Damage from ethanol

[barbaram]

Wondering if anyone has had any problems from ethanol. know it was a big problem for boat owners when it was added to boat fuels.
rumors of corrosion and damage to seals, etc.
Thanks for the info!

[qbee42]

I've had some trouble with memory loss, and headaches in the morning.

As for cars and ethanol, there is no problem if you stay with 10% or less. The seals, plumbing, and tanks are designed for it, unlike with boats.

Tom

[john1701a]

106,200 miles using ethanol.

No problems so far... except a mild hangover.

.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by barbaram

Wondering if anyone has had any problems from ethanol. know it was a big problem for boat owners when it was added to boat fuels.
rumors of corrosion and damage to seals, etc.
Thanks for the info!

Once, sophomore year in college. First & last time I ingested vodka. E10 has been around an awful long time and the systems are deigned for it. E85 is a different story.

[Shawn Clark]

Stop imbibing an hour before you go to bed and switch to water. Then, drink water whenever you awaken during the night/morning for a bathroom trip and you will be fine...unless you really overdid it.

As for the Prius, I've been stuck with 10% ethanol and am still exceeding EPA figures. I'm curious about how it will do on real gasoline.

[lex]

Curious whether anyone has taken on the dodgy task of converting a Prius into an ethanol capable flexfuel vehicle. (Voiding warranty, changing all seals, the software issues, etc). Retrofitting is a major undertaking beset with risks. Nevertheless, if the cars came from the factory as flexfuel ready, the costs to the manufacturer are almost negligible, less than $100 in a non-hybrid.

I'm aware of the energy-return-on-energy-invested ratio with corn-based ethanol.

[richard schumacher]

babaram, to be explicit: Prius was designed for up to 10% ethanol ("E10"), so that's fine. But don't put E85 in a Prius.

[SCfromSC]

Here was my experience with ethanol. I just took a 2500 mile trip in my brand new Prius. 3/4 through the trip I fueled up at a station that was at $1.99/gal. I noticed the tag "contains 10% ethanol". I am not sure if it was just bad gas or if it was the ethanol, but my overall (trip wide) gas mileage was brought down from 52.4 mpg to 50.1 mpg. More than two full points in about half a tank. Half tank and all of the driving from the fill up to when I noticed it was on Interstate. I figured it all up and that single tank of gas (I had to fill up WAAAAAY early) got less than 30 mpg overall. The ethanol just burned up and completely negated any advantage I may have had in the Prius. I will NEVER buy gasoline with ethanol again if I have any choice. The brand was Shell. I've used Shell before with the Prius and had no problems. I think it was simply the ethanol additive. Just another way to make us buy more gasoline.

[justlurkin]

Gasoline with 10% ethanol is the default fuel for any of us Prius owners who live in metropolitan areas.

Most U.S. cities have laws on the books that requires all gasoline sold in their jurisdictions to contain at least 10% ethanol in order to cut down smog emissions, so E10 is pretty much the only fuel available to those of us who live in those areas.

[john1701a]

Originally Posted by SCfromSC

I figured it all up and that single tank of gas (I had to fill up WAAAAAY early) got less than 30 mpg overall. The ethanol just burned up and completely negated any advantage I may have had in the Prius.

Since all my Prius has ever used is E10 and my lowest MPG ever was 36 (from carrying 2 kayaks on top at highway speeds), that's basically impossible to believe... especially with a 48.0 MPG lifetime average at 107,888 miles.

Obviously, there was another influence at play. How do you know the early refill was accurate? Where "full" is can be a challenge to find, especially if using a pump with a different sensor type when traveling.

.