Fuel Additives for Ethanol

[boardandplunder]

Has anyone experienced problems with the newer ethanol fuels?
Tried any additives?
Results?
I had some stuttering during some of my longer trips under motor but beyond that no real trouble. I haven't tried changing out my fuel filter yet but am curious if anyone has had good results from any of the additives out there.

[PaulfromNWOnt]

The only problem that I've encountered is that some MORON decided it was a good idea to make FOOD into FUEL.

Apart from that, plus the fact that it's un-stable and eats away at rubber fuel lines, and gums up your carb I've encountered no difficulties after adding Sea-Foam to the tank. If the seals and hoses on your engine aren't ethanol tolerant, then you may want to consider replacing them.

HTH, sorry for the rant.

[dabnis]

I did a test by putting a teaspoon or so of water in a coffee can half full of gas. The water was visible in the bottom of the can. Then I added some Berryman's B-12 Fuel additive, The water turned into a foggy appearance and then was no longer visible. After a number of days there was still no sign of the water. I let the gas sit in the can for several months. As of now there is a very small amount of dark, thick oily substance in the bottom of the can, not sure if it will ever dry completely? B-12 is a very powerful solvent, it can melt paint and some plastics so it should dissolve deposits, like varnish, that have formed in a carburetor. I have used it for years in all sorts of applications and have never had any fuel related problems except for the time I forgot to drain the carb in one of my outboards over the winter, my fault. No affiliation with Berryman's, other brands may work as well?

Dabnis

[hellosailor]

All the additives can do is bind the extra water (which the alcohol sucks in from the air) into a finer suspension so it gets burned instead of sitting in your tank. There's no magic that gets rid of the alcohol or the water.

SeaFoam is funny stuff, if you read their MSDS. It consists of naphtha (the base stock in gasoline) plus isopropyl alcohol (the cleaning agent) plus light oil (to compensate for the scouring in the cylinders from all that alcohol).

If you're planning to "blow out the carbon" you can just pour in some old rubbing alcohol and get about the same effect. Or yesterday's coffee, as many fine mechanics swear by. Same effect, the water becomes steam, cleans out deposits. Add in some used motor oil if you want that extra lube.

There's a reason some stuff doesn't have a big ingredients label on it. :-)

[dabnis]

I was curious about the contents:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...tml#post749429

pdqaltair, a chemical engineer, I think, explained:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...feature-4.html

Interesting stuff, but it seems to work, for me anyway, your mileage may vary.

Dabnis