Ethanol vs Non-Ethanol Gas

[Aidan Kesler]

Guess I'm a sucker for dumb questions and thoughts LOL but seriously this is another debate that sparks up all the angry mechanics from two different planets.

I hear "ethanol will gum up your injectors and cause more carbon buildup and give bad gas mileage" and on the other hand I hear "100% gas will cause your engine to run rough and wont clean your fuel lines and it just won't run right" (yes I've heard this before) lol

So for this one, what would be best to run in our tanks? 100% gasoline or "up to 10% ethanol" gasoline. (octane differs from engine to engine but lets base it off of stock-mildly built engines).

 

[Dover]

My truck seems to do just fine with normal ethanol blend, no place to get non ethanol in my area so haven’t tested it. My daily driver Kia on the other hand, 1400 mile road trip this past spring I made an oops getting fuel in Oklahoma and got “straight gas”. Worst mileage I have ever gotten in that car and significantly noticeable power drop. Went from 35-40 mpg highway to 15 on that tank. [emoji50] new cars like blended fuel lol


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[delta_p]

I've been running non ethenol for a few yrs now because it is readily available. No issues with either for me. Always low octane. I personally believe these engines will eat anything and nothing a little fuel cleanser won't handle every few years. Replace and fix for any other problem. These trucks are cheap and easy.

 

[df2x4]

I actually filled both of my trucks with ethanol free for a few months (from a non top tier station, the only one available in my area) as an experiment. My gas mileage went down significantly. IMO using top tier gas is much more important than avoiding ethanol.

 

[RichLo]

Run blended in a daily driver non-ethanol if its a backup truck that sits for extended periods of time.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

My old 90 R2500 Burb with a 5.7 TBI would run happily on any brand of gas, even Walmart. Quit driving it in 2012, not sure if the 10 or 15% ethanol in gas was a thing yet at that time. My other 99 Burb was also a 5.7 vortec, and it was a little bit pickier. Fuel pump went bad on both trucks, but at an earlier mileage on the vortec. TBI motor had at least 300 thousand on it. Vortec went at 225 thou. Got almost 190 thousand on the current Burb 5.7 vortec, original pump, hope to get as much as possible out of it. Most of the stations in greater Houston have 10% or 15% ethanol in the gas. Several also sell E85, but the people I know with dual fuel capable vehicles haven't had good luck with it. Haven't experimented with any rental cars......

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Either way, if you don't have "Flex Fuel" you need to tune for it whether it's straight, 10%, or E85 - just saying.

 

[88monteSS]

Pretty much all gas that's available here is 10-15% ethanol, neither my '88 tbi 350 or my '97 454 seem to be bothered at all by it.

Several also sell E85, but the people I know with dual fuel capable vehicles haven't had good luck with it.

IMO e85 is only worth it on higher compression motors that need 91+ octane. The price difference between e85 & 87 octane isn't worth the mileage loss.

But I'll say that on the right motor it makes a difference. Running e85 my dd will break the tires loose on a WOT 2-1 downshift around 25 mph & there's a noticeable difference overall.

 

[Schurkey]

Alcohol--ethanol or methanol--has fewer BTUs per gallon than gasoline. Less heat...less power...mild hit in fuel economy. If you don't increase the compression ratio, or richen the mixture to compensate, you lose power.

There is no such thing as "100% gasoline". The Federal Government demands that gasoline has additives in it, such as detergents and vapor-pressure modifiers.

Alcohol in fuel--E10 specifically--makes a very adequate motor fuel. I've used it for nearly forty years. It's terrible environmental, and food POLICY, and it's another example of Big Government screwing with the free market, picking "winners" and "losers"; and the "losers" are We the People who've had their freedom of choice stolen by corrupt politicians.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Being in Oklahoma, it's pretty easy to find either E0 or E10. Typically I get a few more miles from E0. I did the math a while back, and E0 is only worth a 10% premium over E10. I think the real issue is when your vehicle was made. If you have an OBD-II vehicle, it's made to handle either fuel. The rubber hoses and seals in pre-OBD-II vehicles might not be able to handle E10 long-term. Supposedly E10 gums up faster than E0, but the E0 at my local station is pretty good at gumming up my mowers.