[SquidBillyPaul]

A station in my town has non-ethanol fuel.
Q. Is non-ethanol fuel better?
Q. Is it worth paying $0.22 more per gallon?

 

[Brets14GT]

I didn't think that you could still buy non-ethanol fuel. Good question. Found this reply on another forum:

"I work for a major oil co. and this is how this works: the base gasoline (blendstock) for 93 octane premium is only rated at 91 octane before being blended with the 10% ethanol, it is than 93 octane that you get at the pump. so the 10% only raises the octane 2 points. same for the regular it is only rated at 85 until the ethanol is added to make it 87."

I do know that ethanol does not last very long and people have a heck of a problem with it if they don't use a gas stabilizer before storage. I know that ethanol in pure for is something like 105 octane. Seems to me like gas companies are cheating by cutting regular gasoline with ethanol to boost the octane rating.

We did by Mustangs after all so is gas mileage a real concern. I currently get 14.7mph on 93 and worth every penny.

 

[SquidBillyPaul]

I live on the coast and the station is on the main road leading to the marina/boat ramp. A little out of the way but only a couple miles or so.
Just wondered if it would be a smart move or not.

 

[Blazin72]

You might see a slight bump in fuel mileage using non-ethanol fuel but it's probably not going to be enough to offset the added price. Run a couple tanks then calculate the cost/savings.

I don't know about adding ethanol to gas specifically to raise the octane rating some fuels. A few years back ethanol replaced MTBE in gas as an oxidizer in the fuel. You've probably heard of oxygenated fuel? That's what it's there for.

At least in Washington, E10 is pretty much the standard fuel now. Although there are a few places that carry non-ethanol gasoline I never bother to go out of my way for them.

 

[JCTurbo]

You might see a slight bump in fuel mileage using non-ethanol fuel but it's probably not going to be enough to offset the added price. Run a couple tanks then calculate the cost/savings.

I don't know about adding ethanol to gas specifically to raise the octane rating some fuels. A few years back ethanol replaced MTBE in gas as an oxidizer in the fuel. You've probably heard of oxygenated fuel? That's what it's there for.

At least in Washington, E10 is pretty much the standard fuel now. Although there are a few places that carry non-ethanol gasoline I never bother to go out of my way for them.

Yes...MTBE was added to oxygenate the fuel. Now we use ethanol because it's cheaper (with current subsidies) and cleaner than MTBE (not sure if thats true but that's what we're told). MTBE has a better heating value than ethanol which is probably why you get better performance out of it compared to ethanol. I think MTBE has a HHV of around 16,000BTU/lb vs ethanol's 13,000BTU/lb.

Ethanol has a higher octane rating...i think it's 115 vs MTBE which is around 110. So there may be some cost savings on the refining side when considering final product octane rating.

 

[Bryonl]

I believe Blazin is spot on with his reply. Pure gas is always the best option, as ethanol for the most part only dilutes the gas. Pure gas is getting harder to find. It can still be found in many farming regions for equipment that does not run well with watered down fuel. The better gas mileage, as was mentioned earlier, may not offset the added cost of the pure gas. Good luck!

 

[JCTurbo]

I believe Blazin is spot on with his reply. Pure gas is always the best option, as ethanol for the most part only dilutes the gas. Pure gas is getting harder to find. It can still be found in many farming regions for equipment that does not run well with watered down fuel. The better gas mileage, as was mentioned earlier, may not offset the added cost of the pure gas. Good luck!

There is no pure gas at any pump i've ever seen in the USA...to expensive to make.

 

[moonrakercat]

ethanol

We have a shell that sells a 91 with no ethanol - it is the only fuel I run in either of my mustangs - once you see how ethanol gums up a fuel system after it starts to degrade you would understand - and you would switch immediately. I run non-ethanol in all of my mowers/chainsaws etc - they start right up after even long term storage no problem - again with ethanol you will have major problems even with 6 months of storage.

I want my stang to last for decades - for my kids - using ethanol this won't happen - go ahead & check out a fuel system that has used ethanol for 5 years - it will have alot of varnish - nice black & sticky, non-ethanol - nearly like new. I couldn't care about fuel mileage - it is the maintenance costs that are the killer.

 

[sqidd]

As far as performance goes the 10% ethanol fuels are better.

Ever wonder why people convert to e85 (85% ethanol). It's the performance.

 

[DerekStangGT]

Ethanol is a filler, much like corn is often added to food because it's cheaper. Guess what? Ethanol is also made from corn. It's bad stuff. Try to get the purest gasoline you can find, which is often very difficult nowadays. Oil companies are saving billions of dollars by adding ethanol to stretch the gasoline. Just like food companies are adding chemicals and corn byproducts to EVERYTHING. It's why Americans are becoming unhealthier and corporations are increasing profits hand over fist. But don't be me started on all that.

 

[DerekStangGT]

As far as performance goes the 10% ethanol fuels are better.

Ever wonder why people convert to e85 (85% ethanol). It's the performance.

LOL, this is so misleading. Gasoline engines are not designed to burn ethanol. That's why when people switch to E85, they have to completely retrofit their fuel systems and other things, along with re-tune the car. You can't just stick ethanol in your tank and be like "more performance". willynilly.gif

 

[Blazin72]

LOL, this is so misleading. Gasoline engines are not designed to burn ethanol. That's why when people switch to E85, they have to completely retrofit their fuel systems and other things, along with re-tune the car. You can't just stick ethanol in your tank and be like "more performance".

Gasoline FUEL SYSTEMS are generally not designed for ethanol. But that's changing. Ethanol is corrosive and fuel system components must be able to withstand its effects. The re-tune is required because of the different stoich ratio required for ethanol. Flex-fuel vehicles are becoming more common and have more flexibility to burn E85 or gasoline. Some people are even taking advantage of tuning FFVs for both E85 and "regular" gasoline. I believe some F-150s have this ability but the Mustang currently does not.

The reason for increased ethanol in gas (E10) was explained earlier this thread, it is not there "as a filler". Say what you want about corn, but MTBE is nasty stuff and carcinogen.

 

[5.0 Candy REDCS]

We have a shell that sells a 91 with no ethanol - it is the only fuel I run in either of my mustangs - once you see how ethanol gums up a fuel system after it starts to degrade you would understand - and you would switch immediately. I run non-ethanol in all of my mowers/chainsaws etc - they start right up after even long term storage no problem - again with ethanol you will have major problems even with 6 months of storage.

I want my stang to last for decades - for my kids - using ethanol this won't happen - go ahead & check out a fuel system that has used ethanol for 5 years - it will have alot of varnish - nice black & sticky, non-ethanol - nearly like new. I couldn't care about fuel mileage - it is the maintenance costs that are the killer.

Agreed! Shell 91 here as well, since day 1... and mower, chainsaw, and god know what else runs the same product, Shell 91!!!!!

 

[pdmustgt]

I do believe all stations across U.S have 10% ethanol thanks to Gov/EPA. Cars that do run on E85 use more to get same or more power when it was on gas. It's been complaint from people I know. Only reason why people use E85 because it's cheaper

 

[Bizzaro]

I do believe all stations across U.S have 10% ethanol thanks to Gov/EPA. Cars that do run on E85 use more to get same or more power when it was on gas. It's been complaint from people I know. Only reason why people use E85 because it's cheaper

You can still get non-ethanol gas. It seems to be more common near where boaters are (I see it much more down here on the ******* riviera than I did in California).

The below link will tell you if you've got ethanol free gas near you.

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

 

[marylandGT]

It seems to be more common near where boaters are

You might be on to something. Most in MD. are near the ocean or around the Cheasapeak. I've been hearing it for years how E10 eats away at fuel lines and seals of older boat motors which get stored EVERY winter for long periods.

 

[pdmustgt]

You can still get non-ethanol gas. It seems to be more common near where boaters are (I see it much more down here on the ******* riviera than I did in California).

The below link will tell you if you've got ethanol free gas near you.

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

That list is only 1/2 right for my state 87 octane is right but not for 91 octane

 

[sammyseahawk34]

Ethanol- Bad Ju-JU

Usually, I like to talk out of my ass on some things mustang related...but this I feel like I have done some pretty good research. Here are the facts that I understand about ethanol. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong...with some EVIDENCE preferably..

-E10, is up to 10% ethanol added to gasoline. And yes it is produced from corn gents.
-Ethanol, as an energy source, is very inefficient and takes more energy to produce yields less energy than regular gasoline.
-Thus in addition to the above ^ consequences, the energy, carbon, pesticides and material needed to produce ethanol, and many other corn products in the USA, is not sustainable economically nor environmentally.
-SO, why do we have corn and E10 everywhere when it is more expensive to produce? Politics: Agribusiness since the 70's convinced the government to heavily subsidize corn and eventually ethanol production too in an effort to "lower" food and fuel prices...when in reality tax payers are paying more to subsidize the system in the first place than if we just imported pure fuel from U.A.E. So the big winner in this drawn out "price lowering" government system, is you guessed it, corporations.

We get upset about subsidizing health care but no one bats an eye to this government nonsense. oldguy.gif

Anyway, back to the point of this post, here is a good article on why ethanol is corrosive to our fuel systems...As for the corn business look up Food Inc. on netflix and other sources on the matter.

E15 and Engines - Can Ethanol Damage my Engine - Popular Mechanics

 

[5.0 Coyote]

Thanks good info!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pdmustgt]

Model T did used ethanol at one time gas was byproduct that was dumped. Gasoline was cheaper so they switched to it. Corn they use to make Ethanol but only part we don't use as a food. Other issue takes a lot of water to make Ethanol.


My other issue with Ethanol plants are certain trucking companys that are involved with theses plants. They push green this green that but use glider kits( truck chassis with no engines/trans) to skirt around current emission.