if we could just get rid of the ethanol!


Please let it happen, soon
Stop the Stupid!

raydawg wrote on 04/17/18 at 08:57:32:


No.....Flex Fuel is E85 - which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.  You aren't likely to find it in rural areas - we have a few stations northern Kentucky that carry it.  Your fuel mileage will drop significantly when using it.

All of the fuel sold in this area is E10, which is 10% ethanol and 90" gasoline.  The only way you can avoid it here is to buy fuel at a Marina that carries pure gasoline - or go to a Country Mark store in Indiana that has a 90+ fuel that does not contain any ethanol (a 1.5 hour round trip for me).

Reformulated fuel is made differently that conventional gasoline and burns cleaner - but it more expensive.  Here is a list of where it is used, and thankfully the "opt in" counties in KY are not going to be on the list after July 1st.

https://www.epa.gov/gasoline-standards/reformulated-gasoline
Reformulated fuel

Here are our current fuel prices:

Gas Prices Unleaded  $2.659
Plus                         $2.959
Premium                  $3.259
E-85                        $2.059
Auto Diesel               $2.999
Kerosene                  $3.899

I don't believe that unleaded fuel was supposed to be cheaper - they took the lead out as they determined it is poisonous to the environment.

The lead was in the fuel as a knock suppressant - when the lead was removed they had to improve the octane using other methods, and the price went up.

The ethanol came about in an effort to reduce the need for importing fuel from other countries - the government wanted us to be less dependent on foreign oil.  They don't seem to care that it doesn't work well in old farm equipment, old cars and motorcycles, and doesn't store well.

batman wrote on 04/17/18 at 10:41:05:


I don't have a problem with it in modern, fuel injected, computerized engines - it works fine in them....they were likely made to use it.

The E10 causes a lot of problems for those folks that have antique cars, motorcycles, farm equipment, lawn equipment - anything that can go for extended periods without being used......some of the rubber parts in the fuel system disintegrate when they aren't driven enough to keep the E10 fuel fresh.

When the E10 fuel first started being used in this area my uncle had a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 and a Plymouth Superbird.  Each spring when we went to start them up - the carb would leak and we had to replace the accelerator pump diaphragm.  It turned out that the diaphragm was dissolved by the E10 each winter.  We also had the rubber fuel hoses on mowers, tillers, snow blowers dissolving and turning into sticky taffy hoses.....they were getting dissolved (we now use the yellow Tygon fuel lines on lawn equipment).

Ray

My wife's Impala is E-85 compliant , (07 model) .   So on E-10 she gets 30.5 to 32.0 mpg .   On E-85 she gets 24 to 26 mpg.    Short trips or long trips ... (3.5L engine)

Over all  , it cost about the same per/mile to use either one of them.  

But

It is sposed to make us feel better to use E-85 !  

But , I do separate my "Recyclables" trash from the rest of the stuff .  Really !  

For days now,... every time I read the thread title, "Goodbye Reformulated Fuel"... I get "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" stuck in my head...
... and I like it...