Higher Ethanol (15%) BAD News for Pre-97 cars, Sign the Petition Options

[RickS]

A cross post from the land of the penguins. Read the top and find the petition link at the bottom of the first page of the thread. Scary stuff - Suby converterers might be in a good place.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...s-91-newer.html

Full text of that post:

Older engines (read "ours") may have serious problems. "May", could read "likely", but since I am not an expert. Read on and chime in on what we can do if needed:

Excerpted from the New York Times January 21, 2011:

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that cars and light trucks from the 2001 model year onward can safely use a blend of 15 percent ethanol mixed with gasoline, up from the 10 percent standard now in effect in much of the country. The decision expands the pool of vehicles that could use such a fuel to about 62 percent of the total on the roads.

But the practical impact of the announcement on the fuel blend, known as E15, was not clear. An announcement in October that newer cars, from the 2007 model year and later, could use the blend has so far had little impact on retailers or drivers. A new fuel requires multiple approvals from many agencies. And retailers are typically not set up to offer an additional grade of gasoline at their pumps: if they wanted to sell E15, they would have to stop selling something else.

The ethanol industry is facing a problem selling its product because overall gasoline sales are down even while ethanol production is up. In addition, while many cars have been manufactured that can run on an 85 percent ethanol blend, known as E85, very few gasoline retailers outside the Midwest actually sell the fuel. Auto makers had expressed concern that the E15 blend could harm cars’ seals, pumps and other fuel system components.

But on Friday, Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said the agency’s testing had found otherwise. “Recently completed testing and data analysis show that E15 does not harm emissions control equipment in newer cars and light trucks,” she said in a statement. “Wherever sound science and the law support steps to allow more home-grown fuels in America’s vehicles, this administration takes those steps.”

The ethanol industry cheered the announcement.

Growth Energy, a trade group that had petitioned the E.P.A. in 2009 to raise the standard blend to 15 percent ethanol from 10 percent, said that if accomplished, the change “could help create as many as 136,000 new jobs in the United States.”

Encouraging the use of corn-based ethanol is one of the few federal auto policies that has had a substantial impact on reducing oil imports.

The government is still studying the ability of older cars to withstand a 15 percent ethanol blend. The E.P.A. has not said when it expects to announce a ruling on older vehicles. Some gasoline-powered equipment, like marine outboard motors, chain saws and leaf blowers, is never expected to qualify, and E15 in those engines would create safety hazards, the equipment makers say.

Full text: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business...anol&st=cse

I understand cars with carbs may have additional difficulties