Archive for April, 2011

Why E10 gasoline keeps you running on empty.

Ethanol contains high levels of oxygen and burns cleanly, greatly benefiting the environment, but the bottom line is that E10 gasoline will give you less miles per gallon (MPG).

The problems with Ethanol Blended Gasoline – E10

One gallon of ethanol yields only two-thirds as much energy as a gallon of gasoline.

Why?, because ethanol burns hotter than gasoline. And it contains high levels of oxygen which is great for clean emissions. But too much air or oxygen and less fuel during combustion reduces engine performance.

Ethanol also causes catalytic converters to break down faster. This can cost anywhere from $800 – $1200 to fix.

Ethanol not only cause engine damage and performance problems, but can cause rust in the engine.

This is due to the solvent nature of alcohol. Alcohol easily dissolves water into gasoline, and this is bad news for your car because water can destroy your engine.

Ethanol eats up rubber, so watch out for any rubber or plastic parts in your car engine.

According to U.S. Department of Energy figures, the current blend of 10 percent ethanol reduces gas mileage  by almost 4 percent, some folks claim it’s more like 20-35%.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now approved E15 for late model cars, so this will further reduce MPG.

139.5 billion gallons of gasoline consumed in the United States in 2009 contained 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol. 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol burned in 2009 displaced just 7.2 billion gallons of gasoline.

May I add that fossil fuel is consumed to generate ethanol. Corn-based ethanol requires petroleum-based products to both raise corn (farm equipment) and produce ethanol.

Eleven acres of land is required to grow enough corn based alcohol to run just one vehicle every year. That land can be used to grow food for seven people.

How about the subsidies that go to the farmers that grow corn. Personally, I believe ethanol is a boon for farmers but a tragedy for gasoline consumers.

According to the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), the ethanol industry consumed 4.6 billion bushels of corn in the 2009-10 marketing year and forecast’s 4.7 billion in 2011.

Ethanol is considered a good alternative energy because it’s inexpensive, plentiful and high in oxygen. A clean burning fuel that gives cleaner emissions.

On principle I don’t believe ethanol is a good substitute for oil.

Solution

The best solution is to check your car manual, and find out what fuel is recommended for your vehicle.

Most cars can run on regular gas but to prevent knocking or pinging you can upgrade your fuel or simply mix in some high octane gas with regular gasoline.

What is your opinion?

Failing emissions testing is an opportunity to save money because you just discovered that your car is wasting fuel.

City driving not only adversely affects your car but your health too. This is because high levels of harmful car emissions like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxides and Hydrocarbons can lead to failed emission testing.

Here are some interesting car emission facts you might want to know.

I recently read an article stating that the European Union (EU) is considering phasing out the petrol (gasoline) engine in favor of mass transit to cut down on harmful car emissions.

Engine Combustion for a healthy vehicle (Normal Running):

Under normal conditions, a controlled mixture of fuel and air is combusted in the car engine for maximum fuel efficiency.

Fuel will react with the Oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor.

Hydrocarbon Fuel + Oxygen =CO2 + H2O+ N2 (simplified equation for complete combustion)

This process, known as complete combustion happens under ideal conditions of Air to Fuel Mixture Ratios (AFR).

This ideal ratio of fuel to air is known as the stoichiometric ratio and is about 14.7:1 (14.7 pounds of air is burned for every pound of fuel). No more and no less.

This ratio describes the ideal thermo chemical process, where all of the air and all of the fuel is consumed during the combustion cycle, leaving no residual exhaust by-products. Nitrogen which is 79% of air passes through the combustion process virtually unchanged.

The benefits of a healthy vehicle:

The vehicle runs more efficiently and wastes less fuel; therefore, saving you hundreds in gas dollars

 Engine Combustion for an unhealthy vehicle:

Your car will fail emissions testing because incomplete combustion or partial combustion is taking place and producing harmful car emissions.

Two main causes of emissions are;

1. The Air Fuel Ratio (14.7:1) is less than the ideal stoichiometric ratio necessary for complete combustion to take place. Excess fuel in the mixture means that there is not enough oxygen to react with extra fuel for complete combust to take place. In this case, the maximum output of heat cannot be attained and you will experience poor mileage. This is commonly known as running a Rich Mixture. A Rich Mixture is responsible for high emissions of Carbon Monoxide (CO).
2. The Air Fuel Ratio (14.7:1) is greater than stoichiometric ratio and this means that there is too much air or oxygen in the mixture. Too little fuel and excess air produce greater than ideal temperature that binds oxygen molecules to nitrogen to form nitrous oxides. This is commonly known as running a Lean Mixture. A Lean Mixture is responsible for high emissions of Nitrous Oxides (NOx).

 Harmful Emissions:

• Hydrocarbons(HC)
• Carbon Monoxide(CO)
• Nitrous Oxides(NOx)

High Hydrocarbons (HC)

High HC is caused by excess raw fuel in the AFR (Rich Mixture). Some of this raw fuel is unburned which leads to the production of carbon monoxide (CO).

Six common failures likely to lead to a high output of Hydrocarbons are:

1. Faulty Ignition Timing
2. Faulty Ignition components
3. A Lean Misfire
4. Faulty Catalytic Converter
5. Faulty Air Injection Components
6. Low Cylinder Compression

High Carbon Monoxide (CO)

High CO is typical in Rich Mixtures because of excess fuel and little air (oxygen). Less than ideal AFR leads to partial combustion. Carbon (soot) and CO is produced in this reaction.

Five faults likely to produce high carbon monoxide are:

1. Dirty Air Filter
2. Faulty Oxygen Sensors (O2 Sensors)
3. Faulty Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP Sensor)
4. Faulty Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
5. Faulty Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT Sensor)

High Nitrous Oxides (NOx)

 High Nitrous Oxides emissions are due to a Lean Mixture (too much air or oxygen in the mixture), greater than ideal AFR.

This condition occurs when the lean fuel is completely burned off; some oxygen is left over in the reaction process.

The heat produced is greater than normal and Nitrogen combines with left over oxygen to produce nitrous oxides (toxic emission).

In a normally running engine, Nitrogen passes through the engine unchanged, but not in this case.

 Five common failures leading to high NOx emissions are;

1. Lean Fuel Mix
2. Faulty Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) System
3. Faulty Catalytic Converter (CAT)
4. High Engine Mileage (Carbon build up)
5. Engine Overheating

Failing Emissions Testing is good news for your wallet because it means your vehicle is wasting fuel. So, visit your service center and get the problem resolved and save money in the long run.

Sources:

Combustion

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