Unleaded15... is this stuff any good?

[slusher]

But all the corn growers here in Illinois and Iowa just love it...

Nothing wrong with farmers but they sell corn so they like it. 

[SfanGoch]

Nothing wrong with farmers but they sell corn so they like it. 

There are more important uses for corn, like making Everclear. 

[slusher]

There are more important uses for corn, like making Everclear. 

Best laugh i have had in a week Joe!!! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

There are more important uses for corn, like making Everclear. 

In the early '80s, I ran my triumph GT6 on Bacardi 151 just to see. Best smelling exhaust ever. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Yeah, I saw all those reports when I was googling this stuff earlier today.

What I really don't understand is that if this stuff can damage so many cars, why is it being sold? Isn't this just opening up a huge can of worms of lawsuits down the road?

Who would you sue?

The jokers who made the rules?

The EPA?

Good luck with that!

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

There are more important uses for corn, like making Everclear. 

Wow!

Do they still make that stuff?

Isn't that basically just E-85 in a bottle?

 

Steve

[SfanGoch]

In the early '80s, I ran my triumph GT6 on Bacardi 151 just to see. Best smelling exhaust ever. 

I believe it. I ran out of gas and used a bottle of Spirytus (Polish rectified spirits, 96% alcohol) to drive far enough to find a filling station.

[SfanGoch]

Wow!

Do they still make that stuff?

Isn't that basically just E-85 in a bottle?

 

Steve

Everclear tastes better.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Everclear tastes better.

Are you sure?

 

Steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

Are you sure?

 

Steve

Yup. Doesn't have that bitter aftertaste the gasoline gives E85. 

[SfanGoch]

Are you sure?

 

Steve

Yup. E85 doesn't mix well with orange juice. If I had a choice, I'd go with Aqua Velva.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Read the 2001 article I posted earlier.

Then read this one copyrighted 2016. Much change? Nah. 

The Rush To Corn-Based Ethanol: Not All Biofuels are Created Equal

http://www.gracelinks.org/1181/the-rush-to-corn-based-ethanol-not-all-biofuels-are-created-equa

[StevenGuthmiller]

Yup. E85 doesn't mix well with orange juice. If I had a choice, I'd go with Aqua Velva.

That's hilarious!

I remember seeing in a Civil war documentary about how the men would make their own liquor with things like kerosene!

Maybe the E-85 wouldn't be too bad in a pinch.

 

Steve

[SfanGoch]

That's hilarious!

I remember seeing in a Civil war documentary about how the men would make their own liquor with things like kerosene!

Maybe the E-85 wouldn't be too bad in a pinch.

 

Steve

Don't you mean "punch"?  

I knew hardcore alkies who would distill Sterno in order to get buzzed.

[slusher]

Yup. E85 doesn't mix well with orange juice. If I had a choice, I'd go with Aqua Velva.

Here in the south they mix it with Jungle Juice and call it stump water....

[Joe Handley]

I've daily driven my Chrysler 200 without a problem on E85 for the better part of the last 4 years minor issues (cold starting in the winter, especially as the OEM battery has aged) and actually prefer how the car runs on E85 over gasoline (as well as the smell of the exhaust) and when there is a decent price spread, it's actually cheaper than running gasoline.  There's a Thornton's not far from me and once we get it road worthy again (brakes and new radiator, to start), I'll be running my '98 Cherokee with the iron block and head 4.0l I-6 on their E15.  I have experimented with using higher than 10% blends in that Jeep and while I did have starting issues in bitter cold weather, the battery really needs replacing in that too!  I have gone as high as 25% (by accident, wasn't paying attention to the pump) and it ran fine at that percentage, it also tended to run cooler (which is handy with a 4.0l or an iffy radiator, especially both on a Cherokee!) with the higher alcohol content. From what I've seen from other people who have actually been willing to experiment on non-flex fuel vehicles, the amount of alcohol that can be safely burned depends on the fuel system and computer programming while fuel system materials tended to hold up fine, even with up to 60% on some non-flex fuel vehicles.  Typically the biggest complaint I seem to read from them is that there aren't more blender pumps (that have blend options between E10-E85) that are available as well too low a number of E85 pumps for those of us who do use it.

[Joe Handley]

Here in the south they mix it with Jungle Juice and call it stump water....

I did read something a while back about a couple teens in Tennessee that tried making DewShine with Methanol, which unlike Ethanol, is immediately poisonous....................needless to say, they didn't survive.  I could see that happening here in northern, more urban areas, but you'd think that with Tennessee being a state that Moonshine (also Ethanol) would have been made in as well as transported through, they would have known better than to mistake it with Methanol

[peteski]

Harry, sorry if I missed your reasoning in some earlier post:  You seem to be really fixated on whether you can safely used this fuel in your fairly late-model car, but why do you want to do it? How much less expensive is it when compared to the standard 10% ethanol blend?  Is it really even worth consideration?

I'm also still puzzled with the the word "unleaded" in its name. Just call the darn thing E15 or GAS-85.

[SfanGoch]

....when there is a decent price spread, it's actually cheaper than running gasoline.

Not here in NYC, man. When the pumps are switched over to the ethanol blend for the winter, the price goes up about 25-40 cents per gallon.  Besides, catalytic converters are supposed to reduce emissions to almost negligible levels; so, what's up with that scam? That ain't gas fumes I smell. That's the stench of quid pro quo and repayment in kind for the bakshish from the corn growers association to the politicians. Why doesn't PITA get involved?!? They're letting my filet mignon starve fer chrissakes!!! Say "NO!" to E85! Say "YES!' to cheap beef! 

[Joe Handley]

Not sure why they call it Unleaded15, I would have just used E15 as well, but it would be nice if they could put their fuel prices on their website and app though! Pricing wise, they were running around $1.69 for E85, $2.39 for 87, $2.36 for E15, $2.69 for 89, and $2.99 for 93 when I was there a few days ago, but according to GasBuddy, their price for 87 has gone up to $2.49 since then, so I'm going to assume that their E15 price is probably now around $2.46.

[SfanGoch]

Get less for more.

[Joe Handley]

Just so you know Joe, one of the byproducts of Ethanol production is a product known as Distiller's Grains, both wet and dried, which is livestock feed that is better for cattle than straight field corn

 

Something else to consider, this is a crude oil spill from a pipeline burst in Arkansas

and this is a crude ethanol spill in Pennsylvania

Which would you prefer in your back yard?

[slusher]

I did read something a while back about a couple teens in Tennessee that tried making DewShine with Methanol, which unlike Ethanol, is immediately poisonous....................needless to say, they didn't survive.  I could see that happening here in northern, more urban areas, but you'd think that with Tennessee being a state that Moonshine (also Ethanol) would have been made in as well as transported through, they would have known better than to mistake it with Methanol

If Moonshine is not made right it will poison you and kill you. You can get a permit to make it for fuel... 

[SfanGoch]

I live in an apartment building so I won't encounter either.  

My point is that ethanol blend fuels are a scam. The emission control equipment found in vehicles is supposed to, as I mentioned earlier, reduce toxic emissions to negligible levels. It's bad enough that they restrict exhaust flow, thereby affecting performance. The use of ethanol blends, in combination with the catalytic converters, lower performance more. I had an almost 10% increase in horsepower in my old '86 Taurus with a junkyard SHO 3.0 L V6 after the pellets inside the catalytic converter "mysteriously" disappeared. City driving takes a toll on mileage, especially with the traffic here, and ethanol blends make it even worse. Sorry, but ethanol production for use as a gas additive is nothing more than a subsidy for corn farmers to maintain a high price for that particular crop. Grow beets.

[slusher]

I live in an apartment building so I won't encounter either.  

My point is that ethanol blend fuels are a scam. The emission control equipment found in vehicles is supposed to, as I mentioned earlier, reduce toxic emissions to negligible levels. It's bad enough that they restrict exhaust flow, thereby affecting performance. The use of ethanol blends, in combination with the catalytic converters, lower performance more. I had an almost 10% increase in horsepower in my old '86 Taurus with a junkyard SHO 3.0 L V6 after the pellets inside the catalytic converter "mysteriously" disappeared. City driving takes a toll on mileage, especially with the traffic here, and ethanol blends make it even worse. Sorry, but ethanol production for use as a gas additive is nothing more than a subsidy for corn farmers to maintain a high price for that particular crop. Grow beets.

Is the SHO 3.0 the Yamaha engine?? Joe beets do not taste good...