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Originally Posted by JFP in PA
Actually, the ethanol in gas picks up water during manufacture, transportation and storage. When it sits in your tank, it can separate and form acidic compounds with other additives in the fuel, and attack a wide variety of surfaces such as the mild steel fuel lines, pump components and the injectors. This is why E85 vehicles have all stainless fuel systems, special injectors and other components; making a true conversion from normal gas to E85 price prohibitive.
We recently had a Z06 Vette in the shop that the owner (on a 9-month assignment in China) put into storage with a full tank of gas, but no stabilizer. A mere couple of grand or so later, we replaced all the parts screwed up by the water that separated from the 10% ethanol gas and he was on his way again.
Use fuel stabilizers if you let the car sit, it is cheap insurance, and now even recommended by a lot of the OEM’s………..
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I happen to be in the biofuels business and am well aware of the proper manufacture, storage, transport, distribution and use of many biofuels including ethanol.
Yes, being a hygroscopic chemical, it has the property of absorbing water from the atmoshphere and yes, fuels have a shelf life that most people don't really realize.
Gasoline is degrading from the moment that is is manufactured just like ethanol and many other compounds.
Yes, modern fuel systems have eliminated problem areas through materials selection to deal with the solvent nature of ethanol.
The primary difference in the combustion of ethanol, CNG and LPG from gasoline is ignition timing. Since the caloric value of these fuels is less, the timing must be advanced much more than normal.
Modern flex fuel vehicles have different fuel curves for E85 and E10 that accomodate the needs of the engine to handle the difference.
Whether the Vette suffered from water in the fuel or old gasoline is really moot, either could have caused a problem and fuel stabilizers are a good way to prevent problems of this nature.
The fact is that you cannot buy gasoline without ethanol in it in the US. So we have to deal with it. If you buy gas from a high volume gas station and use your vehicle on a regular basis, and have a good gas cap on your car, you will not have a problem.
If your car sits up, then some Stabil is a good investment.