I see no logic to running ethional, unfortunitly, it is now required in oregon. I'm conceared about how my 1983 Mercedes 500SL is going to handle this, as well as my older volvo 240s and my 1983 BMW 633 CSI. Is there an addiditve that I should run to combate this less effective fuel or? My mechanic said he has done 3 head gaskets this year and he a Volvos only shop and said something is going on. So, I'm concearned. Thanks.

I'm not wondering if there isn't something we can add to the fuel that will counter this? You might want to put this on the tech side and see what comes up.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Doesn't ethanol actually have a higher octane rating than gasoline? If your mechanic is implying head gasket issues due to pre-ignition, I'm not sure that he's on the right track. Are premium-grade fuels (over 89 octane) blended with ethanol?

Are you talking about E85 or a smaller blend? We have been using Ethanol blends since the 1970's with no problems and cleaner emissions. It would help to know the blend you are referring to.

Yes, it does have a high octane rating. I believe (don't quote me though, just of the top of my head) it is around 95 octane.

E85 has an octane rating of 100 to 105. Just richen the mixture a bit, advance your timing a little and you should be able to make the same power you did with gasoline. I'm looking forward to E85 in my area.

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Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

Thanks, that's good to know. The owner's manual for my Saab (which is always quick to imply that you're a wuss and should "just do it"; there are also many pictures which involve moose) actually says it's cool with Ethanol.

I'm happy to know I can quickly make my other rides like it too.

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'88 300SE | Midnight Blue | 237k
'09 Subaru Impreza | red | 0k

How? Even if you could easily advance timing, all you could do is make it go throughout the curve instead of at the correct points. Besides, what good is octane when you BTU is less? I do know in the Flex fuel cars, you would have to have bigger fuel pumps and injectors because you need more fuel to make up for the lack of BTU.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

It's just a statement, I never said it would be easy. It would be best to have the timing controlled by a programmable controller to get the optimum ignition timing for running ethanol. Your right about the BTU, even at a stoichiometric mixture for both fuels, gasoline is going to be the winner. However, due to the higher octane of ethanol, you would be able to compensate for losses by advancing the ignition timing and/or increasing compression. Ethanol also burns cooler than gasoline so that's another plus for E85. I believe forced induction engines will greatly benefit from the availability of E85 due to it's unique property's over gasoline.

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

Octane has nothing to do with how rich or lean it is. Ethanol is an oxygenator, put into gasoline to boost octane after TEL and MTBE were banned.

Ethanol is a bill of goods sold to the public as a savior technology, its not. It eats up small engines that can't compensate to the leaness. Go to any small engine shop, or ATV shop, snowmobile shop or jet ski shop and ask what they think about ethanol. Its eats up fiberglass fuel tank joints in boats-usually large tanks that split and dump into the bilge.

The cost of ethanol is greater than for gasoline (and the fuel consumed to produce is greater too) and the inclusion of it is one reason the price of gasoline is so high (not the only reason by far).

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MB-less

I never said it did. The stoichiometric mixture for ethanol is 9:1 where as gasoline is 14.7:1. I was just stating a fact.

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

I generally buy Exxon Premium gas, which I believe contains ethanol. Actually, I never really gave it much thought. Why would that hurt your engine and how would it do so?

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Perhaps the mechanic is surmising that the ethanol is causing a chemical reaction with the head gasket material.

All Minnesota gasoline is E10 (ethanol 10%, gasoline 90%) and I don't recall when it goes into effect (it may have already) but it will (or is) E20.

I haven't heard of any issues because of it.

I believe it degrades the plastic bits in the fuel system but I think that was mostly carburated vehicles and gnerally on cars made in the '70's.

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250