The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 383
uninformed as she is. So, they invent the problems, and if they're unscrupulous
in addition to being stupid, then they really sock it to you.
Nearing the 6-minute mark of the show, Ms. Fix announces that the oil companies use lower octane gasoline to dumb-down ethanol-gasoline blends because
of the excessive corrosion caused by ethanol's naturally higher levels. This is
not what is happening.
Ethanol has an octane rating over 110. If you blend ethanol with 87 octane
regular gasoline the octane rating of the blend would naturally be higher than
the regular gasoline by itself. E10 gasoline should have an octane rating of
about 89. But if the gasoline companies allow E10 to have 89 octane then they
not only lose money on every gallon of 87 octane fuel that contains 10% ethanol, they would lose the opportunity to sell a mid-level 89 octane fuel at a higher
price. Therefore, they intentionally dumb down the octane level of the gasoline
they use in the blends so that they're not giving away the extra 2 octane points
for free. It's merely a case of the oil companies trying to earn a few pennies
more per gallon, it's not a corrosion issue.
You can use 89 octane gasoline in a car designated as an 87-octane car and
the higher octane will not cause your engine or fuel system to corrode simply
because of the higher octane. And of course, the same scenario is true when
you step up to premium 93 octane gasoline. The oil company doesn't give you
90% of 93 octane gasoline blended with 10% of 110 octane ethanol. They use
gasoline with a lower octane rating to save a few pennies per gallon.
I think an automotive expert should know this kind of information. If you're a
"Top Person in Car Care, Education and Auto Industry News" just because
you're really good at knowing how to clean white wall tires, then maybe you
wouldn't know about octane levels and such. In that case, don't pass yourself
off as an expert on the subject, and definitely don't let other people falsely introduce you as an expert.
Moving on, and we're now only at about the 7-minute mark, Lauren Fix talks
about receiving lots of letters from people who had their warranties voided because they used the wrong fuel. She's implying that the vehicle owners used
something other than E10 fuel in their new vehicles; they then developed engine
or fuel system trouble; and when they went to the dealer to get it fixed the dealer
refused to do the service under the warranty.
