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Date:         Sun, 7 Oct 2012 13:41:12 -0400
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <mcperdue@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Help strange misfire - Update
In-Reply-To:  <20121007093432.3DVB1.2466524.imail@eastrmwml207>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

When I bought my engine from Bob Donalds, I remember reading an article that he had written about why higher octane gas was better for our vans. He definitely recommended it for his big valve engine and I've always used it in my van.

I remember people making claims about the ethanol eating the rubber and plastic in the fuel system back in the early 80's, but that was propaganda dished out from the oil companies, as near as I could tell. I never heard one actual story of real damage caused by using what was then referred to as gasohol. And I looked hard; I had to, I made ethanol for fuel for a living. I ran gasohol in my '59 Ford F100, my '69 Dodge Dart, my '80 Honda Civic, and never had any kind of fuel-related problems with any of them that could be traced to ethanol.

Additionally, the argument that using feed stocks for fuel takes away from the food stocks is not entirely true. Ethanol can me made from many different feed stocks. We made ethanol not only from corn, but from government surplus milo and brewex, waste from Anheuser-Busch's beer production.

Regarding the energy imbalance in producing ethanol, it is a very narrow view that neglects to look at the plant as a whole. Ethanol is not the only product made at an ethanol plant. The energy that produces every gallon of ethanol fuel also produces valuable feed products and CO2, which is captured and used in industry. In our plant, which was located on a farm, we used cow manure to produce methane to cook the corn. The bottoms which came off the bottom of the still were a high-protein, easily digestible feed which was fed to the cattle. The waste from the biomass system was a high-nitrogen, liquid fertilizer which was sold to local farmers and sprayed on their fields.

Finally, ethanol is put in gasoline to be able to blend the detergents with the gas and as an oxygenate in place of the much more hazardous MTBE, methyl tertiary butyl ether, which has been found in our groundwater. It's not about being clean air friendly.

Marc Perdue

On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> Donna, I'm not much of a mechanic. However, I really doubt that the > premium gas made any difference whatsoever. These things are supposed to > run on regular, 87 octane gasoline. Now, if your gasoline has ethanol, as > most do, that could damage plastic and rubber fittings in the fuel system, > and if the vehicle is not driven regularly, perhaps the fuel could absorb > more water with the alcohol in it. But it sounds like you drive it > regularly and that would purge the water before it accumulated enough to be > a problem. I do make it a point to get fuel without alcohol when I can. > It is widely available here, but on the road it is a problem. Google > "ethanol free gasoline" and a web site that lists stations in all states > that sell it. > > It really bothers me that gasoline companies are going to a 15% ethanol > fuel. There are better ways to make gasoline "clean air friendly" than > growing it instead of food, and the agricultural and refining operations > for ethanol collectively cost about as much energy as they produce. > > mcneely > > >


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