Ethanol fuel effects on R-65

[R65john]

I live in Missouri and our rural controlled Legislature has mandated 10% ethanol content in all regular fuel. By statute, ETOH is optional in premium fuels, but in my area there is only one petroleum retailer selling ethanol additive free fuel.

I have nothing against ethanol, I like to drink the stuff, but I am not sure that it is doing any of my vehicles any good.
I get approximately 8% less fuel milage in my car using ETOH enhanced fuel.

Recently, I have noticed an obvious drop in fuel milage on my R-65. I have replaced the plugs and air filter but my historical goal of 50 MPG on the highway is no longer in reach.

Could it be ethanol related? I am aware that the 10% ethanol fuel tends to swell up rubber fuel system components, but do the Bing's have anything else that could be affected by the alcohol?

That said, I have found two fuel additives that supposedly minimize the effect of ethanol. STARTRON is manufactured by
Starbrite, a company with a reputable marine track record. Another product on the shelves is called Ethanol Shield.

Is anyone else using one of these products? Do they accomplish anything other than lighten one's wallet?

Meanwhile, our Legislature is now trying to mandate 15% ETOH gasoline content! Yuck!

[lrz]

Believe I posted this on PHORUM board,but: I ran across some info this spring reagrding the use of PENNZOIL SYNTHETIC 2 CYCLE MARINE OIL WITH TC-W3. I was skeptical but have been using it all summer in car/truck/airheads/mower w/ good results. Now the goal of this is to deal w/ the ethanol,"lubricate" & clean the fuel delivery system, and slightly improve mpg. My experience has been smoother running motors and in the case of my VW greatly improved mpg.
This is where I found the info:
http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91206

[Major Softie]

Products like "Startron" and their competitors do NOT claim they do anything to reduce the "negative effects" of alcohol on your vehicle UNLESS there is so much water in the fuel that it makes the alcohol fall out of suspension (Stabil even makes a marine product with similar claims, although they skip the snake oil claims about more power and mileage). That is what they claim to do to "protect" your vehicle, they raise the saturation point at which the alcohol will fall out of suspension. All the described damage that they claim to prevent are those caused by the water-saturated alcohol dropping out of suspension. Note: they do not prevent the alcohol from separating, but they increase how much water can be in the fuel before this happens. I don't know what they use to do this, but, ironically, their product could be straight ethanol, and it would accomplish this same goal.

I did the math on this some time last year, and it takes between 1/4 and 1/3 of a cup of water absorbed into 10% alcohol fuel in the average motorcycle tank for the alcohol to drop out, probably a little more in a BMW tank, as I was figuring it out for the smaller tanked Ducati crowd. Any less than that, and it is just held in solution in the fuel and burned away in the combustion chamber and goes out the tailpipe as water vapor, the same as it would if you put a "fuel dryer" in your gas, which is just alcohol to absorb the water. The products do not specify how much more it can absorb when you use them. This may be pretty valuable in the marine industry where moisture is constantly an issue, but few of us really have any such issues with water in our fuel (at least, not since they started putting alcohol in it, because that absorbs the water that might have previously slowly built up in our tanks).

If you live somewhere like Hawaii or Florida, this might be a really good idea, but, for most of us, it does nothing.

[The Bigfella]

Its miserable, horrible stuff... don't use it (ethanol fuel). There are warnings here for people not to use it in boats... what happens is that it separates out in vehicles that are not used regularly. The implication in boats is deadly - if you are crossing a rough bar at the entrance to a river, for example and the boat gets shaken up and gets a load of the separated out stuff... no engine, just when you need it most. Why its any less deadly on a bike, I don't know... think about pulling out to overtake someone and the engine cuts.

I've had it in a chainsaw too.... and all the fuel lines disintegrated. It doesn't get used in anything here now... cars, boats, bikes, chainsaws or mower.

[Major Softie]

Its miserable, horrible stuff... don't use it (ethanol fuel).

Not an option for many of us.

[Deleted User 61]

I suppose this is an image of the near future - gasoline won't get scarce, but GOOD gasoline will.

And you thought home stills were dangerous. Wait until someone gets the idea to try and purify their own gasoline.

[Jeff in W.C.]

At 10% ethanol, we can run these bikes. However, many are talking about increasing the ethanol. At which point (15%, 20%, 40%, etc), will these bike (and older vehicles in general) not run?

[gspd]

This thread prompted me to re-watch that "High Octane Generation" video.
I saved it on my computer, I have a feeling I might need to see it again periodically to remain sane.