, the timing is _slightly_ off, there are many many millions of gallons of new production coming on-line between now & 2006 (5 new or doubling in size ethanol plants within 60 miles of me alone) - however a lot of suppliers are going to switch from MTBE to ethanol this spring, and that will put a short-term blip on the wholesale price.

Ethanol is hard on some pot metals, and it will dry out & rot certain natural rubber gaskets. Don't know any manufaturer using those products in the past 20 years, and it's only a small problem in old machines, not much of a deal.

The wives' tail about eating metal comes from decades ago when the big oil companies were opposed to ethanol, and spread some bad info along with confusing _methanol_, or wood alchohol into the info stream. Methanol is very low btu, and very corrosive to many things.

MTBE was made from methanol, which is made from pertolium products. So, the corrosive methanol was turned into ground-water polluting MTBE, but _that's_ supposed to be good, and _ethanol_, which is in every beer & whiskey you drink, and made from grain or sugar - that's supposed to be bad? I don't think so.

Ethanol will clean a lot of varnish & crud out of your fuel tank & system that's been floating in there for however long, which will lead to some plugged fuel filters. That's about it. Ain't no big deal, Fill er up & keep on going. E10 just is not the big deal folks make it out to be.

Minnesota has already pased legislation to go from 10% to 20%, or E20, in all road gas in a few years. Laws can change, but it's already in the books, 2012 I believe.

Glad to see the rest of the country starting to catch up. :)

--->Paul

It's my experience working on small engines that ethanol is too hot and dry. Seems to be tough on the valves.

Some of the older electronic fuel injection systems can't adjust for 10% enthanol and your mileage will suffer a bit. Newer systems can (seem to?) self adjust and get nearly the same mileage (I noticed this a lot with my 92 Grand Marquis bit not at all on my 2004 Grand Marquis). Never owned a carbed vehicle that was "tuned" so precise that that 10% blend made a differance.

The biggest problem people have with older equipment is that the 10% ethenal will "clean" out a sludged up system and clog the fuel filter.