casrms1450

Would you use ethanol fuel in your car?
I won't, because cars need to be built to run on ethanol fuel.
Just ask the Brazillians, they use ethanol fuel and thier engines are designed to run on it.
It is not worth the risk, will the politicians buy me a new engine, if mine stuffs up ? Not likely!!

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Mr Jucy

I avoid it at all costs. Some cars will take it but Mazda (who made the engine in my Laser) warn that my engine can not tollerate any & besides I think it does a lot more bad then good & wouldn't youch it anyway.

MustangNicko

Didnt think you could still buy petrol with ethanol in it? Does it up the burning capability?

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dave_au

I think it now has to be clearly marked.

I think there has been a really bad media campaign against ethanol, as far as I know an occassional tank will not cause any significant damage. That being said, I still dont use it.

Dark_Horse

Petrol is legislated to have up to a maximum of 10% ethanol, which is fine for most cars. Any more than that and the fuel has to be labelled with ethanol content.

I personally won't use it either.

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davway

i dont really get why theres a big deal about ethanol...whats so bad about it if anyone would like to tell me?
i use Apco fuel by the way and they dont have ethanol.

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Dark_Horse

Excessive amount of ethanol content can do all sorts of nasty stuff like eat through your fuel lines, dude.

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3FB - The Official Site for cruising, eating and talking shite click here.

Member of the FPV-Tickford Club of NSW

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Axeman82

Ethanol in pure form will dissolve various plastics and some of these plastics are found in some fuel systems. So diluted ethanol will still cause damage to some but not dissolve parts. I don't know the exact plastic - I knew once - and I don't know what fuel systems are made out of so I can't say for sure how it will affect cars.

Ethanol itself has a mich higher octane rating than petrol - somewhere around 110-115 depending on purity.

Engines designed for ethanol run increased compression (12-14:1, etc) have much more advanced timing, etc. Ethanol is kinda like diesel, without all the pollution. It returns similar fuel consumption whether the engine is loaded or not. It does use about 15-20% more fuel - similar to LPG.

I had read a huge amount on ethanol a while back but I can't remember the exact details.

But I am completely for it as an industry. Australia has the potential to produce a large volume of its fuel requirements here in the country, yet we continue to allow ourselves to be dictated to by the US$ and OPEC countries. At current fuel prices it is cheaper to produce ethanol than use petrol, especially diesel!

I can't help but think as a nation we would be better off spending the billions of dollars we spend buying crude oil on developing a domestic industry.

On a side note - city petrol stations advertise they are ethanol free - you go into the sugar cane growing areas and the petrol stations advertise that they CONTAIN ethanol.

Australia does not end at the outer city suburbs..

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pauljh74

Also, Ethanol provides 30% less energy than petrol - so a 10% Ethanol blend will see you lose 3% in fuel economy. The Commodores sent to Brazil (where the mix is 20% ethanol) get nickel plated fuel lines, and other stuff replaced as ethanol will damage those parts. They also get a different paint formula around the fuel filler as the ethanol will stuff the paint if you spill it for example. I think in the engine itself it is fine, just some parts need to be changed to accomodate the characteristics of ethanol.

People claim ethanol is renewable and better for the environment. But the way it is produced - at least in Australia - negates that benefit so overall there is no benefit in greenhouse gases. You use more petrol as a result of ethanol added to fuel, some parts wear faster if the car is not specced to take ethanol blend fuel, so it will cost you more in the long run.

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chevypower

Yes it does :-)