Ethanol or Non-E?

[SEGAangler]

I've heard from several people that it is best to use the non-E gas in outboards. While I don't doubt for 1 second that this is true, is it really a huge deal? Is the "normal" gas blend really detrimental? I am running a 1984 Evinrude 150. The VRO has been removed and I run pre-mixed gas & oil. Any thoughts, facts, opinions welcome. What do you run....Regular blend or non-E?

 

[JimS123]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

I run all premix, in OB motors that are circa 1952, 1970, 1984 and 2009. Since marina gas is too expensive, and finding E0 is too much trouble, I run E10 in everything. Only had 1 problem......the gauge float in my 1970 OB tank was eaten by ethanol and had to be replaced with a compatible one for $1.50.

Same for my cars, lawn equipment, etc.

Sure, my mileage is lower, but it seems everything runs OK anyway. My 34 year old car used to need a carb rebuild about every 7 or 8 years. Since running E10 about 15 years ago I haven't had to do a rebuild and it runs perfect.

Maybe if you got old junk with gunk the E10 might fowl fuel filters. Truthfully, every time I replace a filter I cut it open and I'm disappointed that I wasted a new filter.

I don't do anything different than I did before, and I don't intend to change now.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Since I've changed hoses, diaphrams, and installed a water seperating fuel filter, it doesn't matter.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

using food for fuel is bad. everyone knows my anti-ethanol stance. the issue is, E0 has a 120-180 day period before the carbon chains starts to break down. E10 has about 30 days. E15 has about 20 days.

is you run your motor often burn what the heck you want. if you run sporadically, stick with E0.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Other than your motor being old enough that the original parts may not very ethanol resistant (haven't found this to be the case on my dozen or so older Evinrudes though) it will make little difference, and those older parts should have been change by now anyhow.

After 20 plus years of a steady diet of E10 and having no real issues, I don't lose any sleep over what I use.

Whether we should use it or not is a different issue.

 

[procraftguy]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Ok im no expert and iv been running my motor with e0 from marina but the two times i took it on a trip and got e10 i had a miss problem not bad but a few times has never happened at my home lake with e0 . But with that said this weekend im taking her camping and im not going to drive around looking for e0 /1988 force 50 hp

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

scott nailed it; if you use your gas monthly it doesn't matter; if it sits, it might. which is one reason E10 is OK in a car, not in a motorcycle (if the gas lasts more than a month).
You can treat e10 and it will work OK if it has to sit. I have not had problems since treating and using a water seperator. On a boat I use about every 3 months I use non-ethanol but I have a convenient source.
People in dry and colder parts of the country often have no issues with e10 and some act like the rest of us are crazy. Those of us who live in humid and temperate areas know better.
true, though, you have to replace your fuel path in older systems b/c ethanol without question eats those parts.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Ok im no expert and iv been running my motor with e0 from marina but the two times i took it on a trip and got e10 i had a miss problem not bad but a few times has never happened at my home lake with e0 . But with that said this weekend im taking her camping and im not going to drive around looking for e0 /1988 force 50 hp

This type of use is where people run into problems.


E-0 will let water and other crud sit in the bottom of the tank forever, or until it builds up to the point where it gets sucked into the pickup tube and is either caught in the filter or goes into the carb. E-10 will clean that crud out which will be caught in the filter, along with absorbing the water and allowing it to flow into the motor to be burned, this may or may not cause running problems depending on the amount of each. If you continue to run E-10 this debris will eventually be flushed out and you end up with a much cleaner fuel system. Many believe a fuel water separator will stop this water, but it won't, any water that has been absorbed by the ethanol will pass right through and be burned, the fuel water separator will only stop free floating water that is typical of what you find in E-0. If there is more water in the tank than the ethanol can absorb then you may run into problems.

I too have had running issues that appeared to be related to filling up at a certain station, this was in a neighboring state that had recently converted to E-10. The conversion to E-10 can cause headaches for everybody, and these are the locations where you hear most of the issues coming from.

Storing larger amounts of fuel in bigger boats can also be an issue, but most of the people on this site have smaller boats.

Some people confuse my responses as a love of the product (E-10)….well I don’t like it, but we need to deal with the facts so it can be used with as few problems as possible.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Just checked, humidity is currently 100% here.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

We've always had non-ethanol 87 octane in Iowa, but around the end of September they'll start shipping 84 octane and adding th ethanol to bring it to 87. I'm sure there will be no price decrease for the inferior product. End of an era.

 

[SEGAangler]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

Alot of great information guys, greatly appreciated. Withall this information along with the history of the boat my conclusion is to continue running the E10 (which is all that has been run in it for years; even by the previous owner). Whether it helps or not I do use a fuel/water seperator and the gas does not sit in the tanks for any extended period of time (couple weeks max). The biggest thing I can take from this is that if I do believe that the fuel may sit for 30+ days I will drain the tanks and have a bonfire!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

no need to bonfire it, after a few weeks, put it in your car.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

The biggest thing I can take from this is that if I do believe that the fuel may sit for 30+ days I will drain the tanks and have a bonfire!

30 days is a myth perpetuated the snake oil salesmen. The manufacturers i.e. Exxon, Citgo, etc. state 90 days w/o stabilizer. The stabilizer manufactures say one year if a stabilizer is used.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

30 days is a myth perpetuated the snake oil salesmen. The manufacturers i.e. Exxon, Citgo, etc. state 90 days w/o stabilizer. The stabilizer manufactures say one year if a stabilizer is used.

Well, kind of a FYI I guess. A few years ago, I started the season with a half tank of 21 month old gas (long story). I use Stabil every time I gas up but I was still a little anxious. I was thinking about draining it but decided to take it out on the big lake and see what happened. It fired right up and purred like a sewing machine. Took it to full speed and it ran fine. A couple of days later I headed out with a 2 gallon can of new gas and ran her wide open up and down the lake til it ran out. I don't necessarily recommend this, but it worked out for me.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

SAE test for fuel tanks is to let fuel sit for 14 days to let ethanol separate from fuel. then freeze and perform impact test. call it a myth. call it snake oil. do your own research. I live the nightmare that is ethanol in fuel systems. food for fuel is bad.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

using food for fuel is bad. everyone knows my anti-ethanol stance. the issue is, E0 has a 120-180 day period before the carbon chains starts to break down. E10 has about 30 days. E15 has about 20 days.

I agree completely about the food for fuel and would certainly support legislation to go back to E0. Now, about the 20, 30 and 180 days, could you please provide a link to the scientific documentation?

 

[dingbat]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

SAE test for fuel tanks is to let fuel sit for 14 days to let ethanol separate from fuel.

There are hundreds of SAE fuel tank test specifications. Which one in particular are you quoting?

BTW: Separating ethanol from gasoline require distillations unless the fuel phase separates from contamination. Uncontaminated, 14 days old fuel will not seperate.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Ethanol or Non-E?

using food for fuel is bad. everyone knows my anti-ethanol stance. the issue is, E0 has a 120-180 day period before the carbon chains starts to break down. E10 has about 30 days. E15 has about 20 days.

is you run your motor often burn what the heck you want. if you run sporadically, stick with E0.

With that thought in mind, the 70 year old Allis Chalmers model C tractor I just bought should not have started on three year old fuel. But it did. We've been using corn squeezin's here in the midwest since Hector was a pup and other than the usual fuel filter plugging issues to neglected fuel systems prior to the switch, there aren't any issues. Only the repair shops like to blame ethanol for every failure. I even use E-85 extensively in my Impala and at 83,000 miles it simply doesn't care what's in the tank. Better performance albeit a slight decrease in mileage but nowhere near the 30% less that some folks tend to spout -- again not based on experience but rather on "what they heard or read".