340 not running anymore...Help Please?
Please astound the crowd with a compelling reason for crapping up our gas with 10% or more of ethanol????
Well back in the early 90's the government mandated only oxygenated gasoline be sold in the US in areas where smog was an issue. Oxygenated gas burns more completely thus reducing emissions.
This was accomplised by adding MTBE (Methyl Tert-butyl Ether) to the gas. MTBE was selected because it was cheap, but by the mid 90's the MTBE was being found in drinking water so a switch to the more expensive Ethanol was made.
I wouldn't know if Ethanol craps up the gas or not i have been using it for about 15 years now and don't recall any changes in the way my cars ran back then when the switch over was made. I do recall some folks had issues with starting there cars in the cold weather but I never did. I don't recall any measurable change in mileage either.
Right off the bat one advantage of Ethanol in the gas is higher octane. Take 91 octane and mix in 10% Ethanol and you have 93 octane. The other advantage is if you live in an area with wide and rapid temperature changes moisture condensation in the gas tank is a real issue. Ethanol binds up with the water so you do not get freezing or shitty running when a slug of water is ingested into the engine. Back before Ethanol was added everyone would add a bottle of dry gas with each tank full in the winter, drygas is alcohol. I don't do that any more because it is already in the gas.
One thing that is more recent is labeling of the gas pumps. With the introduction of E85 and flex fuel vehicles there was confusion over what you were buying so regulations were changed that required the pumps to be clearly marked. So you have likely been getting E10 fuel for years and just recently have been made aware of it with a label on the pump.