In 2006 Alabama gas stations began including ethanol in the blend. While most people haven't noticed much of an impact in their cars, the ethanol has played a factor in breakdowns of smaller engines.
In March we showed you how lawn equipment has been affected, but as it turns out outboard motors on boats are also suffering when the ethanol levels are too high. Airport Marine in Calera has been charting the increase in breakdowns over the last few years, and mechanic Tim Skelton says it's something every boat owner needs to be aware of.
"It can be as major as causing a total engine failure. That is a rarity, it can happen, normally you just notice running issues that happen due to just the trash that has been cleaned out of the fuel system because of the alcohol," said Skelton.
That trash comes from a breakdown in hoses and filters within your engine.
"Ethanol will penetrate some rubber. And what has happened here, the consistency of this rubber has changed, and it's just eaten away and it's actually eaten a hole through this hose," said Skelton.
Skelton agrees with small engine mechanic Joe Brocato who says the best way to prevent ethanol related engine problems is to buy gas with as little ethanol as possible.
"For us, 10% is the maximum we'd like to see. Anything above 10%, you really start to have problems," said Brocato.
When we tested our fuel blends in March we found all of our samples fell below that 10%.
A new test of the summer blends also finds that the major gas stations remain below the 10%, and even our discount gas stations are keeping the ethanol levels within the recommended guidelines.
That tells us there's more at play when it comes to engine failure than ethanol alone.
We did our ethanol test on a sample of fuel pulled from a boat that had broken down on the water and found it only had 3% of ethanol in the sample. But the real problem is the sludge that's at the bottom of the sample. This is something that is common that mechanics are finding today.
"Because of the cleaning agent that alcohol is, it's created a lot of issues in outboard engines."
Skelton says those issues stem from ethanol stripping away the crud that coats the inside of fuel storage tanks. When that comes loose it gets into the fuel mix. And sludge in the tank is never a good thing, which is why you may want to think twice before buying you gas at the dock.
"You have to be very careful where you buy gas. You want to buy gas from a place that sells a lot of gas, has a lot of turnover."
And our expert also says you should never let fuel sit for more than a month without adding a fuel stabilizer.
