Any difference in the way it runs? Maverik here has it and I want to try it.
Ever use ethanol free gas in your car?
- Thread starter Juanmosey
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Dead Dinosaur pressings are the best for everything engine wise.
It really isn't any improvement for modern cars that have been designed to run on ethanol-blended fuel. It's generally made available as a fuel for recreational vehicles such as boats, snow-mobiles dirt bikes; also for small motors such as string-trimmers and leaf blowers, and any two-stroke engine generally.
Ethanol will draw moisture into the fuel and that plays havoc with fuel lines and those tiny, delicate carburetters, or motors that aren't used regularly.
Vintage cars from the 1970's and earlier would benefit from it as they were never built to run on ethanol.
Ethanol-free fuel usually starts at a minimum 89 or 90 octane, so a comparable would be mid-grade petrol.
Ethanol will draw moisture into the fuel and that plays havoc with fuel lines and those tiny, delicate carburetters, or motors that aren't used regularly.
Vintage cars from the 1970's and earlier would benefit from it as they were never built to run on ethanol.
Ethanol-free fuel usually starts at a minimum 89 or 90 octane, so a comparable would be mid-grade petrol.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
In most Asia countries, ethanol in fuel is the exception rather than the rule. In Korea, Japan and Singapore it is common but not so elsewhere.
I believe the gas they sell at marinas doesn’t include ethanol. I think ethonal is harder on small engines.
I use ethanol 87% octane in my 2008 Honda Accord V6 and my 2013 Accord V6 couple. I don't notice a performance advantage, but the MPG is a bit less than ethanol-free unleaded. With the price being 40 cents per gallon less for ethanol, then I go with it in my Accords. If the price of the two was close together, I would use unleaded. My 2019 CR-V gets strictly unleaded because it sits idle more, maybe 3000 miles per year, and my dealer recommends unleaded in that vehicle. On my small-engine stuff, strictly unleaded. Ethanol can do some nasty things to fuel system parts on carbureted engines because of molecular phase separation and moisture absorption. My twenty-plus years in the power equipment field taught me all I need to know about ethanol and small engines. Bottom line, most modern vehicles are OK with ethanol or unleaded, small engines--stay away from ethanol.
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I used ethanol free gas in my motorcycle because it was better for it. Any engine not specifically made for it is better off without it. You will also get better mileage without it, somewhere around 20 percent better, at least at the time I was taking a class on energy utilization, around 2012. Most modern cars are made to use the blended gas, so other than mpg, you shouldn't notice any difference.
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Modern cars have computers to control the fuel to air mixture, so they adjust easily to the level of alcohol in the fuel based on readings from the oxygen sensor. I one had a Tahoe with a Flex Fuel engine that could handle anything from straight gasoline through E85 fuel with 85% ethanol content.
The big difference in ethanol content is the fuel economy. Ethanol has a higher ratio of hydrogen to carbon than gasoline. Thus, burning ethanol produces a higher amount of water vapor, which detracts from the efficiency of the engine. It takes 1.5 gallons of ethanol to deliver the same amount of energy as 1.0 gallons of gasoline. Whether ethanol is a more cost effective fuel depends on the relative prices of ethanol and gasoline. Currently, ethanol is selling for $1.30 a gallon vs $1.20 for gasoline, so at this moment, ethanol is not cost effective.
Here in Illinois, nearly all gasoline contains ethanol. It is hard to say whether that is for environmental reasons or because Illinois is a corn growing state. Our neighbor to the north, Wisconsin, has quite a few stations that sell gasoline without ethanol. Some folks who live close to the border purchase their gasoline in Wisconsin.
Small engines function without the assistance of computer control. Thus, they fare better without the added ethanol.
The big difference in ethanol content is the fuel economy. Ethanol has a higher ratio of hydrogen to carbon than gasoline. Thus, burning ethanol produces a higher amount of water vapor, which detracts from the efficiency of the engine. It takes 1.5 gallons of ethanol to deliver the same amount of energy as 1.0 gallons of gasoline. Whether ethanol is a more cost effective fuel depends on the relative prices of ethanol and gasoline. Currently, ethanol is selling for $1.30 a gallon vs $1.20 for gasoline, so at this moment, ethanol is not cost effective.
Here in Illinois, nearly all gasoline contains ethanol. It is hard to say whether that is for environmental reasons or because Illinois is a corn growing state. Our neighbor to the north, Wisconsin, has quite a few stations that sell gasoline without ethanol. Some folks who live close to the border purchase their gasoline in Wisconsin.
Small engines function without the assistance of computer control. Thus, they fare better without the added ethanol.
Ethanol free gasoline was all the rage in the 1970's when I first learned to drive.
You are right, in the 1970s, all gas was ethanol free.
In the 70s, many cars had high compression engines, especially the muscle cars of the era: Ford Mustang, Olds 442, Chevy Chevelle SS, Pontiac Trans Am, Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda, etc. The engines had naturally aspirated carbureturs, ignition points, and rotary distributors. The engines were designed to run on gasoline to which tetraethyl lead was added to prevent knocking. In the States, leaded gasoline was phased out and then banned completely for use in on-road motor vehicles. Tetraethyl lead is hazardous to health and also ruins the platinum catalyst in catalytic converters.
in 1996. Ethanol was first added to gasoline in 1988 when Denver, CO mandated its use to help prevent air pollution.
BTW- leaded gasoline is still required for use in piston driven engines used on older aircraft and some racing cars, off-road vehicles, marine engines, farm equipment, etc. It is only banned for vehicles driven on highways and roads. Although classic cars were designed for use with leaded gasoline, many still around have been modified to run with unleaded gas.
The problem is not the engine itself, you can easily adopt even older cars to it with the ignition but the fuel system. The rubberhoses and some rubber membranes in carburators maybe crack from ethanol. In modern cars there are no problems with ethanol you can run them on Russian vodka if you like to do so.
I used to use it in my 1982 Bronco because it was designed for real gas. I don’t have the Bronco anymore, but I still use it in my lawnmower and my 1996 Goldwing.
True, all my cars including the 1980s Mercedes ran fine on the E10 stuff. Fuel economy improves with E0, though usually not enough to make up for the cost difference (right now, 1.66/gal. for 87 at Exxon, 2.07/gal. for 87 E0 at a local independent station I've found).
Some of the big truck stop stations like State Oil and Fuel have 90 octane E0. I couldn't use it in my '15 BMW 328i because that required at least 91. No, the car wouldn't have fallen apart, but one of the reasons you buy a BMW is performance, and you want all of it you paid for. So I used 93 E10. The 328i still got 25-27 mpg on 70% city driving; imagine what it could have done with 91+ E0, if I could have fed it that.
The big 6-cylinder Buick gets about 10% better economy on the E0. It doesn't pay for itself; see the price differential in my first paragraph. But I fondly believe it's better for the car's digestion, and I'm patronizing an actual neighborhood service station too.
Some of the big truck stop stations like State Oil and Fuel have 90 octane E0. I couldn't use it in my '15 BMW 328i because that required at least 91. No, the car wouldn't have fallen apart, but one of the reasons you buy a BMW is performance, and you want all of it you paid for. So I used 93 E10. The 328i still got 25-27 mpg on 70% city driving; imagine what it could have done with 91+ E0, if I could have fed it that.
The big 6-cylinder Buick gets about 10% better economy on the E0. It doesn't pay for itself; see the price differential in my first paragraph. But I fondly believe it's better for the car's digestion, and I'm patronizing an actual neighborhood service station too.
Leaded fuel and cars with catalytic converters don't mix. As few as two tanks of leaded gasoline can render a catalytic converter useless and they are costly to replace.
I have a few seasonal vehicles. I store them with ethanol. When I am using them regularly, I use 10% blend. I cannot tell any difference in how they perform on each fuel. Some of these vehicles have carbs. I have never had a carb or fuel line issue from using ethanol blend.
All the engines made in recent years use components that will work with ethanol blends.
It is my understanding that ethanol blends tend to degrade more quickly than straight gas. Also the ethanol tends to absorb moisture quicker than gasoline. Thus, it is best to add a fuel stabilizer like Star Tron, Sta-bil or Sea Foam to your gasoline if you suspect it will not be used quickly. It is recommended that the additive be used when you first purchase gasoline that might be stored for a while. However, adding it to old gas will help prevent further degradation.
For lawnmowers and snow blowers, I try to run out all gas at the end of the season. I have a gasoline generator that stays full in case of a power failure. I try to run it once a month and always use fuel stabilizer to prevent degradation.
100% gasoline in all small engines, mowers, weed eaters etc. A partial tank of high octane 100% gas couple times a year in cars and trucks. Does it make a difference??? Can't tell any mileage difference, V8 runs a little smoother. Mower, weed eater and blower run much better on 100% gas.
True. However, I was referring to vehicles that I own that are 30-40 years old. I have never had a ethanol related issue with them when it comes to fuel lines or carbs.
My car’s turbo engine runs more efficiently on pure gas and gets better mileage. Will work on gas+ethanol just foine though.
Ethanol is harmful to engines in the manner it is used today.
It attracts water, which if you know even a little about engines, is not a good thing.
It reduces the efficiency of the combustion process, which in turn reduces power, torque, and MPG.
Back during the previous administration, there was a push to raise the ethanol content of pump gas to 15%.
Every major car manufacturer said that a move like that would kill the auto industry, and render pretty much every car made to date useless.
E85, which is only found in places that produce corn, is even worse in every aspect.
Ethanol is a bad joke foisted upon the country under the guise of being 'environmentally friendly', when it isn't.
It has negatively affected the price of fuel, and the price of certain food items, such as corn and corn based food stuffs (obviously), chicken, pork, and beef. It has also affected the price of other grains.
Could they switch to a different bio-base for ethanol? Yes. In South America, they use sugarcane to mass produce ethanol. But sugarcane isn't something that can be grown in as many climates as corn, so it will never be a major source of ethanol for the US.
It attracts water, which if you know even a little about engines, is not a good thing.
It reduces the efficiency of the combustion process, which in turn reduces power, torque, and MPG.
Back during the previous administration, there was a push to raise the ethanol content of pump gas to 15%.
Every major car manufacturer said that a move like that would kill the auto industry, and render pretty much every car made to date useless.
E85, which is only found in places that produce corn, is even worse in every aspect.
Ethanol is a bad joke foisted upon the country under the guise of being 'environmentally friendly', when it isn't.
It has negatively affected the price of fuel, and the price of certain food items, such as corn and corn based food stuffs (obviously), chicken, pork, and beef. It has also affected the price of other grains.
Could they switch to a different bio-base for ethanol? Yes. In South America, they use sugarcane to mass produce ethanol. But sugarcane isn't something that can be grown in as many climates as corn, so it will never be a major source of ethanol for the US.
