Ethanol Cure - Star Tron?

A quick look says it helps remove problems of ethanol. Breaking down ethanol generates heat and water, neither are good thing in the gas tank. It says it breaks down sludge, so it has similar actions to a detergent. This can increase mileage. Most of the branded gasolines do have detergents in them though to help prevent the problem in the first place. It also says it helps disperse water in the fuel system to help prevent it from causing problems.

I do not know if the product works or not, but definitely there is nothing magic or unscientific about using enzymes to clean fuel systems.

 

E10 = attracts moisture like a magnet. If your tank is less than half full and the temps drop - condensation sets in the tank / bladder. This is a bad situation of having this much water in your tank! The solution for me is I use Startron in both the Prius and Rav4 every other fillup. I have better idling in both vehicles and smoother running engines. I also noticed a big difference in the lawn tractor and snow blower performance using the above.

Hopes this helps,

Dbcassidy

 

OK....
I've done a little quick research, and my suspicions seem to be correct.

Star Tron = junk.
It's the same as 'Split-Fire' spark plugs, or the 'Tornado' air filter.
It's somewhat less stoopid than supposedly putting 'pure' N2 in your tires, but like overly nitrogenated tires it probably won't hurt anything.
It might even 'preserve' your fuel almost as effectively (and only three times as expensively) as Sta-Bil.
I currently have 2 cars (trucks), 2 motorcycles, 2 push mowers, two lawn tractors, 3 gas weed whackers, 1 gas generator, 1 gas chipper-shredder, pressure washer....etc...
If alky-haul hasn't wrecked any of these engines in the last 12 years...when is it supposedly gonna happen?
OK...alky is hygroscopic. If you use 5-proof gas in a sealed fuel system (let's pick a car at random......maybe say...a Prius???) and we know it's sealed because my beloved government makes us put a Rube Goldberg evaporative containment system on every OBD-II vehicle...where is all this moisture coming from?

The corn-fed gas argument is stupid and pointless...and it's being perpetuated by money.
Nobody seems to mind corn being used as silage to make cows taste better ('cept the vegans), and nobody seems to have a problem with turning it into sugar to fatten our kids up with ('cept my CInC's wife).....but burn it in a CAR???!!!
We can't have THAT!!!
Why...there are people starving in _____ (insert country here) and it's wrecking the engines in our ________ (insert imaginary vehicle here)

Gimme a break!
FWIW....there are still gas dealers here in the Redneck Riviera that sell corn-free gas. It's about 10 centavos more than the liquored-up stuff, and I haven't noodled out how much additional mileage you would have to get to achieve any financial benefit.....but it's still out there.

JMHO.....
(current value: waaaaaaay less than 2 cents!)

 

My complaint about ethanol additives is that it's raising food costs. Otherwise, I can't see how it hurts my Prius. Since ethanol is supposed to increase oxygen in gasoline, it ought to increase fuel burn efficiency (emissions). I could see how ethanol might reduce MPGs a little, but not enough for me to add something like Star Tron which seems to have a boat/marine following.

 

I love your posts. To the point, generally as factual as I can make out and always funny. Thanks!

 

It's pretty easy for us to look at Simple Green and see how it works chemically. Not so with Star Tron. Do you have a theory to offer?

Tom

 

F8L, I realize this product wouldn't do such, hence my "Somewhat OT" prefix. ;-) I hadn't seen those threads (somewhat new here), so I'm sure I missed a bunch.

 

Lets look at the facts:

How many gallons of diesel fuel does it take
to make one gallon of ethanol.

Diesel fuel has about 135,000 BTU's, per gallon.

Ethanol has about 65,000 BTU's, per gallon.

If I told you it takes 2 gallons of diesel fuel to make
one gallon of Ethanol is it worth it.

The answer is....

I am the U.S. Government and it is worth it.

 

Then you as the U.S. Government also see skyrocketing food prices (read corn consumption) as worth it to the U.S. taxpayer. IRRC, the U.S. government does not mandate the producers of gasoline in the U.S. to use ethanol. Rather, the producers have choosen ethanol as an cheap alternatine to using MBTE (which we all know gets into our drinking water) Initially this (E10) seemed to work, but with the price of corn skyrocketing, it is not worth using corn to make E10. Other non-food, minimal land use sources need to be explored and implementated. Just think, a cleaner, renewable, minimal impact on food prices, fuel could very well be in in our near future. tell your congressman to stop the E10 foolishness NOW!

DBCassidy

 

Like I said before...
The whole corn argument is stupid and pointless, and it's beyond the scope of this thread. (JMHO... )
I understand the passion, but both sides bend the numbers on this so badly that there's no way to ascertain the real energy and environmental cost for a gallon of corny fuel, and it's irrelevant in any case.

Food price deltas are influenced by Fuel price deltas more than anything else, which results in this daffy chicken and egg argument. Row crop farmers are going to continue to grow their corn (or soybeans, or whatever) whether you shove the stuff into a cow, your kid, or your gas tank.
Farmers pay taxes.
They elect congress critters, who by the way are going to "stop this E10 foolishness" very soon now.

They're going to switch to E15! (I don't really care much about that, but it is somewhat amusing to watch people flop and twitch about it!!)

PS....when they do, the Star Tron crap will still be crap. But it you're really really REALLY friggin worried about the deleterious effects that liquor will have on your vehicle---then you're going to have to either get over it or move to a place where they still sell corn-free gas.
It's about 10 cents more expensive than the gasahol.

Good Luck.

 

Actually, they do exactly that. The Renewable Fuels Standard was modified as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act (2007). It's now known as RFS2. Each producer is required to blend a certain amount of renewable fuel (aka ethanol). The actual volumes are set in the law. Gasoline sales are determined by the market. So, if more ethanol is required then can fit in 10% of the fuel sold, there's a problem. That's why they had to allow E15...to give it a place to fit.

Ironically, the ethanol subsidy is subsidizing something that's required by law anyway.

 

Is that a fact or your opinion? Do you have any data to back it up?

A helpful voice of reason actually answering the OP's question.

Why does it have to be crap (Star Tron)? Why should anyone have to move? We should not have Ethanol legislated in to our fuel.

 

The stuff is not expensive so I say go for it. All of our bellyaching over the product is not helping you so go with your heart. I'd try it on your old truck first though.

 

The world is full of narrow minded insensitive people. It's unfortunate that you ran into some of them with your Simple Green experience. That bad experience, however, in no way indites reasoned opinions from knowledgeable people, which is what you are getting on this thread.

Tom

 

Both of my posts contain the "JMHO" caveat. I'm not a chemist. If you sit on the BOD for Star Tron, and you think I've slandered your company....you're right.
As far as data to 'back it up'...Nope. I don't have any.
If you think that StarTron is the answer to your problems....buy it by the case.

I tried.
Ethanol has been around for a while---like about 10 years down here. If you think it's gonna kill your 2010 car, you're wrong.
If you're one of those very few people who keep their car for 10+ years, and you think ethanol is going to kill your car or shorten its life span...you're almost certainly wrong about that too, since gasy-haul has a decade long track record.
If you think I'm wrong (lotsa people do) then buy and use Star-Tron. I's probably cheaper than the Caramel Macchiato that you're drinking in the morning, and it almost certainly will not hurt your car. I fix phones for a living. I put my giveacrap switch in the "don't" position over ethanol about 5 years ago.

FWIW I agree, but we live in a hyper-regulated country. If the Government can regulate how much water a flush toilet may use, then you don't have a chance in hell in changing the law that regulates your car's fuel alcohol content.
Hawaii is a large agricultural state...per capita. ...but you're 40th in terms of population.
Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska are the top three corn growing states, and they're like, 20 times your population. Those are juuuust the top three corn growers.
As long as the United States is a Representative democracy you're going to have to keep buying your gas at the marina (I hope for your sake that it's really ethanol-free... )

Ethanol in cars is a non-issue...at least in the 10-20 percent quantity.
Yeah...it's hygroscopic...so what? Fuel systems have been sealed for years.
It 'costs' you 1-2 mpg over 'real' gas....big deal. So does A/C, rain, winter, and obesity.
It rots the rubber in your fuel system. Then you need to donate that car to a museum....modern cars (meaning cars without crank start) are fuel injected now.

I'm sure the folks at Star-Tron have really big hearts, and are just trying to save the world with their wunderpotion but if you ask me, and this is only my very uneducated opinion....it's a 10-year-too-late solution to a nonexistent problem.
Good Luck!

 

Let's see, the MSDS says it's <0.5% some mystery organic compound and >95% heavy aliphatic naphtha. If it's less than 0.5% "stuff" then it's >99.5% heavy aliphatic naphtha.

Heavy aliphatic naphtha is just an MSDS writer's way of saying kerosene. They later state that the initial boiling point is >400F. Typical kero has a final boiling point of about 550F, overlapping with diesel fuel. Gasoline's Final Boiling Point is just over 400F. Refiners go to great lengths (well, distillation) to make sure that kerosene is removed from gasoline before they sell it to you. It doesn't evaporate well (being very heavy), has low octane, tends to raise emissions, and coats your cat with partially burnt fuel.

So why is it used as a solvent for additives? 1. It's cheap. 2. It's a good solvent if you're trying to dissolve something that likes paraffins. 3. Because it has a high flashpoint (150F), it can be handled in open-air tanks without blowing up the factory. They could use light naphtha, which would be better for the engines, but that would mean a closed, N2-inerted handling system at the bottling plant. Then they couldn't use the same equipment they use for bottling boat washing soap.

So, you're buying kerosene in a small bottle with 5000 ppm of something added. They say it's some kind of enzyme that attacks everything bad that could possibly happen with fuel.

I think I know what it is...It was first isolated from organisms that evolved in New Jersey that also seem grow well in Florida. It's called "sucker de-financialase".

 

:deadhorse:
:rip:

 

Ethanol breaks down seals in some of the older carburetors and can result in rebuild after rebuild for those older carburetors. I'm not clear how it affects newer vehicles other than the fact that it has lower octane than gasoline and therefore, decreases fuel economy and power.