Will 87 with 10% of ethanol hurt your vehicle if not flex fuel?

[SeanEXP]

I have been using e87 fuel with 10% ethanol but I don't have flex fuel. I know the ethanol causes more corrosion to some components of the vehicle and possible damage.

Should I change from this particular gas station or is it safe to use?

Thank in advance for the information.

 

[Carguy3J]

I have been using e87 fuel with 10% ethanol but I don't have flex fuel

I hope that's a typo. e87 would be 87% ethanol. As far as I know the closest thing to that is E85, which is commercially available, and would be very bad for your non-flex fuel vehicle. I'm assuming you meant to say that you are using 87 octane pump gas, w/ 10% ethanol. That could be called E10.

The "official" answer is that 10% ethanol is safe for modern cars. That would include your '04.

Ethanol does have a habit of attracting/retaining water though, so a vehicle that doesn't get used much does run a greater risk of getting water in the fuel system, and hence corrosion.

Ethanol will also lower your fuel economy, as ethanol has a lower stoichiometric ratio then gasoline. This is the chemically correct ratio at which there is enough air for a given fuel to achieve complete combustion. For gasoline, it 14.7:1 (14.7 parts air to 1 part gasoline). 100% ethanol has a "stoich" of 9:1. A 10% ethanol blend will have a "stoich" of about 14.1:1. In other words, it requires slightly less air for an ideal burn. In other words, it needs a slightly richer mixture; therefor burning more fuel.

Ethanol also has a much higher octane than even premium gas, so if the engine is built for it (higher compression ratio for one), from the ground up, then an engine running straight ethanol CAN be more efficient and more powerful then an equivalent gasoline engine.

As far as buying gas, without ethanol, forget it. I know NJ, and I'm pretty sure NY, requires 10% ethanol blend, to reduce pollution. (Ethanol also burn cleaner then gas.) It replaced the MTBE, a oxygenate additive, that was being used previously. There have been claims that MTBE causes cancer, so it was removed from gas. The EPA is actually talking about allowing, and eventually mandating, 15% ethanol at the pump.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-fuel_ratio

http://www.brighthub.com/environment/renewable-energy/articles/90254.aspx

http://moodle.student.cnwl.ac.uk/mo...uelSys/gasoline/fund/stoichiometricratio.html

A big problem with ethanol blends:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25936782/ns/business-consumer_news/

http://info.bellperformance.com/blog/bid/45496/Ethanol-Blends-Are-Wreaking-Havoc-on-Small-Engines

http://www.jsonline.com/business/45370577.html

 

[2TimingTom]

Good luck finding a station that doesn't have at least 10% ethanol blended in.

 

[SeanEXP]

thanks for the information....and LOL yeah that was a typo....i shouldn't post early in the A.M. without having coffee first...thanks once again

 

[edwx]

If my string trimmer will run on it, I hope my Explorer will. At least we don't have to use drygas anymore here in the winter. I don't imagine much water builds up in the tank!

 

[JDraper]

If my string trimmer will run on it, I hope my Explorer will. At least we don't have to use drygas anymore here in the winter. I don't imagine much water builds up in the tank!

I'd suggest adding Stabil to the fuel for anything like a string trimmer, lawn tractor, ATV, etc..the Ethanol blends have a habit of gumming up the works in these devices. Their fuel systems aren't as robust as automotive fuel systems, and have components that can break down and gum up the carbs fast. I've worked on two ATV's now that have had issues when we lost the ability to buy 100% gas.