Would you pour ethanol in your car as an alternative to octane gas?

[Starguard]

Due to the high and steady rising cost or regular pump gas, here in Chicago we have a few stations that are resorting to ethanol that they’re selling for less than $1/gal. CITE Question is, “is it any good”? :eek:

[Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine]

As far as I know though, 10% ethanol is safe for a lot of cars and there were media releases down here about just what cars will run fine on it. But that’s only E10,… E85 :eek:

The most researched and sought after use of alcohol, is alcohol as a fuel. Alcohols in general and ethanol, in particular, make excellent motor fuels. The reason alcohol fuel has not been fully exploited is that, up until now; gasoline has been cheap, available, and easy to produce. However, crude oil is getting scarce, and the historic price differential between alcohol and gasoline is getting narrower. Alcohol is an excellent alternative motor fuel for gasoline engines. It is not a suitable alternative for home heating or for essentially stationary power requirements.

Alcohol fuels may be utilized in three basic ways: as a blend with gasoline; as a straight, unblended fuel; or as an alcohol/water mixture in an injection system. Each method has certain advantages and disadvantages.

Alcohol blends have the advantage that up to a 10, 20 or even 25% concentration of alcohol may be used without modification to the engine. The actual concentration that may be used varies with each engine type, but generally a four-cylinder engine will tolerate a stronger blend than a six or eight. Small single-cylinder engines, such as lawn mowers, can often be run on pure alcohol by merely adjusting the mixture control screw. Even with larger engines, slight modification such as adjusting the carburettor and, perhaps, advancing the timing a little may allow the use of blends in the 25-40% range.
The disadvantage is that the alcohol you use must be perfectly dry. As will be discussed in the section on distillation, the highest concentration of alcohol that can be achieved by ordinary methods is 190 proof or 95%. In order to blend the alcohol with gasoline, the remaining 5% water must be removed.

The advantages of burning relatively pure 80-95% alcohol are several. First of all, because the drying step is unnecessary, you should be able to produce the fuel for less than the cost of gasoline. Secondly, there will be little, if any performance penalty, and by leaving 5-15% or more water in the alcohol you also gain the benefits of water injection. The only disadvantage is the trouble and expense of modifying your engine(s) to burn alcohol and the lack of dual-fuel capability.

Alcohol injection is a third alternative for the utilization of alcohol fuel. It is similar to water injection except that alcohol or an alcohol water mixture is injected into the engine. On a diesel tractor rated at 125 horsepower and consuming 8-1/2 gallons of fuel per hour, the injection system produced the same power with only six gallons of diesel fuel and two gallons of a 50% alcohol/water mixture. This is an overall saving of 6% in fuel consumption and a saving of almost 30% in diesel fuel. Other benefits include trouble-free, automatic operation, increase in available power, lowering of engine operating temperatures, and prolonged engine life.

Part of a report based on information from : The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel - S.W. Mathewson - Ten Speed Press – (1980) J.A. Diaz Publications

[Broomstick]

Another Chicago area person chiming in…

Couple caveats. First of all the “under $1” is a limited offer - most of the time E85 runs about 10 to 20 cents cheaper than unleaded… which right now would put the normal price around $2/gallon

Secondly - while they’re advertising the availability of E85, they are also emphasizing that you must check your owner’s manual to make sure your particular vehicle is compatible with this blend. Not all are. A check of my vehicles revealed that my '99 Ford Ranger can run on E85, but my '02 Toyota Echo can not. But with that statement, do not assume ALL '99 Rangers can use E85 - I remember that when I bought mine there were a couple of engine options and they may not all be equally compatible with E85. Hence, read your manual.

Certainly, occassional use of E85 in a vehicle compatible with the fuel isn’t harmful - I have no idea of what, if any, long term effects there may be.

[Ashkicker]

I didn’t know there was an alternative until now. I guess I would if it would be okay for my car. I have a 99’ Pontiac Grand Am, don’t know if it would run off of it or not. I haven’t seen anything like that at the gas stations around here.

[mike1dog]

You can’t really run a regular car off of E85, Ford’s Taurus and the Ranger with the flex-fuel option can run on it, but you will get much worse gas mileage with it.