How to Make a Car Engine Ethanol Ready

With gasoline emissions seemingly destroying the environment, many people are looking for alternative fuel sources, including ethanol, which is distilled from corn, sugar or wheat. While saving the environment may be a big draw, not all car engines can be made ready for high ethanol content (E85) gasoline.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ethanol fuel conversion kit
• Fuel filters
• Fuel meter jets
• Fuel pump
• Ethanol-quality rubber hoses

1. Check your current car. Many newer cars can already run on E85, which is 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent gasoline. Find a gas station that sells E85.

2. Install a fuel filter before the pump and between the pump and carburetor. Since ethanol loosens dirt, you will need the filters to clean the fuel before it powers your engine. Make sure you replace the filters after the first 1,000 miles.

3. Consult a mechanic or ethanol expert to see whether you should replace your fuel pump. Not all fuel pumps work with ethanol, and the replacement is a simple change to make to get your car ethanol ready.

4. Enlarge the fuel-metering jets in your carburetor, so that the proper amount of fuel can pass. For some models, you can buy the larger jets from the manufacturer or part supplier. Many cars built after 1990 do not need the injector plugs or jets altered, but each model of vehicle differs.

5. Use a flex-fuel conversion kit. Relatively new on the market, the plug-and-play kits cannot make every car ethanol ready, but they do work on many newer models. The kits allow cars to run on any mixture of ethanol and gasoline.

6. Replace rubber fuel lines with ethanol-quality lines, which are resistant to corrosion. Most other engine parts can withstand the ethanol, but you should run tests in older cars to ensure your carburetor and hoses can stand up to the fuel.

Tips & Warnings

• Start the car in cold weather by adding more gasoline to your fuel mixture. Some cars using E85 fuels need the extra boost to start a cold engine.
• Ethanol corrodes steel and polymer components in the engine, which means large portions of the engine must be replaced or it will wear out very quickly. Making a non-flex-fuel car ethanol-ready may be more trouble than its worth.
• Older cars, especially collector vintages, are not meant to be used with ethanol fuel. You should consider making your car ethanol ready to use current gasoline supply, which is required to be 10-percent in 2009.
• Read your warranty. Some manufacturer warranties are voided if fuel containing more then 10-percent ethanol is used.

Resources

• Ethanol Cars & Ethanol Conversion Kits