ethanol free gas

[NFATrustGuy]

FYI Leaded fuel will not gum up your valves. What it will do is plug up your catalytic converter because the lead will not burn out of it. It also causes lead fouling on the spark plugs.

I know more about aircraft engines than car engines. Mine in particular is a 200 cu.in., horizontally-opposed air-cooled version. Manufacturers of new cylinder assemblies for this engine have redesigned their valves and valve guides specifically to combat the problems presented by the excess lead in 100LL fuel. Here's an excerpt from the ECI Cylinder website:

"Valve guide sticking for these series of cylinders has become a chronic problem for the aging aircraft fleet. Lower compression engines such as these are plagued by a lead compound build-up in the valve guides and the 80/87 fuel these engines were designed to use is no longer universally available. The available fuel (100LL) has an excess of lead that does not adequately scavenge, and subsequently forms carbon/lead compound deposits in the valve guide.

To reduce the build-up of carbon and varnish due to the excess of lead, ECi now adds a Roto-Coil to the exhaust valve to allow positive rotation of the valve each time it is opened, which then presents fresh mating surfaces to the valve stem and guide. Fresh, clean mating surfaces help transfer heat to the cooling fins and reduce the likelihood of both guide wear and valve sticking."

That quote was pulled from this website:

http://www.eci.aero/pages/products_titan_0200.aspx

Admittedly, I have no idea if car engines are already designed to handle 100LL's 20-fold increase in lead content as compared to unleaded automotive fuel. They may be...

I **do** agree that the extra lead will also foul a catalytic converter and cause lead fouling of spark plugs. Admittedly, these are probably the primary concerns for cars running 100LL.

[streetglideok]

The problem isn't so much the lead from the info provided, it is the lack of cylinder pressure. Higher octane fuel needs more cylinder pressure to burn correctly, and will carbon up an engine, lead or no lead. We see this in the auto industry with consumers who use premium fuel in cars with lower compression ratings. They build up carbon bad, and eventually come in with all sorts of issues. Unless you are running enough timing, and/or compression, it will carbon the engine up every time. Lead may enhance the issue, as it was a lubricant for the valves as well as an octane booster.

[MarkCO]

Just curious how this fits into survival and preparedness?

Anyway, some of what is posted above is correct, and some is wrong.

Alcohols burn cleaner and cooler and has less energy per pound than gasoline. However, in a modern engine, there is nothing wrong, bad or damaging about running a small percentage of alcohol. Alcohol will slightly INCREASE horsepower, but will reduce fuel economy. Running a tank or two of E85 a year in vehicle so equipped is actually good for the engine and will make it last longer.

[streetglideok]

Just curious how this fits into survival and preparedness?

Anyway, some of what is posted above is correct, and some is wrong.

Alcohols burn cleaner and cooler and has less energy per pound than gasoline. However, in a modern engine, there is nothing wrong, bad or damaging about running a small percentage of alcohol. Alcohol will slightly INCREASE horsepower, but will reduce fuel economy. Running a tank or two of E85 a year in vehicle so equipped is actually good for the engine and will make it last longer.

Must make it clear, on vehicles so equipped to handle E85 only. Do not run E85 in conventional cars and trucks. The fuel systems are not made to handle that amount of ethanol, and can not deliver enough fuel to properly burn.

As far as being on here, a little water dumped in a tank of E10 gasoline will cause it to separate from the gas, and can lead to running issues if it runs at all. Can be handy in situations when you are trying to disable a vehicle intentionally.

[MarkCO]

Must make it clear, on vehicles so equipped to handle E85 only. Do not run E85 in conventional cars and trucks. The fuel systems are not made to handle that amount of ethanol, and can not deliver enough fuel to properly burn.

As far as being on here, a little water dumped in a tank of E10 gasoline will cause it to separate from the gas, and can lead to running issues if it runs at all. Can be handy in situations when you are trying to disable a vehicle intentionally.

That is why it said

Running a tank or two of E85 a year in vehicle so equipped is actually good for the engine and will make it last longer.

But the computer can be reprogrammed in some cases and you can run E85 if you really wanted to. In others, the fuel rail, lines and pump has to be upgraded as well.

Up to 15% alcohol is fine in non-E85 vehicles (since about 2003) and is MUCH preferable to MTBE.

[Portsider86]

FYI Leaded fuel will not gum up your valves. What it will do is plug up your catalytic converter because the lead will not burn out of it. It also causes lead fouling on the spark plugs.

We need to figure out how to condense the lead and compress the exhaust in a separate tank then expel both from the tailpipe.

[streetglideok]

But the computer can be reprogrammed in some cases and you can run E85 if you really wanted to. In others, the fuel rail, lines and pump has to be upgraded as well.

Not really. Injectors have to be larger, and safe with ethanol, and nearly all non flexfuel cars have fuel lines that would be reactive with the fuel as well. The pcm would in a lot of cases not work, as many of the cars have sensors to measure ethanol content. If you have a flexfuel car, great, run the stuff if you like, but if you don't, its not worth the time or hassle to try and make it work. I've had the joy of dealing with a few cars that had E85 pumped in instead 85 octane. Very obvious signs when looking at the data, including fuel trims pegged across the board. Never good to run an engine that lean. I did see where you made the note in vehicles so equipped Mark, but I just wanted to make a stronger point, as some would gloss over that and miss it completely is all.