Flexfuel? E85? E15?

[acamara]

Remember that ethanol prevents diesel fuel from jelling, not freezing. Ethanol is less energetic than gasoline which can make vehicles harder to start in cold weather.

Oops yes Diesel Fuel jells in cold weather which causes the Fuel Filter to Clog up and the Diesel Engine is starved of Fuel. Adding Ethanol to the Diesel Fuel at temperatures below 20'F prevents the Jelling.

In the Northern Part of North American which would include the North Central Part of the USA and Canada, Gasoline Operated Engines also have issue in the Colder temperatures, the Gas lines can actually freeze and a Gasline Anitfreeze (Ethanol) needed to be added to the Gas Tank but since Ethanol has been added to the Gasoline, ussualy at 10% for Regular and 5% for Mid Grade, the freezing of Gas Lines has been eliminated.

Another benefit of using Ethanol in Gasoline is to soak up any water in the fuel that condenses in the Gas Station Storage Tanks. This may not be an issue for anyone driving in the warer climates but it is detrimental in colder Temperatures especially when the Thermometer drops below -20'F to -40'F.

I for one will only use Gasoline with Ethanol of 10% because I do live in an Area that does get cold enough to have Frozen Gas lines in Winter.

 

[Ty]

Oops yes Diesel Fuel jells in cold weather which causes the Fuel Filter to Clog up and the Diesel Engine is starved of Fuel. Adding Ethanol to the Diesel Fuel at temperatures below 20'F prevents the Jelling.

In the Northern Part of North American which would include the North Central Part of the USA and Canada, Gasoline Operated Engines also have issue in the Colder temperatures, the Gas lines can actually freeze and a Gasline Anitfreeze (Ethanol) needed to be added to the Gas Tank but since Ethanol has been added to the Gasoline, ussualy at 10% for Regular and 5% for Mid Grade, the freezing of Gas Lines has been eliminated.

Another benefit of using Ethanol in Gasoline is to soak up any water in the fuel that condenses in the Gas Station Storage Tanks. This may not be an issue for anyone driving in the warer climates but it is detrimental in colder Temperatures especially when the Thermometer drops below -20'F to -40'F.

I for one will only use Gasoline with Ethanol of 10% because I do live in an Area that does get cold enough to have Frozen Gas lines in Winter.

I've had a diesel jell on me a couple of times in Minot, ND... on days I forgot to plug it in, that is. Luckily, we also had plugs at work so I was able to leave it plugged in most of the time. The garage was no help. Electric Battery blankets to help the batteries function enough to turn over that beast, the block heater to keep the oil from turning into a rock, and a 100W "My Heat" heater set on the center console and plugged in to keep the windows frost-free made living up there tolerable.

 

[Lil4X]

There might be some additional problems for a few vehicles requiring Ethanol-containing fuels, related specifically to energy content and the Engine Control Module. It was especially noticeable on my '04 RX, where although the service manual called for regular gas, the V6 was originally designed for premium. That's OK, because the ECM would adjust the spark advance to suit the lesser-grade regular, so you'd never hear a knock, but in extreme situations you could experience a stumble off idle as you floored the throttle. The problem was supposed to be that the computer had to "hear" that first knock and yank the advance (that defaulted to premium fuel settings like the JDM model). Evidently this was an early '04 issue, as mine was one of the first 2Gens in the US.

It wasn't a real problem running regular in the beast, particularly on long trips where full-throttle operation wasn't used that often, but in urban traffic where you spent time dodging idiots, getting out of the way quickly could be critical and a stumble could cost you some pricey sheetmetal, if not personal injury. If you experience this, it's easy to get your ECM reflashed at the dealer to update the default setting. I assume the Elio engine, at this late date and after all the testing will be fully compatible with at least E10 or E15 (largely in the midwest), if not a true E85 (FlexFuel) standard.

Other issues caused by Ethanol include gasket and fuel hose incompatibility with alcohol-containing fuels. By now, most of these issues have been fully sorted, but be careful when purchasing replacement parts for the fuel systems of older engines that they are Ethanol compatible.