Does ethanol harm the engine of a regular gasoline car?

Question

I'm just now finding out that local gasoline retailers have been mixing in ethanol for months without telling anyone. Should I be worried?

Answer 1

I have heard yes it's horrible for your car and I've heard no it's wonderful for your car.   So I've been testing my car a 1985 Chevy Celebrity - stock and falling apart.   The advice is to add small amounts and increase the percentage of ethanol to gas up to about 50%.  So far the car runs quieter, smells better, starts easier, and it climbs the steeper grades better.  Nothing has been changed on the engine at this point.   In Michigan where I live it's been legal to add 10% ethanol without even telling the motorist since 1983.   If your car is newer than 1983, you can run ethanol as your car parts should already be compatible with it.  

Here's a link to a site that did a better study and ran completely on E85 for about 105,000 miles.  

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=my...

Answer 2

Ethanol can cause certain alloys (aluminum) to deteriorate faster. It will also cause rubber fuel lines (like in older vehicles) to erode faster.

Answer 3

It depends on the year and make of your car.  Last year I did some research and learned my car can be run on ethanol, it is a 2005 Chevy Impala.  Only thing is when I researched to see where I could buy ethanol it is 2 hours away.  Hardly handy.  Older cars aren't designed to be run on it.  And only a specific list of newer cars that can be run on gasoline can also run on ethanol.  If yours is on the list (which you can research on the Internet) I am sure it will not harm it being mixed in.  If not, I'd say it is damaging the engine.

Answer 4

Richard nailed it.

On the hotter/colder burn issue...Yes Ethanol burns colder when in proper tune...BUT...if your A/F is still tuned for gasoline, then the E85 will run LEAN and lean motors run hot.

Answer 5

Not at the 10% or less concentration--

however Ethanol has less BTUs than gasoline-- so current cars take a hit on fuel mileage --- you can check out how much on the EPA car mileage web site--

Some cars loose as much as 20%+ mileage according to the EPA site data-- to correct this problem engine compression must be increased-- and thats one of the things they do with E85 certified cars-- (plus fuel pumps-- gaskets-- fuel lines must all be E85 certified as 85% alcohol can dissolve a normal fuel line! --

Here is an example of a Ford F150 normal gasoline and E85 -- EPA web site

http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/progs/co...

Notice mpg E85 is 11 miles per gallon and with normal gasoline 14 miles per gallon------ running on Ethanol makes no sense to me??? You can check other cars at the above EPA web site-

Also in my humble opinion it is terrible as a boat or watercraft fuel-- because it attracts water into the fuel tank.,,,, and because boats are not like cars that are refueled regularly. My boat might sit in the boat slip or on the trailer for weeks between uses-- sucking that moist air into the fuel tank----unlike a car where the fuel tank is repeatedly emptied and refilled with fresh gas.

Answer 6

Most of the ethanol that they mix into your gasoline makes a mixture of 10% ethanol 90% gasoline, it produces a little less power out of your car but it is clean burning and makes more than up for the reduction in price.  Ethanol causes the hoses in your vehicle to corrode faster but 10% ethanol is nothing to worry about, there are people that even put E85 ethanol into their vehicles that are just standard automobiles because it is clean burning and takes a long time to corrode.  I wouldn't recommend putting E85 ethanol in, but there is nothing wrong with 10%, many states require it.

Answer 7

No I have done it for years as it is like an antifreeze for the fuel system. Cleans it up good.

Answer 8

Ethanol burns hotter than petrol, so if you have pistons valves and cylinders that can withstand higher temperatures, you should be ok, but if you start experiencing problems with those parts of the car, or any other engine part, send the repair bill to the petrol station. They really shouldn't mix in ethanol without telling anyone.

Answer 9

it never ceases to amaze me at how much misinformation about alcohol fuels there is out there, and what needs to be done to get an engine to run on alcohol. ok, a few facts here;

all alcohols are hygroscopic, meaning they absorb water, rather like a sponge.

there is a difference between ethanol and methanol, and methanol is certainly NOT a cheaper fuel. in fact methanol is much more expensive as a fuel than ethanol is.

there are items in the fuel system that need to be changed when converting an engine to run on alcohol. you must replace all the plastic in the system to something that is not affected by alcohol. fuel lines also must be replaced with alcohol proof hoses.

when running alcohol, you will use more, sometimes as much as twice the amount, than you would running on gasoline alone. ethanol doesnt need to be as rich as methanol does.

there is usually no problem running E10 fuel in any engine, even the vintage engines i have. more than that though and oyu need to make the above modifications regarding the fuel system.

if you have an electronic fuel injected engine, you need to install a flex fuel sensor, and have the computer reprogrammed to handle fuel with alcohol contents higher than E10, and you can run alcohol contents as high as E85. with the right programming you can run E100 fuel if you like.

if you have a carburetted engine, you need to run a carb designed for alcohol use, and you can only run alcohol as teh fuel mixture is far too rich for gasoline.

as for E10 being available for a few months, wrong try 20 years. E10 was introduced to the US in the mid 1980's, and has caused few problems over the years.

one more thing, to all those who keep saying that ethanol burns hotter than gasoline, you are way wrong. all alcohols burn COLDER than gasoline because they have LESS BTU content than gasoline does.

Answer 10

You should be worried. Read your owner's manual to see how much ethanol your engine can handle.

The main problems are corrosion of the metal parts of the engine if the wrong metal alloys are used to make it and dissolving rubber or plastic hoses if the wrong kind of rubber or plastic is used to make them. The correct materials should have been used in a newer car, but older cars may have parts that cannot stand up to ethanol.

(EDIT) I just looked at the owner's manuals (you DO still have you owner's manuals, right?) and both my 1999 Toyota Siena and 2000 Honda Civic say they can use fuel with up to 10% ethanol. It was a little hard to find though, buried in the middle of the manual. I had to use the index to find it. The word ethanol is in the index of the Honda manual, but found only the word "fuel" in the Toyota manual index and had to read all the pages listed until I found the stuff about ethanol.

Answer 11

yes, very worried

Answer 12

i heard so ..

but i didnt read it anywhere or didnt search for it ..

Answer 13

During the previous ethanol craze of the late 70s early 80s a lot of unscrupulous gas station owners would substitute methanol for ethanol, the former is cheaper but also absorbs moisture from the air which caused major corrosion to gas tanks and other fuel system parts.  I'm sure its a matter of time before we hear about a rerun of this old scam.