New gas, old gas, good gas, bad gas????

Just wondering something, I keep seeing you guys say that our stock fuel pumps don't hold up to the "new" gas. What is it about this "new" gas that is bad for our trucks? Is there something we can treat the gas with to keep it from "eating" the fuel pump diaphram? I was using a lead sub. but was told in a previous post that it was unnecessary because the 230 already has hardened valve seats. Could it be that the lead sub. is what has made my fuel pump last? I want to prolong the life of all the components on this truck as long a possible(its cheaper that way :) ).

Thanks for the input.
Karl

I guess we are presuming that the "reformulated" gas in some areas (which contains some ethanol/oxegenators) causes the fits. Mine has been fed a steady diet of local gasoline (with lead substitute, too - I just learned about the hardened seats, myself) with no problems. It must be a regional thing. My original one is going strong, some have brand new ones fail quite quickly. It does appear to be a situation where either you have it or you don't. I'm thinking real hard about the Mopar pump, and thus giving room for HEI ignition....

I saw something on tv a while ago about the fuel distribution network in the US. At the time of the show there were more than 60 different fuel mixtures in use across the country. This is mostly a result of the EPA stuff. Everybody also has the winter and summer mixtures. They vary greatly from region to region also. I think aviation fuel is the only internal combustion fuel that is standard nation wide. Of course, 110 load lead is a bit expensive also.

Alcohol (ethanol) is the problem. The rubber used in the diaphram gets hard and cracks when exposed to alcohol. Percentage of ethanol is going to continue to increase in the future. The diaphram should be replaced with one of a modern rubber formulation which is compatible with both gasoline and ethanol. I bought a couple "modern" fuel pumps that are made for the M715 engine, but they don't have the vacuum pump. As soon as my original fuel pump fails, I plan to take the old and new pumps apart and see if I can swap the diaphrams.

if any of you are wondering about the iowa area it says on our pumps locally weather or not it is an ethanol mix and how much i know this due to working promaily on small engines as the ethanol burns hotter then gasolene and burns holes in the tops on the dirtbike/atv's pistons and cylinder walls. any way just thought that i would give my two cents.

richen it up some and that should take care of it as it takes more ethanol to equal that of gas. I burned alcohol in my race car and burned about twice as much as i would of in race fuel. had to fatten er up to keep from runnin it to lean and burnin er up. kinda like natural gas and propane. ethanol isnt good on the newer cars with fuel injection.

I cant wait till someone invents an alternative fuel that puts the gas companies out of business, with all the price gouging they do. they need to be stopped.

I don't understand how ethanol is going to help emissions when it takes twice as much alcohol as gasoline to run an engine. Ever been around a car on alcohol? the fumes will burn your eyes.

just go to an arena cross race where the vents arent on.... the fumes get so bad down at the starting line that your eyes burn for three days and your voice gets so haorse that you cant talk. iworked at a place by home where tis was the case and needless to say i don't work there anymore and my health is looking alot better now... any way that is my take on race fuel.