Mercruiser Debunks Ethanol myths-gctid383982

[MidnightSun]

This was an interesting read especially after having read several post here over the years. To fill the tank or not, water problems and filter recommendations, blah, blah, blah.

I would trust this coming from Merc. http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/...er/ethanol.asp

[dmcb]

[ They don't mention the things it does to the older equipment, say before 1991.

Or the mileage.

It was an interesting article however.

[Guest]

MAkes the engine run hotter too, right?

That really was a good article Informative to me anyway, I didn't know much of that stuff.

Thanks Midnight, good one

Sarah

[Go Aweigh2452]

My Merc manual for my 2007 6.2 Horizon engine recommends that the fuel tank be near empty for long term storage... :surr

[Guest]

LazyCrusr wrote:
MAkes the engine run hotter too, right?

That really was a good article Informative to me anyway, I didn't know much of that stuff.

Thanks Midnight, good one

Sarah

Just the opposite. I am involved with a company that sells racing fuel. Ethanol test always show the numbers to be less heat extra horsepower and less fuel burn by dyno numbers after the engine has been tuned.

[Guest]

sprint7TW wrote:
Just the opposite. I am involved with a company that sells racing fuel. Ethanol test always show the numbers to be less heat extra horsepower and less fuel burn by dyno numbers after the engine has been tuned.

Wonder how that's possible, since an equivalent volume of ethanol has less energy than gasoline, and engines have been developed to run most efficiently for the last 100+ years. I would think less heat was a definite possibility, but extra horsepower??

[Guest]

Go Aweigh2452 wrote:
My Merc manual for my 2007 6.2 Horizon engine recommends that the fuel tank be near empty for long term storage... :surr

UGH, there's always one guy in the crowd who's just gotta be different! Yelling from the back,,,nice & loud.

BESIDES: it is not so easy to run your gas down to nuthin' either unless you want to just sit and waste it,,,,or try to siphon it out.

You can have that.

[Guest]

LazyCrusr wrote:
UGH, there's always one guy in the crowd who's just gotta be different! Yelling from the back,,,nice & loud.

BESIDES: it is not so easy to run your gas down to nuthin' either unless you want to just sit and waste it,,,,or try to siphon it out.

You can have that.

I have done it both ways. No problems. The PO filled both tanks for me as he didn't believe in empty tank storage. I have 160 gallons capacity. Still burning off and no idea how long he had it in there. Will work hard to get rid of it this year and do 50 gallons at a time unless we are going global.:greedy_dollars:

[Guest]

ishiboo wrote:
Wonder how that's possible, since an equivalent volume of ethanol has less energy than gasoline, and engines have been developed to run most efficiently for the last 100+ years. I would think less heat was a definite possibility, but extra horsepower??

I don't know if I would agree that engines have been developed to run most efficiently over the last 100 years. I am driving a rental Camry this week and getting over 35 mpg and occasionally over 40. There doesn't seem to be anything new or revolutionary about the engine other than an "eco" mode that seems to help mileage. I doubt a 5 year old Camry will get anywhere near this kind of mileage. My point is that engines are being designed to get better mileage but that seems to be a more recent trend than something that was on-going for 100 years ( or even 20 years).

I don't know about the heat or horsepower thing but it sure seems like we have technology to make engines more efficient even with non-gasoline fuel.

[dmcb]

Keep in mind many marinas sell fuel without alcohol.

There is a good reason for that.

Also there are some stations, not marinas, that sell it.

Find them here.

http://pure-gas.org/

Doug

[Guest]

I thought the Merc guy had it right about ethanol, but only in newer engines. There's lots of evidence (real chemistry) that shows that ethanol causes problems with older engines whose seals and hoses are made of different materials.

Another extremely serious problem is that ethanol-tainted gasoline disolves fibreglass fuel tanks. Not many boats have 'glass tanks now, but some older ones do.

Then the Merc guy starts talking about condensation. Why propogate the old wives' tale about full tanks gathering less condensation? There's only one answer - because he doesn't really know his stuff. This makes me question the info on ethanol too.

[Guest]

ishiboo wrote:
Wonder how that's possible, since an equivalent volume of ethanol has less energy than gasoline, and engines have been developed to run most efficiently for the last 100+ years. I would think less heat was a definite possibility, but extra horsepower??

The cooling effect of alcohol and you can add more timing. It has a higher octane rating.

[Guest]

I agree with you. I couldn't find a publish date for that article, but several things in there led me to believe it is at least 10-15 years old. Things have changed since then, although there is truth in that article.

whiskywizard wrote:
I thought the Merc guy had it right about ethanol, but only in newer engines. There's lots of evidence (real chemistry) that shows that ethanol causes problems with older engines whose seals and hoses are made of different materials.

Another extremely serious problem is that ethanol-tainted gasoline disolves fibreglass fuel tanks. Not many boats have 'glass tanks now, but some older ones do.

Then the Merc guy starts talking about condensation. Why propogate the old wives' tale about full tanks gathering less condensation? There's only one answer - because he doesn't really know his stuff. This makes me question the info on ethanol too.

[Guest]

Also ethanol is an "oxygenate" which adds oxygen (read - straight oxy) to the fuel so the mixture will "explode" with slightly more power ( this is how it was explained to me from Chevron engineers, if you can believe them).

YMMV

[Guest]

cowboyshootist wrote:
I don't know if I would agree that engines have been developed to run most efficiently over the last 100 years. I am driving a rental Camry this week and getting over 35 mpg and occasionally over 40. There doesn't seem to be anything new or revolutionary about the engine other than an "eco" mode that seems to help mileage. I doubt a 5 year old Camry will get anywhere near this kind of mileage. My point is that engines are being designed to get better mileage but that seems to be a more recent trend than something that was on-going for 100 years ( or even 20 years).

If you're referring to the 2012 Camry, yes, it's got some of the best fuel economy (4 cylinder only) this line of car has ever had (we have one in the family). The 2012 Camry cylinder ratings are basically equal to the previous year Camry hybrid ratings. But that being said, I think some of the most fuel efficient cars were many of the cars from the 1980's early 1990's (including the 4 cylinder Camry). The 1980's through early 1990's cars were typically smaller, lighter, and at lot simpler in design overall (less features/options). Our 1992 Camry routinely got mid 30's with 150k on it but still weighed 2932 lbs (curb weight), while the 2012 model is 3190lbs curb weight. But in general, the trend for car models seems to move towards gradually become bigger, taller, wider, more cabin space, larger engines, more features, blah blah blah... which typically all add more weight and reduce mpg. There are several other examples of older car models that got exceptional mileage though, including but not limited to: the Honda Civic/Accord/Del Sol/Prelude, Toyota MR2/Celica/Corolla, Geo Prism/Metro, Mazda Miata and on and on. But back then, we didn't seem to care about fuel prices or mpg, so cars seemed to have gotten larger and larger. Now we care about gas prices, and smaller cars are being introduced once again along with the hybrids etc... Car manufacturers are having to focus on fuel efficiency and alternative fuels as primary goals.

For the record, I like "older" cars, trucks, and boats.... And I still completely drain my boat's tank at the end of the season (our boating season is typically only May to September).

If only I could put Low Rolling Resistance tires on the boat to squeak out a little better fuel economy.