Ethanol (10%) fuels and hotter spark?

[lowbuckrats]

I've noticed differences in my cars, past and present, that the ones with HEI(meaning hotter,better spark) have more tolerance to todays gas than do the old points set-ups that are currently in my Pontiac and my 55 wagon. I never have the stalling out problems, misfiring occassional rough running, with my current El camino or my old 71 that I had converted to HEI. Both my Pontiac and my 55 have ran like crap since I brought them out of storage this year. I put marine grade Stabil in both when stored. Now I believe that my Pontiac prolly could use new points and plugs, but the 55 is all fresh and occassionally does the same thing. With vehicles that I have had HEI's in I have never had any of these kind of problems (My past 3 trucks and my old 39 buick all with SBC's for example). I'm just wondering if there is a correlation with the problems I am experiencing and the quality of spark? It seems that way to me. Now, I have looked on the Web for answers and have found no definitive conclusions, but my guess is with ethanol having lower BTU's that it needs hotter spark to burn better, but I dont think that there has been any real studies to his fact. The newer computer based cars with FI seem to have more tolerance to ethanol because they can adjust. What do you guys think about this? [S

 

[donsrods]

I think ethanol gas is the worst idea the Government has come up with in a long time, and that is saying something. I causes tons of issues with fuel systems, doesn't store well at all and goes bad very quickly, and the gas milage is way worse than with regular gasoline.

I was in the marine business and it was driving us nuts and creating a lot of very unhappy customers. We would rebuild their carb or fuel injection and a month later the boat was running like crap again. Did I mention I don't like it at all ????


Don

 

[TiredIronGRB]

Crapanol....

 

[jcdvw66]

The Ethanol gas is crap,the government doesnt care what it actually does to cars. They prefer we all by new cars every couple years. I manage a fairly large car/motorcycle collection and we have seen a huge increase in fuel related problems in the past few years. When we were in Arizona we had less issues because the cars were driven more often and we used 93 octane that was regulated to 10% ethanol. Since moving to Michigan in 2010 the problems have increased. We cannot drive the cars during the winter and the ethanol content is not regulated in this state, wich means its typically 15% or more and premium here is 91 octane.
We have talked with several other collectors thoughout the country and they have had the same problems. And it's a big problem for the marina's in our area where boats are stored from September to May.
What we have found that helps is to buy 90 octane methanol free gas (known as REC90) and add marine Stabil and Marvel Mystery Oil to it. While this does get expensive, especially since we fill a 100 gallon fuel trailer, it has cut down on our fuel related problems. I also started using in my 72 Porsche and did see an improvement in overall performance.

 

[Old Iron]

Try this site for ethanol free gas in your area

http://www.pure-gas.org/

 

[Dirtyrat]

I was under the impression that all regular grades of gasoline could contain up to a max of 10% Ethanol.

And isn't E85 85% Gasoline, and 15% Ethanol?

 

[sgtpontiac]

That is my impression.....

I was under the impression that all regular grades of gasoline could contain up to a max of 10% Ethanol.

And isn't E85 85% Gasoline, and 15% Ethanol?

even the 10% crap eats fuel lines and rubber fast if you don't have lines impervious to it......they say up to 10% but you can bet if you tested it..you'd find it was at least 10%....if I buy gas at the Kroger store..my truck gets about 12 miles to the gallon...if I buy BP I get 16....not good but lots better....runs smoother, idles better and sounds better with the BP...