As near I can tell, if you’re running a 4-stroke engine manufactured in 2001 or later you ought to be OK. You may have more fuel injector clogging, but as long as you always use fresh “gasohol” you will avoid serious engine problems. Ethanol separates into water over time, though, so avoid using old gas.

2-stroke engines are a different story, as petroleum-based 2-cycle oil does not mix with ethanol. So more ethanol in your gas means more problems with your engine, if you’re using petroleum-based 2-cycle oil. The solution to this is to use synthetic ester-based 2-cycle oil, such as Motul’s synthetic oil sold at Scoot Richmond, which mixes quite nicely with ethanol.

The bigger problem is for people who run vintage engines, because those engines were never designed to burn ethanol. A partial fix is to only use fresh gasoline, or to use fuel stabilizers to prevent water from accumulating in the fuel. Still, as a corrosive liquid alcohol is harder on synthetics like plastics and rubber, and even metal. According to Popular Mechanics:

Alcohol is corrosive and can degrade plastic, rubber or even metal parts in the fuel system that weren’t engineered to use alcohol-bearing fuel. Consequently, that antique Evinrude outboard or ’60s lawn tractor you bought at the swap meet might need some upgrading to stay together on today’s gas. That means corrosion-resistant tanks, alcohol-tolerant rubber lines, seals and fuel-pump diaphragms, and plastic fuel-system parts that won’t swell up in the presence of alcohol.

And the news is worse for vintage 2-strokes:

Highly tuned two-stroke engines will run leaner (and consequently hotter) on the lower Btu/gallon alcohol mix, potentially leading to melted pistons and scuffed cylinder walls. Alcohol will also scour varnish and deposits out of the fuel system that have remained in place for years, which will eventually wind up in the filter or main jet, choking off the engine’s fuel supply. Worse yet, the alcohol itself ­oxidizes in the tank and produces a tenacious brown glop that’s far more damaging to fuel systems than the ­varnish we’re used to seeing in pure petroleum fuels. In warmer weather, you can see varnish starting to form within a month of dispensing fresh fuel into a vehicle tank or storage can.

It’s not all bad news, though – turns out there are 189 gas stations in Virginia that sell pure gasoline! The closest to Richmond is in Powhatan, but there’s one in Hopewell, too. Stanardsville, the home of our spring scooter rally, also has one. So it’s obtainable, and maybe the introduction of E15 will motivate those of us with vintage scooters to go the extra mile to purchase the pure stuff they were meant to burn.

If you missed it, fret not! Here it is filmed in technicolor HORRORSCOPE!!

Thanks goes out to the moustached wonder tech Brendan Artz at Scoot Richmond and Silver Persinger for capturing it all on video.

Part 1 – Constant Variable Transmission [CVT] Demystified from Silver Persinger on Vimeo.

Part 2 – Constant Variable Transmission [CVT] Demystified from Silver Persinger on Vimeo.