The car

[Mortblanc]

Over here we have been using E85 for decades with no major problems to vehicle engines. There may be some negatives but all in all I think the quality of the blended fuels is still better than the "regular" I burned once down in Mexico.

I have noticed several of the British mechanics on You tube prophesying doom, gloom and the instant decomposition of all fuel lines and pumps, injectors with concrete clogging them, and trails of fuel down the motorway from the rotted out systems. Our mechanics don't even mention it any more, unless the vehicle has been sitting for a decade and what is in the tank is the consistency of maple syrup.

Cars are tougher than you might think. So are their hoses and gaskets.

I reported on my 1997 Jeep Cherokee that broke down with a full tank of E85 (computer malfunction) and stayed parked for a year, then cranked up with no ill effects.

The brake system then went completely bonkers and it sit for another year before I got around to a full replacement of all lines, calipers and brakes. It fired up after that also. Same tank of fuel two years old.

That tank of E85 was untouched and had no stabilizers added and it was still good, and the vehicle was operational, after two full years.

The alcohol blend does its worst work on small engines that sit for periods without use. Garden tillers, lawn mowers, and especially weed eaters and chain saws. Those devices have tiny jets in the carb that barely work with the best fuel. All of the major 2cycle brands now market their own "pure" fuels, at $50 per US gallon!

There are only a few dealers that even offer "pure" petrol with no alcohol added. All of it is the premium level fuel and you pay out the wazoo for it. At least it seems to us like "out the wazoo". $1US per liter! It's an outrage!

It appears that fuel stabilizers still work with the blended fuels. I would use them freely with fuels I was keeping in storage as preps.

As a note, I stored all my motorcycles last winter with the tanks completely full to cut down on condensation and stabilizer added. they sit from November to April and all of them fired up and ran without any problems. The only one I made special care to fill with straight petrol was the Royal Enfield and I latter thought about the fact that that machine was designed to burn south Asian petrol, meaning you can pee in the tank and it will still run.