MBRedux

Yes it is. Here the States with the corn lobby well invested in the newly elected Republican House, there is no doubt we will be getting a higher blend of ethanol in our gasoline called E-15 or 15% ethanol, 85% gasoline. You should take note of this if you care for your car. The corn manufacturers claim that most cars can run on this stuff even though the auto makers completely disagree.

The facts are, corn production increases green house gases, two, most cars now suffer a 20-30% loss in fuel economy from the 10% blend, with the number climbing to as much as a 45% loss with E-15, and three, tests have proven that anything higher than 10% ethanol destroys the fuel system in most cars over time.

So check your owners manuals to see if your MBenz or GLK models can accept this higher blend of gasohol. My manual says not to use anything higher than E-10, or 10% ethanol blend.

To read more on the topic here's a link from Autoweek: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2010...NEWS/101019991

3Stars

That's why we have to Vote! Don't complaint after 28-30 years the incumbents still retain their seats. Everybody want change, but year after year they still vote for the same people

NYCGLK

On side note, doesn't C300 run on either gas or ethnol?

thebishman

Another example of ADM and their cronies buying our elected representatives votes thru' lobbying.

I suggest we vote with our $'s and avoid gas stations that sell this crap. I will not fill up my cars with it IF avoidable.

Bish

MBRedux

I agree, but it will be impossible to avoid such stations because they all will be mandated to sell E-15.... everywhere, every station in the USA year round. You will not be able to escape the power of "ADM and their cronies".

The Fed. Gov. should just drop the requirement that all new cars must post their mileage on the window sticker. These alcohol blends simply destroy the usefulness of these specifications to the buying public.

thebishman

I thought I read that EPA approved E15 for sale but is not mandating it at this time; i.e. a station could have two pumps one selling E10, one selling E15. Now we all know that a station won't have both alcohol blends for sale at the same time, hence we should just find the station still selling E10 and buy it; (assuming we can't find a station selling 'pure' petrol of course in which case they'll be getting my money).

Bish

MBRedux

E15 has not been approved yet but expect it to be based on the latest press reports. It will be mandated for sale in all 50 States by every producer. There will probably not be E10 pumps along side E15 pumps. They claim it would be too confusing to the uninformed. But what about cars older than 2000? Older cars cannot even handle E10 properly, so just think what E15 will do to them!

The Feds are trying to determine if all cars produced after 200? (3-4-5-6-7-8-9) can handle the higher blend without breaking first. Once that is established (in their eyes) they will make it law. Most if not all auto manufactures are on record stating that they fully disagree with this ethanol increase, and that it will harm their vehicles and void warranties if implemented.

It's all a political pay back to the corn farmers. It's also a way for some politicians to get major press coverage while stating: "This ethanol increase will not only help create more jobs for Americans, it will help reduce America's dependence on foreign oil!"

Well intentioned but another hoodwink deception. What the politicians will not tell you is that it will come at a high cost and not reduce pollution. First the cost of gasoline will go up because of the promised subsidy to the corn industry to increase production, your overall fuel economy will suffer by as much as 45% depending on the year and make of your car, and thirdly, the potential to do serious harm to your 10% ethanol car will no doubt have many customers suing the gasoline companies after learning they're warranties (either factory or extended) have now been voided out because of it.

The corn growers association will become super rich, corn prices will spiral out of control as demand rises for other uses, as the machinery to make all this happen offsets any reduction in green house gases from cars using this new blend of gasohol.

NYCGLK

we'll just have to switch to electricity and/or diesel. Stupid question but does diesel have ethanol in it?

GLKKa2H

No, it's made by a different chemical process: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006...ol_vs_biod.php

The biodiesel is now blended 7% (B7) with diesel by one station here, like the gas/ethanol situation. Then there is B30 and B100.

Ethanol has been available for 4+ years as E85 (85% ethanol), and a blend 95% gas/5% ethanol is coming.

(There are no stupid questions, but a whole bunch of - answers )

MBRedux

GLKKa2H

The (MB)world is big, isn't it?

Dark_Knight

my understanding is that this change has been pushed by the previous congress AND the president, both groups with their push for higher CAFE stds and other regs are no friend of the automobile.

thebishman

If this E15 becomes widespread and our (especially) high performance cars are damaged in some way, the class action lawsuit will have to rank as one of the largest ever filed. The lawyers must be salivating already. How in the hell can the EPA allow a product that the car manufacturers, (whom one would assume are the experts on their cars), state will damage engine components onto the market? Absurd!!
Bish

rmfnla

I guess the real issue is if E-15 really will harm engione components or do the car makers have another issue (like maintaining milege averages)?

The car makers also resisted seat belt laws in the '60s!

MBRedux

The damage will not be immediate. It will take time, with some reports saying as much as 7-10 years. The question is this. Who is really correct, the manufacturers that claim that their E10 cars should not run E15, or the Fed's that are trying to prove that they can?

balticgreen

Yes, as long as it's a C300 with RWD and the automatic transmission. Manuals or 4Matics need not apply.

MBRedux

"The Great Ethanol Scam"...Good reading: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...514_058678.htm

The Great Ethanol Scam

Not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers

By Ed Wallace





"Does the average citizen understand what this means? In from 10 to 20 years this country will be dependent entirely upon outside sources for a supply of liquid fuels … paying out vast sums yearly in order to obtain supplies of crude oil from Mexico, Russia, and Persia."—Yale Professor Harold Hibbert, ethanol promoter, 1925

More than one major transportation-based industry in America besides Detroit is on the ropes. For the fourth time in our history the ethanol industry has come undone and is quickly failing nationally. Of course it's one thing when Detroit collapsed with the economy; after all, that is a truly free-market enterprise and the economy hasn't been good. But the fact that the ethanol industry is going bankrupt, when the only reason we use this additive is a massive government mandate, is outrageous at best.
Then again, the ethanol lobby and refiners have a solution to ethanol's failure in America: Hire retired General Wesley Clark as your point man and lobby the government to increase the amount of ethanol in our fuel to 15%. The problems with that proposition are real—unlike ethanol's benefits.
Where's the Logic?

First, the primary job of the Environmental Protection Agency is, dare it be said, to protect our environment. Yet using ethanol actually creates more smog than using regular gas, and the EPA's own attorneys had to admit that fact in front of the justices presiding over the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 (API v. EPA).
Second, truly independent studies on ethanol, such as those written by Tad Patzek of Berkeley and David Pimentel of Cornell, show that ethanol is a net energy loser. Other studies suggest there is a small net energy gain from it.
Third, all fuels laced with ethanol reduce the vehicle's fuel efficiency, and the E85 blend drops gas mileage between 30% and 40%, depending on whether you use the EPA's fuel mileage standards (fueleconomy.gov) or those of the Dept. of Energy.
Fourth, forget what biofuels have done to the price of foodstuffs worldwide over the past three years; the science seems to suggest that using ethanol increases global warming emissions over the use of straight gasoline. Just these issues should have kept ethanol from being brought back for its fourth run in American history.
Don't let anybody mislead you: The new push to get a 15% ethanol mandate out of Washington is simply to restore profitability to a failed industry. Only this time around those promoting more ethanol in our gas say there's no scientific proof that adding more ethanol will damage vehicles or small gas-powered engines. With that statement they've gone from shilling the public to outright falsehoods, because ethanol-laced gasoline is already destroying engines across the country in ever larger numbers.
Got a Spare $1,000?

Last July was bad enough for motorists on a budget—gasoline prices had shot up to more than $4 a gallon. But for some the pain in the pocketbook was about to get worse. At City Garage in Euless, Tex., for example, the first of numerous future customers brought in an automobile whose fuel pump was shot. A quick diagnosis determined that that particular car had close to 18% ethanol in the fuel. For that unlucky owner, the repairs came to nearly $900. The ethanol fun was just beginning.
City Garage manager Eric Greathouse has found that adding ethanol to the nation's gasoline supply may be a foolish government mandate, but it has an upside he'd rather not deal with. It's supplying his shop with a slow but steady stream of customers whose plastic fuel intakes have been dissolved by the blending of ethanol into our gasoline, or their fuel pumps destroyed. The average cost of repairs is just shy of $1,000.

It gets better. Go to the link.