15% Ethanol !?

Stan

Stan

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On th news this morning, the T administration considers increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline to 15% to attempt to bring down the price at the pump. Best case scenario is you will get decreased fuel economy and worst case, ethanol is not good for our cars...
 
En France on dispose déjà d'un carburant avec 15% d'éthanol. Il m'arrive d'en utiliser dans mes autos anciennes sans dommages.
In France, fuel containing 15% ethanol is already available. I sometimes use it in my classic cars without any problems.
 
Le mot-clé est peut-être « parfois ». Si vous devez utiliser du carburant contenant 15 % d'éthanol de manière continue, les pièces en caoutchouc risquent-elles de se dégrader ?
The key word might be "sometimes". If you must use 15% ethanol continually, will the rubber parts be degraded?
 
Je ne connais pas d'étude scientifique sur ce sujet et l'on entend tout et son contraire .
Nos anciennes ne font en général que peu de kilomètres.
Le caoutchouc semble fragile avec ce produit.
Sur une 320i E46 je roule à l'éthanol E85 depuis 7 ans et 70 000 km avec un boitier de correction de l'injection sans aucun soucis.
Il serait intéressant d'entendre des techniciens sur ce sujet
 
I’m not aware of any scientific studies on this topic, and you hear all sorts of conflicting opinions.
Our older cars generally don’t get many miles on them.
The rubber seems to be vulnerable with this product.
On a 320i E46, I’ve been running on E85 ethanol for 7 years and 70,000 km with an injection control unit without any issues.
It would be interesting to hear from technicians on this subject
 
I recall that there were some articles in Hemmings Motor News and elsewhere that indicated that e85 was not good for older vehicles. I think the cutoff was about 2001.

The risk in our older engines is in the fuel system with the increased alcohol attracting moisture and degrading rubber seals in the fuel system. The other consideration is potential for vapor lock as the alcohol will boil off sooner than pure gasoline.

Hemmings article from 2012
 
Apparently what they're proposing to do is allow winter-blend (higher-volatility) fuel to be sold all year. Winter-blend fuel has a bit more ethanol in it.

Re: E85 above, a car cannot run on E85 unless it has been designed to do so. What is being discussed here is the range between E5 and E15.
 
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