15 percent ethanol

[steveg]

The ethanol refineries in the midwest produce 3 products from corn: ethanol, high-fructose corn syrup and cattle feed (from the used mash).

The whole thing illustrates that once a program achieves a political constituency, it cannot be deleted regardless of lack of effectiveness or unintended consequences. Only the ruthless market can do this.

My understanding is the real problem is corn meal formerly produced by efficient American farmers is no longer available for making tortillas due to ethanol bringing a higher price for the corn.

Having said this, I'm with Michael in that most of these "sky is falling" stories turn out to be less dramatic in real life.

This discussion probably should be moved to The Pub or another non-Healey forum.

 

[twas_brillig]

We store a number of vehicles over winter. I checked the Internet for general information (e.g. pure-gas.org) and then what the distributor has on the Internet. For example, Co-op premium is ethanol free; Petro-Canada used to have an ethanol free premium but no more. Weather is looking not bad next week (we set a massive record on Oct. 4 with more than a foot of snow) and I'll be filling up with the Co-op premium and adding a fuel stabilizer. Then that should do it until Spring.
Regards the no lead gasoline comments: we've put hardened seats into one cylinder head; will do so if/when the next head needs rebuilding - which may end being caused by wear from the valves pounding away at the seats without the lead providing lubrication. But it's the price to pay - getting rid of the lead was a very good idea. Adding ethanol, not so much - just a subsidy for a number of American corn growers. Doug

 

[RDKeysor]

I believe most of my collector car friends buy non-ethanol fuel from service stations here in northeast Florida, some of which provide above-ground fuel tanks for that purpose. In fact, this is even more true of people I talk to who buy fuel for lawn mowers, etc. I generally use the regular 10% ethanol fuel available at the pump in my BN7 and the high test version in my '92 Porsche 968 without any recognized issues. So, I'm not complaining about or recognizing any damage to my vehicles. My problem is philosophical, possibly political, with the government dictating use of a product that has very significant unintended consequences in the marketplace without very impressive benefits.

 

[Editor_Reid]

OK, I had tried to keep this thread on the subject of "ethanol" and away from a subject of "government," but with obviously limited success. Therefore before this goes completely awry I'm going to lock the thread (meaning no more posts may be made to it) and invite further discussion to be posted in The Pub. This AH Forum is so well behaved that I can't even remember the last time I locked a thread, and I've been the Mod here since the beginning of the BCF 18 years ago.

I'm not a moderator of The Pub and can't predict exactly how that forum's Mod will handle it, but I'd suggest avoiding complaints about "government dictating" things or advocating "making a statement" on election day as the BCF tries mightily to avoid politics.