10% Ethanol at pumps?

[chrisheltra]

I filled up the truck yesterday morning at the Hess on St James and the pump had a sticker on it saying the tanks contained 10% ethanol. Is this just sporatic or wide spread throughout Goose Creek? Is it going to hurt the performance of my motor and possibly grenade it? If you have anymore info on this please post up here.

thanks

[Chillerman]

I saw the same thing too, at that location. Sunoco is still ethonol free though. I don't like it, but eventually we will have to get used to it.

[dkbmxer002]

more and more gas stations are doing that... i hate it.

[wade w]

It burns a lot faster. Your mpg will go to s#%@.

[slow94]

i had it in my truck from that hess station and couldn't tell a differnce.

[clubracergt1]

They were doing that up north forever and a day. I remember the pumps would read: "Fuel may contain up to 10% Ethanol by volume". I don't know why they did it-unless maybe to keep water out of the fuel-but it never seemed to hurt anything.

[Mustangscotty]

Wish I had a EGT gauge. Curious what it would do to the air/fuel.

Wonder if blower/ turbo applications are affected by the ethanol.

Anyone got info :?:

[chrisheltra]

This is about as much info as I could find pertaining to s/c vehicels. Its pretty good info but its very detailed and complex.
http://www.nloc.net/vbforum/gen-2-lightnings/164526-stoichiometry-blended-fuels-gas-alcohol.html

[Mustangscotty]

Read the whole thread, thanks Chris. Fascinating stuff !

There are two Ethanol plants being built near my home town in South Dakota, maybe i can bring back a barrel or two of the good stuff? :lol:

E85 is interesting..

[Audie1]

Actually Ethanol is better for an engine. E85 is equillivant to 105 octane, in burns much cooler, cleans your combustion chamber as well. Easily passes emission tests. You can run more timing with E85 as well. Down side is that bigger injectors are required to run the same times, hence using more fuel. There is supposed to be a place on Ladson Road that sells E85. I'm switching my Buick over to it when I find this place (need to go with 72 # injectors first). Will need to have an E85 chip burned for me to use E85. Eric at "Turbo Tweak" is the best around for custom chips period. Check out the site below, watch the clip on E85. Hope this helps.

http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Page?template=Myths

[chrisheltra]

This is what I dont get. Ive only went through about 1/2 tank of gas so far of the 10% and Im already down about 15-20 miles on what I would usually get at that point. So to me this seems like a ploy for the oil companies to make more money b/c you have to fill up more often and the prices of gas dont go down 10% due to the fact that it has 10% ethanol in it. :evil:

[Audie1]

This is what I dont get. Ive only went through about 1/2 tank of gas so far of the 10% and Im already down about 15-20 miles on what I would usually get at that point. So to me this seems like a ploy for the oil companies to make more money b/c you have to fill up more often and the prices of gas dont go down 10% due to the fact that it has 10% ethanol in it. :evil:


Could be? I do know that to run E85 you need to have your chip (in my case) reprogramed with different engine management info. ie timing, injector pulse width/duration etc. I just like the fact that I could run most boost with less KR and keep the internals cleaner, but then again that info is not from first hand experience. And yes them dand commies will do whatever they can to get our hard earned $$$.

[dkbmxer002]

This is what I dont get. Ive only went through about 1/2 tank of gas so far of the 10% and Im already down about 15-20 miles on what I would usually get at that point. So to me this seems like a ploy for the oil companies to make more money b/c you have to fill up more often and the prices of gas dont go down 10% due to the fact that it has 10% ethanol in it. :evil:


lol i highly doubt up to 10% would cause 40+ less miles per tank.....

[chrisheltra]

This is what I dont get. Ive only went through about 1/2 tank of gas so far of the 10% and Im already down about 15-20 miles on what I would usually get at that point. So to me this seems like a ploy for the oil companies to make more money b/c you have to fill up more often and the prices of gas dont go down 10% due to the fact that it has 10% ethanol in it. :evil:


lol i highly doubt up to 10% would cause 40+ less miles per tank.....

Heres a few quote for you on NLOC from guys with Lightnings that have been using 10% for some time now.

No problems here either. Expect about a 10% drop (1-2mpg) in fuel mileage though.

study show a 15% loss in gas mileage and I get 16 highway with non ethanol and 13.5 with ethanol

I've never gotten worse than 13mpg in town driving the mess out of it and as high as 18mpg on the highway, typically around 16mpg though. That was before the 10% ethanol mandate from the Federal government. Since the change I typically get 1-2 mpg less.

and some from SVTP

The trade off has been a sizable drop in miles per gallon.... down about 1.5 MPG in the Lightning. My wife's Scion xA has gone from 39-40 MPG down to 35 MPG. :dw:

What is the range of a flexible fuel ethanol vehicle?
Ethanol has less energy content than gasoline. However, E85 also has a much higher octane (ranging from 100 to 105) than gasoline. FFVs are not optimized to E85, so they experience a 5% to 15% drop in fuel economy. This will vary based on temperature and driving conditions. For comparison purposes, aggressive driving habits can result in a 20% loss and low tire pressure can reduce mileage by 6%.

It's a catch 22, more octane but less usable energy = not worth it really to me.

For more detailed info look here:
http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/ACEFuelEconomyStudy_001.pdf
Particularly page # 4 also note who published this info.


I have no reason to lie. They say that the 10 % fuel can decrease your milage 1-2 mpg b/c it burns with less btu and creates less potential energy than strait fuel. So with a ~20 gal gas tank thats about 20-40 miles. Plus Ive been driving like a granny b/c of this cold air and dont want to hurt anything. So Ive been staying out of the boost thus increasing my mpg from what it would usually be under MY normal driving conditions in warmer weather. You dont have to take my word for it though try some out for yourself.

[clubracergt1]

True on the mileage arguements. Even Ford rates E85 vehicles as "Gasoline Equivelent" mileage. It just takes more alcohol to make power. That's why Indy cars get 2-3 mpg making 700 hp while NASCAR Cup cars get 5-6 at the same power output. (Massively oversimplified, I know)

[LXtasy]

I have read numerous places people getting shitter gas mileages with e85. Well. on a mostly stock vehicle though. Ask dad why he doesn't run e85. lol

[Chillerman]

The ethonal argument is definitely worth discussing. We will eventually have to get used to it. I have some numbers here that are posted in an article in my BoatUS magazine. One gallon of diesel contains 139,000 Btu's, one gallon of gasoline has 124,000 Btu's, and one gallon of E10, which is what we are seeing at the pump now has less than 121,000 Btu's. Of course thats only about 3% difference. But that difference will continue to escalate as the ethonal blends get fatter. So yes you will see your fuel consumption go up as a result.

[chrisheltra]

The ethonal argument is definitely worth discussing. We will eventually have to get used to it. I have some numbers here that are posted in an article in my BoatUS magazine. One gallon of diesel contains 139,000 Btu's, one gallon of gasoline has 124,000 Btu's, and one gallon of E10, which is what we are seeing at the pump now has less than 121,000 Btu's. Of course thats only about 3% difference. But that difference will continue to escalate as the ethonal blends get fatter. So yes you will see your fuel consumption go up as a result.

What issue is that I also get that mag and would like to see that article.

[Chillerman]

January 2008 issue. Page 23.

[chrisheltra]

Thanks Ill check it out.

[Zacharyx]

You will start to see more ethanol in the pumps, a lot of states have banned MTBE and ethanol is a way of "oxygenating" the fuel and making it burn cleaner. My car get great milage on E10. It was rated at 91octane and sold for the same as 87. If the etahnol plant in NC ever gets done and E85 selss for about what gas sells for I will be converting the stang over. Figure $3.?? for 105 octane E85 or $7.?? for race gas