Tim - I have personally had very bad issues with fuel going bad, not to mention the thousands of customers over the years. I have never used E85, so can make no comment on Denny's post about E85.
But I have had gasoline (E10) in a John Deere tractor go so bad (after roughly 1 year) that it was necessary to artificially warm the engine, start the engine on ether, and then the fuel would "burn". Also issue with modern E0. Many bad experiences with small engines (lawn & garden tractors, weed-eaters, chain saws, etc.). Since I don't use all of these tools on a timely basis, I finally tired of the "curse the fuel, drain the fuel, rebuild the carburetor" routine, and bought a generator which I permanently fixed in a two wheel trailer that I pull behind the lawn & garden tractor used most often. Purchased electric chain saw, electric weed eater, electric trimmers, etc. Now I don't have to worry about the garbage fuel.
Fortunately, we now have a station here in Eldon with 88 octane E0. A little over a year ago, purchased a "flex fuel" vehicle, and decided to do a test.
87 octane E10 averages 10 percent less costs than 88 octane E0. BUT USING 87 OCTANE FUEL IN THE FLEX FUEL VEHICLE RESULTED IN AN AVERAGE 14 PERCENT REDUCTION IN FUEL ECONOMY!
I buy the 88 octane E0 for use in everything. IT STILL WILL GO BAD OVER A YEAR OR SO! Just not as fast as the ethanol fuel.
As to older components in carburetors: MOST of todays components are more or less compatible with ethanol. Leather is STILL the preferred material for accelerator pumps (so far, man has not been able to make an exotic material for ethanol than the underside of a cow!!!). But some carburetors (i.e. Carter type YF, and others) have a diaphragm accelerator pump. There are NO ethanol friendly neopremes that I have found. The best way to minimize issues with neopreme components is to start the engine sufficiently often to keep the fuel from evaporating. The diaphragm seems to harden after once being in ethanol, and then allowed to dry. And of course, the hardened diaphragm will fail due to cracking when it flexes.
And I still would recommend checking an old accelerator pump before replacing. A 50 year-old leather pump is much superior to any of the pumps made from artificial material. Soak the pump overnight in a baby food jar with light machine oil covering the leather cup.
The ability of ethanol to absorb water will cause eventual (maybe 25~30 year) failure of zinc alloy castings. But doubt seriously that I will be around to see these failures. But I have seen many carburetors with zinc castings from the 1930's (remember, every other generation has to learn that which MADD preach - alcohol and gasoline do not mix
) which have holes in the bottom of the fuel bowl. There was a lot of alcohol fuel being used in the 1930's and 1910's.
Jon.
