ncm

Ethanol is a nightmare for the carbs on my old Honda bike - gunk everywhere and water in the bowls after only 3-4 weeks sitting. I sold my dream Ducati because ethanol expands their plastic fuel tanks, which I think will eventually wreck resale values even on bikes without symptoms. 15% may not be a big problem for newish cars that run through a tank weekly. But for those of us who put less than 10k miles per year on the car, I hope the supply of ethanol free gas becomes a lot more widespread.

stout

^ Yep. Just spent $800 addressing fuel leaks in my 914...which had hoses that that were only a few years old. There were eight leaks, and the final failure mode (noticeable) was raw gasoline literally pouring out of the car in my driveway. I wonder if anyone has figured the cost (in dollars and environmental damage) of replacing hoses and other components and sending the bad stuff to landfill, allowing gasoline to escape to the earth and air through said leaks, and strapping otherwise running cars or motorcycles to diesel flatbeds to send them to a shop for repairs? All this, alongside the (much bigger) issues of how ethanol is made.

Ethanol is a mess. But it "sounds good."

My best solution may be going to Sears Point for gas for that car whenever possible, but that gets tricky if I want to keep the tank full because the car sits a lot. The extra 30-minute trip ain't good for the environment, either. Perhaps it's time to convert more of these corn farms to something else....

Bob Z.

You can search for ethanol free gas online but most is 89 octane: https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp

aCayenneFan

None of the current crop of P-cars is tuned for E15. E15 is a plan to fail.

stout

Which is kind of the point of potential for a serious lawsuit filed by ownership groups, insurers (warranty companies), and/or automakers. There are some basic assumptions made when engineering a car for a given market, and one of those is that there will be fuel for the vehicles you are making and selling to people that the car can actually run correctly on.

Arbitrarily changing the nation's fuel supply in a manner that has real costs for its consumers—and automakers who have to cover warranty repairs—is a recipe for disaster.

trevorlj

Hate to throw some science and experience in here with the hatred but based on Brake Specific Fuel Consumption E10 requires scheduling around 5.2-7.5% more fuel to make the same power and E15 requires around 7.8-10.3% additional fuel over straight gas. Most of the OEM computers I've dealt with over the years have between 12 to 20% authority (+/- from baseline - as in 24-40% total authority) to trim fuel delivery in closed loop operation and (easily) the fuel system overhead to match a 120% request. I would be quite surprised if a 2.6-2.8% additional requirement would be the straw that broke the camels back in a modern system with wideband O2's designed for E10.

But yeah...DOWN WITH ETHANOL!!!

Scottish Pete

I have replaced rubber fuel lines in my 1960 Austin-Healey 3000, 1962 VW Convertible and twice on my 1974 911 due to fuel leaking through the rubber fuel lines. They ran fine for the 40-55 years I have owned the cars . . . until ethanol showed up in California a decade or so back.

4 Point 0

LOL, I was going to say that. All you really need to do is increase the fuel trims to get a huge benefit. Once COBB release Pro-Tuning, it will be a piece of cake. But then of course you are able to do a full E85 tune : )
I can see its no good for people who don't want to tune. But for people who do, its very large smiles.

STG

Noah Fect

Lobbying for lower speed limits. Maybe think about that when it's time to renew.

Who ya gonna sue? Donald Trump? Get in line...

Why are you arguing with us? We didn't write the owner's manual.

aCayenneFan

Or, buy Sunoco Race Gas: https://www.sunocoracefuels.com/fuel/ss-100 Since it is a specialized formulation, and the proposed regulation does not mandate E15 for all gas, Sunoco Race Gas should remain an option. As long as you can find it....

However, given the common interest of the environmental and gasoline refining lobbies in this matter, I personally wouldn't bet on E15 being a nation-wide mandate.

Churchill

110% because Iowa holds the first presidential primary (well, caucus) in the country. You win Iowa, you have momentum into New Hampshire, other states, then the nomination, then the presidency. Candidates say they'll do away with ethanol, and then they spend the two years before running for president visiting every corn farm and county fair in Iowa.

spdracerut

The issue isn't the ability of the fuel system to adjust the fuel trims. The issue is the materials used for all the components in the fuel system. Ethanol degrades materials used in fuel systems designed for plain unleaded gas. 10% is about the limit typical materials used can handle without significant degradation. But 15% is too much for sure for older cars. A car designed to run flex fuel and E85 will not have issues, but every other car will.

stout

Eh, was kind of kidding with that remark, as we don't have an ADAC (which seems far cooler than AAA).

While I've gone on and off of AAA for roadside (it's kinda hard to beat), I've never given AAA a dime for car insurance after my high-school experience with an AAAer who rear-ended me. "Good news," said the agent with bright green eyes and brighter red hair. "We're going to total your car for you!" Amount offered? $3k. Even back then, the car was worth more than that (albeit not that much). It's still on the road today, and man am I thankful to Dick Cottrell, who schooled me on dealing with insurance companies in general and AAA in particular.

Got_Corners?