Anyone used a fuel additive in older car to counteract ethanol gas?

[Dennis S]

All of the No-Ethanol stations in town are now only selling ethanol gas. Lots of old guys are telling me that ethanol is bad for older engines (mine is a 1997 Totota Avalon) and makes your gas mileage worse. One station manager that just quit selling No-Ethanol gas recommended this:



http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display...sd?iid=335&catid=8&loc=show

Does anyone have an opinion on this stuff, good or bad?

[JPK]

Stabil (Gold Eagle - a Chicago company!) has an eth additive/stabilizer too.

I use it in all my small engines (mower, blower, weed wacker) and our ATVs.

Knowing what I know about the corrosive nature of ethanol, which is now added as 10% to all gas in Illinois, I wouldn't put gas in any of these without an additive like this.

I do use LUCAS FUEL TREATMENT in my vehicles and am actually thinking of swithing to the "Safeguard" you mentioned.

I can't tell you how well it works, and I do not notice any seat of the pants difference, but I have read about it and in theory I am buying it.

Good luck!

JPK

[Grateful11]

Ethanol only gives us trouble in our small engines, so far even the ol' '91 Explorer doesn't seem to be
bothered by it and only gets used about 10-12 times a year. In our small engines I use Seafoam and
reg. Stabil. starting in the Fall, during the Spring and Summer we only use Seafoam.

[tenders]

A 1997 car isn't really old. I have a 45-year-old carbureted boat engine which uses a 60-year-old design (a Universal Atomic Four, it's called) and it's been running ethanol gasoline since it's been available.

I left my boat out of the water one summer and the fuel in it was well over a year old, though having been treated with Sta-Bil, and it ran normally. If you burn the fuel within a year everything will be just fine.

The problems start when the fuel sits around for a long time, starts to go bad, and the ethanol separates into an orange sludge. Or if you have a fiberglass fuel tank, but no car has that.

[Grateful11]

We had a $180 repair bill on a 2 yo $9000 JD garden tractor
last summer because of water in the fuel system. Mechanic
said he sees it everyday because of ethanol and this is a fuel
injected V-twin Kawasaki and fuel filters are like $35 for it. They
flushed the fuel system and put in new plugs and fuel filter and
said start running an additive in it. I tried to get her to buy the diesel.

[Frank]

tenders wrote:
... If you burn the fuel within a year everything will be just fine.

The problems start when the fuel sits around for a long time, starts to go bad, and the ethanol separates into an orange sludge. Or if you have a fiberglass fuel tank, but no car has that.

That hasn't been my experience in Kauai. Fuel with 10% ethanol really messes with small engines and this happens within a month. The only sure cure is to burn all the fuel each use or dump the fuel and run the engine until it quits. Stabil and Seafoam help prevent the water absorption but are not really the complete answer here, in this climate.

[OWC Jamie]

ethanol can hold water in suspension - up to four tablespoons ( it might be teaspoons, but the effect is the same) per gallon . There is a saturation point and that's where the gas and water -laden ethanol seperate - with the ethanol sinking. (that orange slimy jello stuff, I've had it in my snowblower when it doesn't get used for a Winter and ignored)
I now tend to keep my tanks full , add sta-bil to anything like the roto-tiller that isn't going to be used for many months and fill the tank hoping to have less high humid air to react with.
A tiny bit of seafoam in every tank in the Spring.

[davester]

Ethanol in small engines can definitely cause problems. Ethanol in car engines does not cause problems unless it sits a very long time or you have a really old car (i.e. 1970s or earlier) with gaskets and hoses that are not ethanol-resistant. A 1997 Toyota is not an old car by any stretch of the imagination and will have no problems with ethanol in fuel. It is true that you will get lower gas mileage, but for E10 we're talking probably way less than 1 mpg difference.

[Dennis S]

Thanks, everyone. I think I will leave it as is.

[fauch]

The additive will surely cost far more than you will save in gas mileage....