Ethanol and your older car – even your not so older car

monvalleyadmin July 28, 2014Feature • Fuel • Technical

Ethanol in fuel is an old issue. By that I mean depending on location, ethanol has been in fuel some supplys for up to 50 years. Only since 1978 has ethanol in our auto fuel been a national issue (You probably remember term gasohol). Ethanol in fuels becomes a mandate in 2005. That mandate is subject to many parameters: regulatory, methodology, chronology, and fiscal. To say the least, outcomes have been all but uniform. So much so, that what is at the pump when you fill up is really questionable. Even with greater emphasis being put on labeling, that complex chemical we call gas is almost always different between any two fuel stations. In fact, different brands of fuel can have totally different chemistries and what you get after mixing brands in your tank is even more a mystery to say nothing of what occurs in your engine or fuels system components.
With the EPA having sanctioned E15 (gasoline blended to contain up to 15% ethanol) in 2010 (effective 2011), huge issues for those of us that attempt to preserve motor craft history with regard to operating old engines arise. In fact, the controversy is even important to our modern vehicles. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that mandates the amount of renewable fuel component (read ethanol) of gasoline by specific volumes, has given rise to the sanctioning of E15 with the intent to phase out E10. The modern vehicle issue is that E10 is supposed to be compatible for all cars 2001-present (it is not), and E15 is mandated compatible for all cars 2007-and beyond (“beyond” has a date, but history has shown that such dates change with the political wind. The complete compatibility of the 2007-beyond range is also unlikely.) The there is a real possibility that you can miss-fuel your late model car and suffer dire consequences very rapidly. Labeling is just now being addressed. Now don’t even think that gas pumps are all set to a standard. My research has shown that fuels labeled and delivered as E10 can range from 0% to near 15% depending on location. Without personal fuel testing, you will not know what you are putting into your car. Will E10 or E15  harm your “old” engine? There are a lot of claims, but I think we can at least say we all have experiences that give us pause. If not the engine, E10 and E15 can and does harm a lot of other things.

Ethanol burns fine, it is an octane booster, it does offer less energy per pound than non-ethanol fuel, it does reduce engine efficiency, but the most damning issue is ethanol’s active and wide ranging solvent action and what is worse, it dissolves water too. The water issue is important to antique fuel systems because for the most part, these systems are directly vented to the atmosphere. Although the accumulation of water by an amount of E10 or E15 through surface transfer in a fuel tank is really very small, physical condensation in a tank as we all know can be troublesome regardless of what fuel is present. The fact is, water going through an engine in any amount that does not quench the ignition of fuel is not harmful to the engine. The problem arises when water mixes with ethanol laden fuels and/or reacts with the fuel tank.

With these considerations, the problems that present for our older cars are real and bear potential for harm. The problems of water alone is well known, corrosion being the long term issue, fuel line freezing and exclusive water delivery to the engine are the others. We could usually mitigate these issues with prudent use of dry gas. But what is dry gas but ethanol. Ethan dissolves the water and the fuel present would dissolve the ethanol-water solution and they would all be burned in the engine. The water in the gasoline issue solved. But when there is already a large ethanol component to the fuel the physical characteristics of the mixture come into play. Add to E10 just 0.5 % by volume of water and the ethanol component of the fuel begins to separates’ completely and fall to the bottom of the tank. What miscible parts of the 200-1000 or so chemicals that make up gasoline go with it is unknown because every manufacturer has its own recipe to generate a chemical blend that behaves to a specification that is called gasoline. When the fuel separates, the ethanol portion of the gasoline that even in a dilute state is corrosive to certain metals, fiberglass, non-rated rubbers, and gasket materials, is now concentrated and sucked exclusively into the fuel system. What is worse, the ability of this stuff to ignite is very poor. Leave it sit for a while and the stuff begins to gel – the nightmare only gets worse. Well-kept fresh E10 has a shelf life of at most 90 days, usually less, before chemical interactions begin to destroy its ability to burn. Atmospherically vented fuel systems are way out of the parameters for ideal fuel containment. I recently had an instance of fuel separation that occurred with fresh fuel inside of 20 days.

If your older vehicle has original fuel lines, pumps, and gasket that are not rated for ethanol containment, then you will have problems with them corroding or dissolving. This is true even if you never experience fuel separation. The dissolved or suspended materials that don’t clog fuel filters, or foul carburetors or injectors make it into the combustion chamber where unfortunately not all is burned up and flushed out the tail pipe. Left behind will be some interesting deposits and effects.
Ares there resolutions to the E10/E15 issues? For old and newer cars alike that have ethanol compatible fuel components a fast fuel turnover rate is the best approach to dodging problems. Keeping up on fuel system maintenance – changing filters, checking for leaks, making sure pressures are nominal should keep your running without surprises. Storage is definitely an issue for many people. Because of the ethanol burden in fuels, storage can mean as little time as a month. In a modern car with a closed fuel system a two month is starting to be a long time. Storing fuel in an atmospherically vented tank is in my opinion pushing ones luck. The key here is to use a fuel stabilizer to extend the fuels shelf life. Be careful though, almost all of the stabilizers on the market contain a high volume of alcohol (read ethanol). Stabilizers do work and not to use them would seem foolish. Another alternative is to drain fuel systems. This can be a dangerous procedure and very involved to complete correctly. It probably should only be considered for long term storage. Because of fuel concerns, in my recent restoration I assembled its fuel system to make complete draining a simple task, but it was not inexpensive.

Fuels are going to remain a problem for collectors. If history is any indication, those problems will only grow more numerous. Because of our love of keeping our old road warriors running, there will be those among us who will offer alternatives, work-arounds, and innovations keep or cars running for years to come.

References:

GPRE   Green Plains (2008, June) Ethanol Timeline. gpreinc.com retrieved Feb. 9, 2014, from http://www.gpreinc.com/Ethanol-Timeline

FTC Consumer Information (August 2012) Paying a Premium for High Octane Gasoline http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/, retrieved Feb. 9, 2014, from http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0210-paying-premium-high-octane-gasoline

Fuel-Testers (May 23, 2008) Ethanol has a shelf life of 3 months. http://www.fuel-testers.com retrieved Feb 9, 2014 from http://www.fuel-testers.com/expiration_of_ethanol_gas.htm

Fuel-Testers (March 21, 2009) Ethanol has a shelf life of 3 months. http://www.fuel-testers.com retrieved Feb 9, 2014 from http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_fact_fiction_and_reality.html

Choose Ethanol (Feb, 2014) Choose Ethanol home page. http://www.chooseethanol.com retrieved Feb. 9, 2014 from http://www.chooseethanol.com/what-is-ethanol/entry/e15

Choose Ethanol (Feb, 2014) Choose Ethanol home page. http://www.chooseethanol.com retrieved Feb. 9, 2014 from http://www.chooseethanol.com/what-is-ethanol/entry/e15

Snopes (February, 2014), Snopes home page, E15 Gasoline http://www.snopes.com retrieved Feb 9, 2014 from http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/e15.asp

Popular Mechanics (December 21, 2010) Can E15 Gasoline Really Damage Your Engine? http://www.popularmechanics.com retrieved Feb. 9, 2014 from http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/biofuels/e15-gasoline-damage-engine

Environmental Protection Agency (December 10, 2013) Renewable Fuel Standards http://www.epa.gov Retrieved Feb 9, 2014 from http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/index.htm

Environmental Protection Agency (January 1, 2014) Renewable Fuel: Regulations & Standards http://www.epa.gov Retrieved Feb 9, 2014 from http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/regulations.htm