I picked up a pamphlet today from Shel when I was getting gas explaining how good ethanol is for engines. Does the same apply for rotary engines? I know that 76 serves gas with ethanol in it (no more MTBE) so is it good or bad for the rotary?

 

ethanol=great stuff for a rotary

 

not so fast... true ethanol has a higher octane rating and cleaner burn but it may not be for all cars.



First off ethanol is a solvent and it will dissolve all the varnish in your fuel system and could lead to messed up fuel rails and injectors and maybe other bad things.



Second, alchol is more corosive, it may damage certain rubber seals or lines or other non metalic parts it will come into contact with.



Use with disgression... when in doubt... use what u know works... gasoline.

 

could it also dehydrate seals??? i read somewhere that toluene does that too.

 

in the shell pamphlet it said that the type that gas stations despense will not dissolve seals... but i think that im gonna stick with gasoline just to be safe.

 

I thought that ethenol was bad for cars... They made a big thing out of it on T.V,

on how bad it is and how it can stuff your motor.

 

expect all the rubber to live a shorter life



mike

 

wellt he only reason you would run that is if you have an application where reliability and longevity (sp?) would not be a factor (i.e. racecar) so i think it would be ok

 

If you're going to run pure ethanol you have to revamp the fuel system to handle it. There's no lubrication so you have to either add it, or get fuel components that will stand up to the abuse. Usually you have to run a different fuel pump as well with a regulator or you'll get all sorts of nasty spikes and drops in the fuel pressure. If you try to run it on a normal system it'll chew up the rubber. Plus octane and timing are usually different.



In terms of the apex seals I'm guessing you would want to run extra oil or do the above premix to keep them from dying a quick death. There's also the fact that head tempratures will creep on a piston engine car, I don't know what would happen on a rotary.



I'm sure somone has done it.



As far as the ethanol mixes you see in places like Iowa, it's not enough to matter.

 

Whoah, did you say Shell puts ethanol in all their gas, and that'll make my fuel system and engine die quicker? If Shell is bad for me, are there any other brands of gas that do bad things also? I think Texaco puts some sort of cleaning additive in their gas.