Does ethanol fuel addition as proposed harm my auto or boat fuel system?

Answer 1

Most of the country is now using 10% ethanol in the gasoline and yes it does affect the boating industry big time. Ethanol will attract moisture thats why its important to keep your tank filled with stabilizer during lay up season. Merc service bulletin recommends if you wont be using boat all the time (two weeks ) then run stabil all year long
Also caused by the ethanol is phase separation which is a whole other story that causes gas to gum up and clog carburators and injectors
In an automobile you use up the gas and are constantly refilling so it never really gets a chance to affect automobiles.
If you suspect water in your gas pull a sample in a glass bottle and let it sit then look at bottom and you will see the water at bottom . Water is heavier than gas . If so then you may have tp pump out tank add water zorb and fill with fresh gas and stabil. And change your fuel /water separator

Answer 2

I would not use the ethanol additive in a car unless the manufacturer says it is designed for a “flex” fuel. However the boat motor is not used nearly as much as a car motor. So I doubt you will see any adverse effect. It will not harm your fuel system, but you will have to replace your fuel filters more often because it is a detergent and it washes out carbon sediment. Don’t confuse ethanol with methanol. The latter is much more corrosive and poisonous to humans.

Answer 3

there's an even worse problem than paultech so well describes......

1) make sure all your "rubber" fuel lines are marked "alcohol resistant" for if they aren't alcohol/ethanol may well eat them and cause at least gummed up fuel lines and maybe even a fuel leak


2) even more scarey there was an article in Soundings a while back....and I'll leave it to you to find......where , apparently, some resins used to make fiberglass fuel tanks are being eaten by ethanol , causing slow degradation and leaks.

A cup of gasoline allowed to turn to vapor has the explosive equivalent of a stick of dynamite.

Yes you heard me right.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS run your bilge blower for 15 minutes before turning anything electrical on......radio, A/C, lights, anything, let alone the starting motor......and if your using gasohol as a fuel get real paranoid and check everything for leaks.....the nose knows........and get someone competent to change out your fuel lines and take areal close look at your gas tanks.