Ethanol has been around in petrol since the introduction of lead free
petrol in the 70's and 80's to boost octane rating. At the time it could
harm some rubber parts, but these should have been replaced by now. I
have never experienced any problems with petrol blended with alcohol and
in fact, as alcohol absorbs water, it may prevent corrosion in the
petrol tank.
I am afraid these disaster stories are possibly brought about by people
having an interest in certain fuel additives.
There may be some isolated incidents, but in normal use there are no
problems.
In the late seventies I worked for a company developing conversions of
diesel and/or petrol cars to run on pure alcohol (and LNG, H2, LPG). For
pure alcohol it mainly meant re-jetting and slightly modifying the
carbs, also on some the CR was raised considerably. Pure alcohol caused
some damage to exhaust systems, due to the acids formed in the exhaust
gases. It also caused some corrosion of the aluminium/zinc alloy in carbs.
I often drove these cars and they drove just the same or better as any
petrol car.
Kees Oudesluijs
NL
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