With the continued growth of the use of ethanol as a fuel additive for cars and trucks, there are a few people shunning the technology believing they will have to buy a new car once the blended gasoline is prevalent. However, there is a god chance that your currently vehicle sitting in your garage is already an ethanol vehicle.
All major automotive manufacturers have backed the use of E-10 ethanol in vehicles that burn regular gasoline and there has been no evidence that its use causes any harm or damage to the engine. An ethanol vehicle has shown no significant decrease in mileage, power or performance that those that run strictly on gasoline.
Actually, since ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, it can actually help prevent deposits from building up on fuel injectors, helping to main the original gas mileage and avoid the loss of power typically seen in cars with high mileage. Gasoline refiners have altered their formulas over the years as basically any vehicle that burns regular gasoline can be considered an ethanol vehicle once an ethanol blend has been added to its tank.
Changes Needed For Biodiesel and Pure Alcohol
E-10 ethanol, a mix of 10 percent ethanol and gasoline, has little or no impact on the efficiency of a gasoline engine. However, for those wanting to operate their own still and run their car on straight alcohol, a few modifications will be needed. Things like input jets, main jet and air fuel mixture to turn it into a pure ethanol vehicle. Just do not drink the fuel.
There are several classes of race cars that burn pure alcohol and because of it being highly combustible, is not recommended in the family wagon with expert advice and direction. You can easily spot a pure ethanol vehicle, or more accurately smell one, as the burning alcohol has a distinct odor.
It has been said that diesel engines can run on just about any burnable liquid and they can for a while before something in the system gets gummed up. Running an unmodified diesel as an ethanol vehicle will harm the engine as ethanol burns significantly hotter than diesel, or corn oil, and can cause harm to the inner workings of the engine.
Modifications can be made without a lot of difficulty and there are conversion kits available, but currently many buses and trucks are using E-85 diesel, which is a blend of diesel fuel and 85 percent ethanol.