Ethanol blended fuel

[ag4ever]

OK, since the refineries are moving away from methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and using ethanol in its place, what impact will that have on my PCM Excalibur 330? I thought that I had read that using ethanol was not recomended. If that is the case, then what are my options? Not use the boat. Try to find non E85 fuel, but where and how. Convert it to propane, I bet that would void the warranty.

What is your opinion, and what are you planning on doing?

Is anybody concerned that ethanol is so corrosive the refineries can't use the current pipeline distribution system, and it has to be trucked to the distribution center for blennding with gas?

[surroundsound64]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

From what I understand, the most ethanol they can really use right now is about 30%. 70 parts normal gasoline, 30 parts ethanol.

I think most of our boat engines will be dead by the time most of the "gas" is ethanol. hehe.

And as far as I know (and have read), ethanol isn't going to hurt the engine. The only reason (that I am aware of) that they recommend not running a lot of it is because when it is cold outside, your engine doesn't like to start with ethanol.

I'd like to see more studies with acetone blends. I think that stuff can really improve fuel economy. The only problem is that it will break down some plastics. I don't think GM uses any of those plastics anymore, but I'm not sure about Ford. So that might pose a problem to the GT-40 guys.

[gotpwr]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

You are talking about E10 not E85. E10 is 10% ethanol/90% gasoline and can be used in any gasoline engine. E85 is 85% ethanol/15% gasoline and can only be used in flex-fuel engines. E85 is very rare and only available at about 600 pumps nationwide. E10 is very common, especially in the midwest, and I have used it in my PCM GT40 since I bought my boat new in 2000 with no issues. You may have already used it in your boat as not all states require pumps to be labeled with the % ethanol contained in the fuel. Bottom line is I wouldn't worry about it. Here is a website has some information on E10 and ethanol in general.
http://www.ethanol.org/e10.html

[gotpwr]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

Here's some more information I found on ethanol.org that should make you feel better about using E10 in your boat.

From: http://www.ethanol.org/warrantystatements.html

Boats & Personal Watercraft
Warranty statements of the boat manufacturers listed below approve of the use of ten-percent ethanol blends in their inboard or outboard motors.

Bombardier
Honda
Indmar Marine
Mercury Marine
Nissan
Evinrude, Johnson
Pleasurecraft
Suzuki
Yamaha

Planet Nautique members in Minnesota have already been using E10 exclusively.
From: http://www.ethanol.org/e10.html

In Minnesota, for example, every gallon of unleaded gasoline contains 10% ethanol

[ag4ever]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

Good to know, I guess I was knida concerned for no reason.

I doubt many of the pumps here in Texas had ethanol prior to now, but I could be wrong. I just don't think the supply chain was very good out of the northeast and mid west.

I was not sure if the 85 meant 85% gas or ethanol, now I know.

[bscott]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

The problems I have with E10 and E85 is that is costs more than regular gasoline and your fuel economy decreases. I also wonder how much fuel is used to convert corn to ethanol. Are we really saving anything here, or is it another market for corn?

[AWhite70]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

In Iowa E10 (89 octane mid-grade) is $.02-$.06 cheaper than regular (87 octane non-ethanol). There are a few stations that carry E85 but it is cheaper than gas by $.30-$.40. Alcohol does however result in lower mileage.

As for net energy gain I'm not well versed enough on the topic of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) to defend either case. What I can say is there are many studies out there that say ethanol & biodiesel production are good & bad from an energy conservation standpoint. I think you can make the numbers look as good or as bad as you want depending on what assumptions you make in the analysis.

[ScrewPusher]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

I sent PCM this exact question earlier this week and have not heard back from them, but I have not followed up either. I live in southeastern Virginia and the MTBE should be phased out by the end of the month. When I get a reply from PCM, I will post

[scottrob]

RE: Ethanol blended fuel

Please do post - April 1, we're all in this together :-).

[gotpwr]

I suspect the answer will be the same as what is on ethanol.org. Pleasurecraft = PCM
www.pleasurecraft.com