10% Ethanol?

[nobrakes00]

So, here in So Cal, every station I go to says that up to 10% ethanol is mixed in with the fuel. This hurts the fuel economy, right?? I'm always learning so I gather the ethanol is for reduced emissions, but the fuel economy suffers?? I'm curious...

 

[OldCracker29]

I really don't know, but I think I've heard guys mention their mpg suffers.

 

[Bigredmariner]

Yes fuel economy does suffer, if you have a custom tune it also helps to tell your tuner this. There are adjustments within the tune that can be made for % of ethanol that will help regain some of your economy.

 

[Zembonez]

We have the same mixture here in Texas. When I was in Oklahoma recently, the pumps had decals that said "CONTAINS NO ETHANOL"

Not sure what's up.

 

[NCSU_05_FX4]

Yes, you are correct... Ethanol is added to fuel to decrease emission levels. Since Ethanol has less energy per unit (gallon, pound, gram, whatever) than gasoline does, you end up with slightly lower MPGs.

If you were to run E85 (85% Ethanol, 15% gas) you'd burn even cleaner, but with a much lower fuel economy.

Found some numbers....

A gallon of gasoline (mid-grade) has 125,000 BTUs per gallon (think of a BTU kinda like a Calorie... the more BTUs, the more energy stored), while Ethanol only has 76,000 BTUs per gallon. So a gallon of Ethanol has about 40% less stored energy than a gallon of gasoline.

 

[Zembonez]

When I had my Nissan Titan, I ran a few tanks of E85. I was lucky to see 10MPG so I ditched that.

 

[Nick The Great]

Yeah, you will see a mileage drop. It should only be in the neighborhood of 3% of so. So on our trucks, probably 0.5 mpg or so.

I have burnt a lot of E85 in my Silverado and her Impala. I haven't run much for a year since the gas prices dropped. I historically need about 40 cents lower to break even for E85. Her car needed a little more price difference.

 

[Alljackedup408]

F ethanol. Ive filled up before and gotten batches with more than 10%... you can just smell it coming out of my exhaust... a local company here is selling NO ethanol gas now.. ill pay the extra 15 cents a gallon for it.

 

[Black02Silverado]

There is also the issue with long term storage. The ethanol supposedly separates from the fuel and causes all kinds of issues. Once separated it will not mix back in. I'm hearing horror stories from boat owners and wanting an additive to keep it from happening.

It does burn cleaner and from what I can tell it is a higher octane as well so you can advance your timing higher if you run it. Not to mention it will burn cooler in your vehicle and can help with deposit build up.

 

[Texas Jim]

The BlackBear tuned Caddy, has almost 80,000 miles on it...a lot of that is long road trips.

(I love road trips)

When I am on a trip and I fill up with "REAL GAS"... without Ethanol... I get about 1 to 1.5 mpg better mileage, plus it "RUNS" noticeably better.

It might get better mileage than it does with "REAL GAS" ... but when it is running better, you have a tendency to "STEP ON IT" a little more.

Here in my area of Texas...everything has Ethanol.

My truck is never used for trips... so all it gets is the Ethanol crap.