This is a very old subject but one with many local biases depending on people's experiences. Our state introduced ethanol in gas back in the late 70s. Yes, there were some problems but mostly related to fuel lines and clogged fuel filters in older vehicles. These were mostly problems waiting to happen anyway and the solvency of ethanol put them over the edge into failure. I have used the stuff in my vehicles ever since its introduction and completely without incident though I suffered from several clogged filters in the beginning. New vehicles back then usually suffered zero problems ... the exception being some carbs that had composite floats that were not ethanol compatible. They got fuel saturated and sunk in the float bowl of the carb. This was a common cause of the noted vehicle fires when fuel poured out of the carb onto the hot engine. In the automotive world, I'm sure these carb problems are long gone unless a guy is trying to revive a vehicle that has been sitting out in a field for 40 years. Given time, the floats failed even in regular gasoline, the ethanol just decreased the time to failure. Fuel lines were a similar story and most that failed were hard and cracked anyway and ethanol put them over the edge. Modern lines are greatly improved and don’t fail in the same manner. Ethanol did really clean out a fuel system and all that gunk was washed to and removed by the fuel filters. Some clogged within the first few miles of driving but as soon as the crud was gone the problem went away completely. The crud was usually a nasty brown crud.

I might add there were similar problems when the industry switched from leaded fuels to unleaded fuels back in the 70s. There were all kinds of problems with clogged fuel filters and engines stopping for no reason during that change over too. The new fuel got blamed for every problem anybody had with their vehicles. I was driving a fuel transport at that time and got chewed out more than once as if the changeover was my fault. Ethanol wasn’t around then to get the blame though.

More recently, other states have been "forced" onto the ethanol bandwagon. Many areas of the country have made the change with very few problems, other areas like the SE or as mentioned HI, seem to have nothing but problems. I'm no great fuel expert and certainly not a ethanol advocate, but I contend that its not just the ethanol in the fuel mix that is causing the problem in these areas. Ethanol is ethanol except for what it might contain to denature it. If it is working in most areas with few problems but problems are rather severe in others, Hmmmm.. seems to me there is something going on with the fuel other than the ethanol content. Maybe it is ethanol working with other components of the gasoline to create an especially nasty, overly solvent fuel cocktail. I don't know what the exact problem is but I do suggest it isn't just the ethanol.

Like others, I have quite a collection of 2 stoke engines numbering into the dozens and I have never had a single, ethanol related problem. I have to believe I am fortunate to live in an area where our fuel cocktail doesn't cause excessive problems. I am going through most of my gasser carbs this winter and most are just getting screen cleanings with the rubber parts being re-used. They look perfect otherwise. One WJ carb from an old Sachs 4.2 conversion has curled pump flaps but that’s the only problems I’ve found.

Maybe we could track where our gas is refined and shipped from. Here in central Iowa, it comes mostly from the Houston TX, Eastern OK area via 2 pipelines. Not that it would do us any good, but we might be able to put our finger on a source of a problem other than the dreaded ethanol.