10% Ethanol will destroy your Lexus

Owen101

No more trips to Maxol Harolds Cross for me :

http://www.rense.com/general85/eth.htm

Matt Simis

Owen101 wrote: »

No more trips to Maxol Harolds Cross for me :

http://www.rense.com/general85/eth.htm

And why exactly do you believe that?
Apart from the fact Maxol sell E5 and not E10, all cars from the late 80s are designed to tolerate Ethanol in the fuel. Its been added to fuel for decades (10% is the norm in the US). If the car has a problem, then the car is a fault. E5 is a cleaner fuel for your Engine (and emissions), combusts at a lower temp (good for engine and performance) and generates more power via higher octane.

Im working on converting our Audi Allroad to E85 "manually". I have being running it for the last 1.5yrs with 5 to 50% mixes and recently made the jump to 100% E85. Its on its 4th full tank now. I recently swapped the injectors to bigger ones to suit and the originals looked like new when removed. Ill be taking out the fuel pump soon to fit a bigger one and I will inspect it for wear, bearing in-mind its the original 9year old fuel pump, pumping 40% more fuel (which is also heavier than petrol) at the moment, its already outlived itself.

Gumbo

i thought Maxol's E5 was 5% Bioethanol?
Cant see the problem here?

Owen101

Matt Simis wrote: »

And why exactly do you believe that?

Was the first Ive heard of it so got a bit worried. Might stick to the normal stuff just to be sure.

Economy would be better with normal petrol in the long run anyway wouldnt it?

WillieCocker

kceire wrote: »

i thought Maxol's E5 was 5% Bioethanol?
Cant see the problem here?

It sure is, and there is no evidence it has caused any problems in any cars , modern or old.
The OP is talking about E85 which is a specialist fuel.

Matt Simis

Owen101 wrote: »

Was the first Ive heard of it so got a bit worried. Might stick to the normal stuff just to be sure.

Economy would be better with normal petrol in the long run anyway wouldnt it?

Maybe, maybe not. E5 isnt much of an ethanol blend. If you have a well tuned or adaptable ECU (high reving NA or Turbo engine) then generally E5 will give the same MPG or slightly more do to less fuel being used to cool the combustion.

Your car would prefer to be run on E5 99.2octane vs 95octane sludge.

WillieCocker wrote: »

The OP is talking about E85 which is a specialist fuel.

No he isnt, its all about the semi-mandatory Ethanol blends in the US and Maxols E5. See thread title, text and linked article. Im the only one that mentioned E85 as some level of reassurance.

From the linked site wrote:

Like motorists, if landscaping tool owners put gasoline with more than 10% ethanol in their small engines, that immediately voids any factory warranties. In the case of the Lexus recall, using just a 10% ethanol blend was found to be destroying many of these engines also.

zilog_jones

Look at the main page of that website and see if you can tell me this guy looks like a reliable source of such information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rense

Jeff Rense is an American conspiracy theorist...

...9/11 conspiracy theories,[3] UFO reporting, paranormal phenomena, Holocaust denial,[4] Zionism...

...Renses's show has been noted as being among "conspiracy-oriented Internet radio shows that often feature anti-Semites and extremists"

CiaranC

zilog_jones wrote: »

Look at the main page of that website and see if you can tell me this guy looks like a reliable source of such information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rense

Was just about to post the same. OP, not everything on the internet is true.

mcauley

If Susan Boyle and Tom Selleck had a love-child: http://www.rense.com/demo1.htm

Off-Topic, apologies!

CarCity

Can I ask:

1) does the E5 produce better fuel economy?
2) is it any cheaper, even if it was a cent or two I'd be more inclined to get it

The reason I ask about fuel economy is that I got petrol in Maxol in Ballivor only a few days ago and I have to say I never saw the tank empty as quick. Is this due to the higher octane?

3) The old superunleaded was 99 octane (from memory) so does the E5 compare in performance then?

Matt Simis

CarCity wrote: »

Can I ask:

1) does the E5 produce better fuel economy?
2) is it any cheaper, even if it was a cent or two I'd be more inclined to get it

The reason I ask about fuel economy is that I got petrol in Maxol in Ballivor only a few days ago and I have to say I never saw the tank empty as quick. Is this due to the higher octane?

3) The old superunleaded was 99 octane (from memory) so does the E5 compare in performance then?

What car? Its possible you may see a very slight MPG decrease on E5. Very high performance [Turbo] cars will generally see better MPG and performance (if not abused).
E5 99octane may give better performance than 99octane petrol due to slightly lower combustion temp, but as I mentioned, 5% Ethanol isnt enough to really see much of a difference. Regardless, its the closest we have and it costs no more than 95Octane everywhere else, ie its not cheaper basically, its priced the same.

Stephen

The old super unleaded was 98 octane. E5 is the only unleaded fuel Maxol offer at the moment so you'd have to be comparing their prices to their local competitors.

Pkiernan

All petrol sold in California in the winter months is up to 15% ethanol, and has been for at least 15 years.

Some very old cars had issues with rubber lines degrading quicker than normal, but that was it.
Any car built in the last 10 years will have no issues.

CarCity

Matt Simis wrote: »

What car? Its possible you may see a very slight MPG decrease on E5. Very high performance [Turbo] cars will generally see better MPG and performance (if not abused).
E5 99octane may give better performance than 99octane petrol due to slightly lower combustion temp, but as I mentioned, 5% Ethanol isnt enough to really see much of a difference. Regardless, its the closest we have and it costs no more than 95Octane everywhere else, ie its not cheaper basically, its priced the same.

Thanks' - Its a 1.8l Alfa GT the twinspark enginge... Usually does about 32 mpg but was down around the 30 mark. Not significant difference at all and could have been down to driving style (though I don't think so). I'm going by there again and think I'll fill it up with it and watch it a bit more closely.

Owen101

zilog_jones wrote: »

Look at the main page of that website and see if you can tell me this guy looks like a reliable source of such information.

Ok the source is dodgy but a valid question nonetheless.

Going by the opinion of the knowledgeable folk here the consensus sees to be it will do no damage to engine but may experience loss in economy in certain cases.

JHMEG

10% ethanol will destroy your faulty Lexus. All affected vehicles were recalled and had their fuel lines replaced.

Am I the only one that read it like this?