Guys, I don't know the facts of ethanol but what I can tell you is we have been servicing sleds since the mid 80's and very rarely did we ever have to clean carbs and fuel tanks. Now we have to all the time. I don't want to knock ethanol because there are alot of farmers that make a living off of it and that's a good thing but it does harm carbureted fuel systems when sitting. We never ever had to clean carbs on snow blowers, lawn mowers, four wheelers, and snowmobiles but now it's an every day occurence. It's great for business but bad for the consumer who has to use it in carb models. We sell gas and opt not to sell ethanol for the simple fact that we sell powersports products and lawn equipment so when we assemble this stuff and its sits we will be performing carb cleanings and no dealership can afford that. When carb models are produced it's not that they can't run off of ethanol fuel it's simply that they can't handle the sitting for weeks or months with it in the system. My advice would be to simply treat the ethanol fuel or drain it when you know your product is going to be sitting for months or weeks. Now I know there are alot of pro ethanol people that don't fuel at our shop do to the fact they we don't offer ethanol fuel but it's nothing personal, its just business and being that we have product that sits for weeks and sometimes months we can't afford to be servicing them constantly. Ethanol fuel has definitely helped the agricultural part of the economy but there are always offsets. I think we can all learn to live with it. As they say, it is what it is. Deal with it. Thanks, Kip
You present a good argument but I think that there needs to be some clarifications on all this.
I am from Detroit....car capital of America....if cars that sat for months and sometimes a year did NOT start because it was fueled with ethanol blended gasoline, the car companies would use 100% reformulated gasoline and save themselves a bunch of trouble. Fact is they don't so how do you explain that?
I own 3 1980's outboard engines that I have used ethanol blended gasoline in ever since it first came out and have NEVER rebuilt a carb on any of them. I own a couple ATV's and one older honda 3 wheeler...nope...never rebuilt a carb and store it 300 days of the year. I run it in my 1950 8N too....nope, never have touched the carb on it either, so what am I doing so differently?
We get set in our ways...listen to propaganda and assume way too much of what we perceive as truths. Fine...that's why you live in America and are free to do as you wish...but really you want to keep up on stuff...you will learn that there is very little difference between taking good care of a product and letting go and dealing with issues afterwords. It's a good thing for your power sports business....and I am glad for you, but dumping on ethanol just because you THINK it isn't good and it costs more to produce than gasoline, and it wrecks engines...gas tanks, and makes your hair grow gray...just is something YOU believe in and isn't necessarily the case at all. On the other hand neglect motors and I don't care what you run in them, you will be working on them all the time. Of course when the machines are made with imported materials and knock-offs of more expensive parts but perhaps some that didn't take the solvents in fuels today into consideration, it IS possible that THOSE are the real parties to blame but it isn't as popular and people seem to be more willing to believe that ethanol must be to blame of things.
Long before ethanol was even produced, snowblowers and motorcycles had gasoline turn to varnish....required rebuild of carbs and the gas tank drained. ALL fuels will go to heck on you no matter what you use IF you don't do things right. That hasn't changed since Henry Ford was cranking out Model T's. And you absolutely could NOT put a gasoline engine away by turning the key off and come back in "years" and have it start up...that is just poppycock! Mechanics made a good living back in the day as they do today and will tomorrow if you don't store equipment according to the manual...you know the thing most people only read AFTER they have an issue.
Believe me, if I thought it was bad for America...I would say so, but the fact is it is cleaner, higher in octane and is made and produced in America...and for me that's a good thing.
If you want to compare it to reformulated gasoline get an education in 10 minutes...read this>>
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/pdfs/factfict.pdf
Learn how we are making greater strides than ever before in this new renewable energy source.
Learn how we make 2.7 gallons of the stuff with one bushel of corn. (It does NOT take 7 gallons of water to make a gallon of this stuff and the water is recycled right back and used again.)
Learn that we are tapping a whole whopping 5-7% of our corn crop for fuels which makes us less dependent upon countries that hate us. I would much rather spend my fuel dollars helping a farmer than some country who's dictator wants to bury us all. And how many millions of acres are still in the set aside program where we pay farmers NOT to grow crops?? I don't know how much anymore, but it used to be a bunch of real estate.
Do you really want to learn ...set two of your ATV's aside with NO additives just both kinds of fuels and let them sit for 5 months...start them up and see what issues you have...report back to me if you find that the machine with ethanol didn't work, ran fine and was no worse for the wear than the one with 100% reformulated gasoline. Bet you get your eyes opened a bit and that's a good thing.
Prejudice is an ugly thing...science uses controls and reproducible findings and not a shred of roomer to the mix.
