Spark plugs

Nessism wrote: Seasonal blended gas is used in California and various other places. The idea is to reduce the VOC's. Not sure there is a direct relationship with alcohol in the fuel. www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3180/summ...difference-13747431/

...Check again! If California is anything like NJ and I bet it is, you'll find a sticker on the pump that says 10%, maybe even 15%.

For a while you almost could not find E85 in North Dakota, the State dropped support for the subsidy. There are a couple of placed that tried "blender pumps" where you could dial in how much ethanol you wanted, they didn't last long in most places.

Never understood the ethanol thing... seems like the most convoluted way to save the environment. Lets take some anhydrous ammonia and convert it into ethanol by growing a plant we would otherwise use for food.... in what world does that make any sense???

It doesn't have to. Another sweet heart deal with big business and the fed. We are paying for it in higher gas prices and less mileage. It is also not good for our engines. There is talk about doing away with it but that's all, talk. Too much money in it.
Steve

Tyler wrote: Never understood the ethanol thing... seems like the most convoluted way to save the environment. Lets take some anhydrous ammonia and convert it into ethanol by growing a plant we would otherwise use for food.... in what world does that make any sense???

It makes sense if you are a industrial corn producer and you want to raise the price of corn.

A friend of mine was building turbo Saabs a few years back and he said he liked E85 because the alcohol gave a wider safety margin before detonation, or something to that effect. Once he converted the motor to use E85 he could run higher boost and could get much more power than he could with gasoline.

It puts out lower BTU's.
Steve

KraZyRIDER wrote:

Nessism wrote: Seasonal blended gas is used in California and various other places. The idea is to reduce the VOC's. Not sure there is a direct relationship with alcohol in the fuel. www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3180/summ...difference-13747431/

...Check again! If California is anything like NJ and I bet it is, you'll find a sticker on the pump that says 10%, maybe even 15%.

We have had 10% alcohol fuel in CA for a LONG time, regardless of the season. The "summer blend" fuel has the same 10% alcohol, but with other differences to reduce VOC's...and add cost.

loudhvx wrote:

Tyler wrote: Never understood the ethanol thing... seems like the most convoluted way to save the environment. Lets take some anhydrous ammonia and convert it into ethanol by growing a plant we would otherwise use for food.... in what world does that make any sense???

It makes sense if you are a industrial corn producer and you want to raise the price of corn.

This is an interesting read. "How Corn Ethanol Is Worse For Climate Change Than The Keystone Pipeline"

www.ewg.org/agmag/2015/05/how-corn-ethan...ge-keystone-pipeline

Nothing is going to change as long as only 17% of registered voters vote. This is nothing new, it's been going on for 40+ years. We have plenty of oil. We are just being kept from using it. Enough said.
I want my plugs to look like the tan pics again. Not purple.
Steve

swest wrote: It puts out lower BTU's.
Steve

Yes, but with higher compression capability, or turbo charging, I think you get more power and higher efficiency than you do with gasoline.

That's news to me. Got a link? Meanwhile our engines suffer an early death. Wait, they're obsolete, I get it now, NOT!
Steve

Yeah I do no a couple guys with some Subaru's that run the E85 stuff. It does well in a highly boosted engine. But for the rest or us... not so good. Even the 10% runs like crap in small engines. My car doesn't seem to care, but the chain saw and John Deere won't run for shit on the stuff.

The biggest problem with ethanol is that it seems to have a terrible shelf life. It seems to turn to varnish faster and the fumes make some nasty deposits in the carbs. Might just be the blend we had here, but it was terrible. The my 650 has only run the ethanol free stuff, I don't drain the carbs in the fall either. Never had a problem in the spring when I start it up.