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From: Roger Merriman <roger@sarlet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: rec tech mower
Date: 13 Apr 2025 16:41:40 GMT
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Catrike Ryder <Soloman@old.bikers.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 13 Apr 2025 10:31:44 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
> 
>> On 4/13/2025 10:02 AM, Shadow wrote:
>>> On Sat, 12 Apr 2025 07:45:49 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Ethanol is food for bacteria which make a biofilm goo in all
>>>> the hard to reach passages and ports.  The extra water from
>>>> condensation only speeds that process.
>>> 
>>> I once owned a 1988 FIAT Premio. Alcohol only. Sold it with
>>> 420.000 Km on the clock. I never had the engine "done". Ethanol burns
>>> cooler and cleaner than gasoline.
>>> Spark plugs changed every 10.000 Km looked new. Probably the
>>> best car I've ever owned.
>>> Now they're all "Flex". You can fill up with, say, 30 liters
>>> of ethanol and 10 liters of gasoline, and the onboard computer will
>>> figure out timing etc. And of course, they don't have carburetors
>>> anymore, not sure there is anything to clog up.
>>> I remembered, there is. In winter you need to use gasoline to
>>> get the motor to start. So there is a 1 liter container of gasoline,
>>> and it's injected when the computer decides it's too cold for ethanol.
>>> You are supposed to replace the gasoline every year, but my wife
>>> always forgets(her car is flex, but she uses mostly pure ethanol), so
>>> I have to de-clog it once a year.
>>> That might be a problem in cold places. Where I live it's
>>> rarely sub-zero. Maybe once or twice a year.
>>> []'s
>>> 
>>> PS Ethanol is much cheaper than gasoline. In the olden days
>>> I'd buy it directly from the local distillery, tax free, so even
>>> cheaper. Had to take 200 liters of plastic containers, that's the
>>> least they'd sell "on the side".
>>> 
>> 
>> +1 yes, Brasil has the world's most developed system for 
>> ethanol autos, very high volume.
>> 
>> in re cold conditions, we're significantly colder here. I 
>> can recall helping friends with diesel autos and pickups in 
>> bitter cold weather (-20, -25F) as their fuel solidified in 
>> the fuel lines at those temps.  Backing a Corvair to it with 
>> bike carton cardboard sheets all around will warm the fuel 
>> lines enough to start it.
>> 
>> I understand that winter blend diesel now has additives for 
>> that problem.
> 
> When I was a kid growing up on the farm in northern Illinois, our
> neighbors had one the last of the big John Deere two cylinder
> tractors. It was a diesel and required a small gas engine just to turn
> it over. I don't recall any frozen gas lines on it, nor on our IH four
> cylinder diesel. My son in law, in Wisconsin, has several diesel
> tractors, harvesters, a pickup and a big 18 wheel rig. I don't recall
> him having any such trouble, but having all sorts of other mechanical
> troubles, as farmers are having these days with Chinese made stuff, he
> may not have mentioned that one.
> 
> --
> C'est bon
> Soloman
> 

Potentially has some sort of additive to stop agricultural diesels from
“freezing” certainly the collage bus, In the winter would cough and
splutter due to its tank “freezing” be temperatures in the -5/10 range
(20/10 f) don’t recall the farmers having problems but i equally didn’t
ask! Though one neighbour had one of the Citroens which was a diesel and
floated over the track!

Roger Merriman