Whitespider:
Having taken 12 credits in Chemistry in college, I get what you're saying but I think you might be missing the point of the whole topic. OIL. Maybe I missed a post where this was addressed, so sorry in advance if that is the case. Or maybe you're just doing an Inorganic 1 lecture and the OP's point is long gone. Don't know. Don't care, actually. Just trying to preserve my saws and figure this out.
As per a 2 cycle:
The actual MIX of oil or lack thereof in the ethanol/water solution coupled with the 'as lean as it gets' condition when the ethanol/water goes through, means the saw CAN go kaboom.
I've had the suspected water in my car's tank. We all have. Shake, rattle shut down or didn't start. Don't recall. THE OIL is still doing it's job if it happens to run. I'm sure other bad things happen but a piston won't pop out.
In a 2 cycle, there will be NO oil lubricating the engine and I would imagine it is also shake, rattle and shut down but with potentially a lot more damage. The OIL is NOT doing it's job. It got separated and decided to hang with the gasoline when the Ethanol decided to run off with the water.
On another note, I did look up the Ethanol/Water boiling points because I was pretty sure one of them HAD to burn off at a different temp. Water does boil at a much higher temp than Ethanol. So Ethanol is released BEFORE the Water when things get hot. That is a chemistry lecture and it really does not matter. EITHER WAY, NO GAS, NO OIL lubricating, means LEAN and DRY means KABOOM.
The issues with Ethanol CAN cause a 2cycle to implode like the OP's saw. 3 times in a row? So while it COULD happen, I doubt it.
PS
One other point I disagree with: Reversing Saturation in the gas tank. Once again, maybe I misread or missed something.
I do get that that e10 is a solution. (Ethanol dissolves in the gasoline, thus no shaking involved). I do get that Ethanol absorbs water. I do get that that absorption, at the saturation point, causes separation of said solution into 3 separate solutions which are changing based on temps and the atmosphere. I DON'T think that process can be reversed in a tank of gas. A lab perhaps but once saturation point occurs in a tank of gas, that's that. One needs to empty it.
Mix a bag of cement with too much water and throw some more mix in. If you don't have more mix, then that cement will probably get hard only by freezing temps. When it gets warmer, it will soften again. Is this what you're (more or less) saying happens? I just don't think so but I could be wrong.
It has been a while and I'm not interested in looking it up. Yet...