I had a discussion w/a guy at the shop getting the pressure washer fixed yesterday. This was kinda how our conversation went. The new e-85 blend of gas is going into the pumps this summer. It's present now but theyre increasing the ethanol from 10% to 15%.
Ethanol at this increased level does NOT mix well with the 2-stroke oil you're using today on gas/oil mixed use engines like chainsaws, weedeaters etc. The current oil used separates from the fuel and will cause the engine to run lean and burn up in about 2min or less. In addition ethanol at this increased level increases moisture and condensation (water) in the fuel and more so in humid environments. Echo and Stabil have a new oil type to mix w/this fuel. Their shop did a fuel analysis on a chainsaw w/problems and the fuel contained 12% ethanol blended fuel. Chain saw was fried.

This fuel is really dry and doesnt have much lubricity. I know how much we all use these tools so I wanted to send this out to help prevent some frustration and possibly save you some $.

Anyone have any experience with this? Does this sound correct? I thought the more people know, the better!

 

I cannot offer anything past that it is not E85 you are speaking of, that would be 85 percent Ethanol, and indeed would mess with your 2 cycle.

For all the hand wringing, Illinois has ran up to 15 percent Ethanol for years, and they do not even have to tell you the specific mix, and I have not fried anything yet, nor bought special oil mix.

 

The ethanol mix here in Michigan isn't at 15% yet but it certainly DOES mess with small motors terribly. Ethanol attracts water, (for one thing), as well as corrode internal components and rubber, especially in small engines like chainsaws and lawn mowers. For that reason I've been using SEF fuel, (http://seffuels.com/), in the things that I use infrequently. It wouldn't pay to use it in something that sees a lot of fuel going thru it in a short time as it's quite expensive. But in the things like my smaller saws that sit for months on end without being used, it's invaluable. Even in my big saws that I use quite a bit, the difference in quick starting and performance is a night and day difference. The stuff has a 2 year shelf life and it doesn't eat rubber lines and seals like the pump gas either.

 

I guess I'll just have to head across the Red River and pick up some Ethanol-free gas from Oklahoma for all my small engines.

 

E15 is evil...

my local station doesn't sell ethanol in their fuel. I run it in all my vehicles even tho its 1% more expensive.

 

Try looking at this...http://www.buyrealgas.com/

 

Or try this one...http://www.pure-gas.org/

 

From my understanding E85 is 15% ethanol.....no?

 

No. E85 is 85% ethanol and designed to only be run in Flex-Fuel vehicles.

What you're probably hearing is that E85 is 15% gasoline.

 

It might cost less but you will only get about half of the miles per tank than you are used to.
We tried it in the wifes old exploder(not a typo) that was a flexfuel once to see how it would do. milage sucked and it took two more tanks to flush that crap out of the system.

 

Ethanol is only cheaper at the pump because its subsidized.
That said, ethanol can be a good fuel, but you need higher compression.

 

The day it became economical enough to run E-85 in my mothers malibu in relation to low mileage vs regular unleaded prices, they raised the E-85 $.50 a gallon.

 

Can't most of you buy Non oxgenated fuel for off road use, we have it at the pumps here in MN/ND I buy that or premuim and neither have ethanol in them, had no issues.

 

I read in one of my hunting magazines vehicle sections about different fuels that ethanol has the lowest energy output per unit of the three main automotive fuels.
Diesel was the highest fallowed by gasoline then ethanol. Gas and ethanols energy is mainly heat or waisted energy where diesels energy is measured in actual expansion power. That is why it takes more gas and ethanol to equal the same amount of energy that diesel has.
I'll try to find the article to see where the source of their data is. It was in North American Hunter sometime last year or possibly the year before.

 

All true,