My 87 244 misses when it is started after sitting for a few days. It feels like water in the gas. The problem usually goes away if I add de-icer. This has only been a problem since our gasoline started to have ethanol added. Is it possible that the ethanol is picking up water from the air in the gas tank when it is just sitting? Or could this just be a problem of not high enough octane.
Here is what my supplier's brochure says: "Ethanol is a natural de-icer and attracts water. It will clean up residue, scale and rust from tank walls and bottoms. Ethanol also acts like a mild solvent and will scour gums, varnish and rust particles from your tank surfaces. For these reasons, it is recommended that the tank be drained and flushed as clean as possible before receiving ethanol-blended gasoline. Phase separation may occur when there is too
much water in a fuel tank for the alcohol to absorb and hold in suspension. Under certain conditions, the alcohol and water fall to the bottom of the tank in a layer with the gasoline on top. The gasoline portion may now be out of Canadian General Standards Board specification for octane level as the alcohol was part of the octane component.
I think this is mostly about bulk fuel tanks but could the same thing apply to the car's tank when it sits for a while? Since all of the gas is legislated as 10% ethanol what options are available?