Who says E10, or any ethanol-blended gasoline, is for fuel-injected engines only? Below are some myths and facts about ethanol-blended gasoline. As it turns out, ethanol-blended gasoline can be used on carbureted engines after all.

Myth # 1: Carbureted engines have an open-loop system which is not fit for bioethanol-blended gasoline because the open-loop system cannot adjust to the changes in oxygen content of the fuel.   The inability of the motor to adjust makes using bioethanol-blended gasoline uneconomical due to fuel evaporation. 

What Is It? An open-loop system is simply a description of the fuel intake mechanism of a car.  In open-loop systems, the fuel intake controller simply mixes fuel and air together at pre-set levels (think making coffee sweet by putting one teaspoon of sugar) instead of having a feed-back mechanism that adjusts the fuel and air mix (think making coffee sweet by putting half a teaspoon, then tasting and putting more to desired sweetness level).

The Facts:

• Both carbureted and fuel-injected engines have either an open or a closed loop system.

• Fuel loss is caused by faulty and improperly installed gas caps and not by the type of gasoline used.

• Bioethanol-blended gasoline such as E10 improves fuel combustion in open-loop motor systems because of the already available oxygen in the fuel.

Numerous studies have been done to prove these points and you can find them here.

Myth # 2: Carburetor fitted cars account for 40% of the vehicles in the Philippines are not fit for biofuels.

The Facts:

• All new car models have publicized E10 compatibility.

• Older car models normally have carburetors which are designed for lower-pressure motors.  E10 has lower vapor pressure than conventional gasoline which makes E10 suitable for carbureted engines. 

If you have a carbureted engine you can use E10 without any worries but make sure that you use the carburetor that is designed for your car.  Many motorists think that modifying their engines by using smaller carburetors will help improve fuel efficiency or that using larger carburetors would increase power output but the truth is if your carburetor is not matched to your car’s designed fuel-air mix, then whatever fuel you use will make your car perform less.  You can find more technical information about the effect of carburetor size and fuel-air mix here.

Myth # 3: The materials with which carbureted engines are made from are not designed for E10.

The Facts:  Gasoline contains sulfur which means that it is corrosive. Carbureted engines are designed to resist the corrosive properties of gasoline so that they are predominantly made from elastomeric and plastic materials.  Recognizing this problem long ago, oil companies have added anti-corrosion inhibitors in their gasoline to suppress the corrosive properties.

Based on extensive studies, bioethanol-blended gasoline such as E10 has less elastomer deterioration properties compared to gasoline and benzene and aromatic substitutes.  The European Union, in their efforts to promote bioethanol-blended gasoline use has even issued a directive to use bioethanol-blended gasoline in 1985, when almost all cars had carburetors in them! You can read the rest of the story about that here.

If the experts say it can be used for your carburetor car, why won’t you? Bioethanol-blended gasoline is safe for your carburetor car and will make driving your vintage buggy way cooler!

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