I have a 2600 mile trip in the woodie coming up in September. In central Oklahoma ethanol free gas is easy to find and I always use it, but that won't be the case on the road trip. Is there anything that can be easily added to ethanol/gas mix to minimize the damage to hoses and gaskets.
not sure what you're concerned about? Maybe you've been listening to horror stories from guys who might not know exactly what they're talking about? I've been taking road trips for years, and even driving my cars around town, on 10% ethanol fuel, with no issues.
The problem as I see it is letting the fuel sit in the tank for long periods thus allowing the alcohol evaporate causing water to condensate in the tank. Like squirrel said, no problems here.
yup, if you drive your car, you'll be fine. If you let it sit, you might have problems. So get out there and have fun!
Ethanol fuels run kinda shitty or at least leaner compared to straight gasoline but the main problem is it doesn't store as well. Some of that marvelous mysterious oil in the fuel seems to help with running and storage.
I don't think it will be a problem in the short term,I try to use ethanol free gasoline when I can but on our trip to the '54 Nationals a couple of years ago we traveled about the same distance without problems. Ethanol will damage conventional gas hose over a extended time,this is a picture of the flexible hose between my gas tank and metal fuel line on my Deuce sedan,the hose was probably 6 years old. I now use the petroleum resistant nitrate type hose that is made for use in diesel cars & trucks,cost more but great for piece of mind. HRP
I agree with the comments above; however, if your fuel pump is not readily available I would recommend carrying a spare. Several years ago when Kirk was with Goodguys a group made the trek from SoCal to Columbus Ohio. If I remember correctly, there were several (5 to 8) fuel pumps that were replaced during the trip. The blame for all the failures was put on the e-10 fuel. I don't know if that was fair or not, but the failures happened.
I have used Star-tron or Stabil with every tank refill in my 56 since I bought it 5-1/2 yrs ago. Could be a waste of $$ but I'm still going to do it. The bumper exhaust tips stay perfectly clean not like the 50's at all and it could only be the fuel since I'm using 50's carbs.
If your fuel pump is old enough that it's spent some time sitting, then it would be a good idea to replace it or carry a spare. If it's been in constant use, it will probably be ok. We used to have to replace fuel pumps on a regular basis, before all this ethanol crap even started. Remember?
Yeah, after you pass Weatherford, OK no more ethanol free gas. I always carry the additives when we vacation, even on my late models.
I've seen a few websites that you can search your route and it will list corn free gas in each town. I know down here I'm more concerned with the shitty adatives they add. In the winter months you'll get almost a quarter tank less mileage out of it. Anyhow I know hyvee grocery store gas stations don't have any corn or bs in their premium fuel if you run across any of those
Remember "dry gas, or white gas", you would pour a bottle of it in your tank when you got water in your gas and the car would run good again. That was ethanol. It worked because water is soluble in alcohol but not in gasoline. The water would mix with the alcohol which would mix with the gas and everything was good. The problem with having ethanol in your gas all the time is that its affinity for water causes it to absorb moisture from the air, which causes corrosion problems and is why modern fuel systems use a lot of stainless steel, and is also why ethanol blended gas tends to store poorly. Wouldn't be a bad idea to avoid storing the car with blended gas in it, but out on a road trip you shouldn't have any problems using it.
Did 3k miles last year in 10 days and only got non ethanol when going through ok. Carried some tools and spare fuel pump but no issues. HRP shed some light of what these new crap fuels can do. But I'm going on 9 years on my fuel lines and no issue. It's all hit and miss. I drive mine a lot so fuel can't get crappy so that's a plus. When your done with your trip hit your non ethanol pumps to run the good stuff back in after your trip. God I wish texas gave us the choice like y'all have. Since ya have been running good ole real fuel you should be fine on hoses etc. be ready to fatten up the carb some cause you will have to throwing the crap in the tank. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yup. For a trip where you're just burning through tanks of gas it won't be a problem. Fill up with the ethanol free stuff when you get home and you'll be okay.
You'll know right away on the highway cruise when you get a bad tank of juice investigators analyzed fuel samples from different stations and found in some instances that fuel labeled as E10 contained as much as 30% ethanol.
If you are buying modern fuel line in the autoparts store it is probably alcohol resistant. If you live in a larger city the air pollution is probably harder on rubber parts than the alcohol. If I was running old worn out parts already I would be concerned but in good shape a trip cross country isn't going to cause any problems.
Most of you forget that even "Ethanol Free" gas is not. When MTBE (methyl t-butyl ether) was banned a few years ago, the vast majority of refiners replaced it with ethanol (although some refiners use ETBE (ethyl t-butyl ether), a chemical combination of ethanol and isobutylene). It is nearly impossible to get 92 octane and under gas out of a pump in the US that is a true 0% ethanol.
If one bought good quality fuel hose, even 20 years ago or better it would handle the ethanol gas with no issues..Junk hose will handle short term but after some time the hose will deteriorate usually at the hose ends...I've had to replace line in weed wackers which is a pain..
Hello, Unless you are running a modern outboard motor, would I worry about ethanol. Having gone through A new small, Mercury outboard motor and a Honda motor the result was that the ethanol was the culprit in clogging up the carb jets. They are so small that any minuscule glob would clog up those little openings and make your motor stop or run badly until it stopped. Even the big name dealers had a line up of new Mercury (Nissan, Tohatsu) outboard motors waiting to have service for this problem. I thought a different brand of outboard motor would solve the problem. The dealers all blamed the new ethanol gas. Cars? It seems like they are all used to running fine as long as nothing sits for weeks without use. The outboard mechanics said "stuff" settles and gets sucked up into the gas line. Nothing happens to the gas line, but it clogs up the end opening. Even if you have a silk stocking filter or fine paper funnel to weed out "stuff" in the gas, the outboard is more susceptible to clogs. Jnaki Our car ran fine with no problems from So Cal gas stations to the Southwest up through OKC and on to St. Louis on a cross country trip. (and back through Kansas, Colorado and Nevada.) It should not matter what kind of car you are driving, or where you get gas. As long as it does not sit for weeks, you should be fine. But, how did I solve the gas outboard problem? Being out in the deep ocean with an inoperable gas motor was not going to cut it with the other half, so we decided to purchase a Torqeedo Electric motor. No clogs, starts up every time, a reserve battery for extended trips, a real reverse lever, and total reliability in all kinds of weather and ocean conditions. No more smelly gas fill ups at the dock or out in the ocean. Plus, it was quiet.
I have to go along with what has been stated above plus my $.02. As long as you are using the tankful up, you should be OK. Try to go to what appears to be a high volume station. That would eliminate contaminated storage. Where I have seen ethanol damage has been in cars not used regularly and yard tools. Corrosion can build up in carbs and fuel tanks. I'm speaking of the classics seasonally driven. And ethanol actually dissolves the small clear fuel lines in mowers and edgers and the like. As above, the tiny orifices in the 2 stroke carbs can't take it.
One of the station's I buy fuel at here in town has a sticker on the pump that says contains trace amounts of ethanol. I do the same as what some others have stated. If I'm going to burn right through a tank I don't mind putting the ethanol stuff in there but if it's going to sit I try to make sure that it's fairly empty and I put the so-called ethanol-free gas in it. No problems yet. Sent from my A520L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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