Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron61
Joe,
From the little I read in the article, I really am not sure just what percentage of Ethanol blend the cars are going to run on. And I am sure that here in Calif. they will use that as an excuse to raise the price of gas even more. Also what happens to the older cars that aren't made to run on this stuff when they change it all over? I can just see the Shelby Cobra badges being replaced by stalks of corn badges. 
Ron  |
Ron, the fuel burns as clean as gas and I haven't seen any issues. Same uncle has a 65 Ford F100 that he uses the blend in. He had to change the jets in the carburetor to a little bit larger to accommodate the need for more fuel, but that is it. Worst case, you would need a larger fuel pump, larger jets, and larger fuel line. Although, I doubt the fuel line would be necessary. From my understanding, the Flex fuel vehicles have a dual injector system. one set for gasoline and one set for E85.
Please keep in mind that my experiences are with E10 to E20 blends, and my comments are on those. Most pumps in the area I grew up are E15 or E20. The mileage went down but so did the price. I have no experiences with the E85 blend. Texas mandates that all pumps have at least 10% blend. My uncle will readily tell you he has been using the ethanol blends since the 80s and has not experienced any difference in maintenance costs, life of the vehicle or performance. One interesting thing to note, it is more efficient to use sugar to produce ethanol than corn. Corn is just more readily available in the US. Any vegetation can be used, but there are different degrees of success.