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Time to think about E-15 Ethanol Gas again

4K views 29 replies 18 participants last post by  dobrostang 
#1 ·
I know this topic has been brought up before, and the only reason I'm bringing it up again is because I read a recent article on Hagerty.com about the E-15 fuel being sold year round now. And after reading some of the comments from other readers it made me go ahead and buy the 110 Octane Sunoco Racing Fuel that is sold near my home. Pretty expensive at $2.99 per liter. Not gallon. A $100 bill did not even get me 3/4 of a tank. The concern from many drivers is the corrosive qualities of the ethanol and how some older rubber fuel lines, not to mention steel tanks and carbs, just can't stand the alcohol. Honestly I've been driving my car on E-10 for a number of years and haven't had any trouble, at least not that I know of, but the E-15 scares me. You can still get E-10, you just have to look at the stickers on the pumps to make sure that's what you are getting. If you want to buy the "leaded fuel" that is available and OK with the price, go to www.pure-gas.com to see if it's sold near you. If you ask me it's insurance against paying for bigger repairs down the road.
 
#2 ·
I should point out that while I only drove about 5 miles after buying the 110 octane Racing Fuel, I really did not notice any performance improvement from the 91 octane E-10 that I have been using. But at $11.35 per gallon, you'd think you'd get something.
 
#3 ·
I only use Shell Premium here in Canada. No ethanol as per pump data. With 15% ethanol one must question carb tuning as you may run richer I believe. I have replaced my rubber with ethanol rated rubber as a precaution. My old 66 F350 runs on whatever but if left for a while the carbs will evaporate using ethanol fuel.
 
#4 ·
I buy ethanol-free gas locally for mine at a cool old-school Säco station now called Woodham's. I do notice easier starting, but the difference in power I think is not really noticeable because it honestly makes more than enough for my cruising and occasional Prius-passing. I DO notice a BIG difference in MPG with the newer family SUV when we use pure gas vs. E-10, and a really big difference vs the few times we have experimented with E-85. Woodham's is a cool place, good people and they always have other classics for sale on consignment. I took a photo of my 66 there with another cool ride and filtered the photo for a vintage newspaper look.
 

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#15 ·
Thanks. Ethanol-free is around $3.29 / gallon Full Service, meaning they will pump (I still do my own), wipe the windshield, check the wipers and tire pressure, will check oil if you want. Sometimes I let em wipe the windshield. I mainly go for the nostalgia, support a local business, and I go back there to honor the memory of the former owner. Dick Salmon was robbed and murdered there in 2005 and it remains unsolved. The station lay dormant for years until his widow agreed to have a local family run it virtually unchanged. Auburn is a very special place.

https://www.auburnvillager.com/news...cle_d56ad31e-a7cc-11e4-912e-db64d9ede948.html
 
#6 ·
Here in SE Idaho it seems that every gas station offers either 91 or 88 non ethanol fuel. My local pump offers the 91 thanks to all the hot rod guys boycotting the ethanol fuel. Unless your engine dynamic compression is designed for higher octane fuel you won't see a performance gain by using race gas, possibly a slight decrease in power from the studies I have read over the years.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
The octane rating only indicates the resistance of the fuel to ignite. (Putting it rather simply) so no you wouldn't notice any hp increase. E15 shouldn't scare you if you're already running e10. It's 5% more ethanol on a good day. Thankfully one of the local stations is next to the snowmobile trails an offers e free fuel.
 
#8 ·
I can get ethanol free 89 octane from the pump a block from my house. It’s about $2.89 a gallon right now. Same price as 93 octane and diesel.

Ethanol itself isn’t corrosive although it does dry out rubber parts causing them to crack and deteriorate. Water mixes easily with ethanol and remains suspended with the fuel rather than separating out. It’s the water that’s corrosive to your steel fuel tanks.
This is a big problem for marine engines because they are around water all the time.
 
#9 ·
Why I buy "boat gas" for my vehicles that get stored. My brother in law put his boat up for five years with a half a tank of it. When we revived it the fuel was as clear and smelled fresh as new. Ran great too. I was seriously impressed. E-fuels start going rotten in a couple of months.

High octane fuel in an engine that doesn't need it is a waste of money. And yes, it can even be slightly detrimental to performance.
 
#10 ·
In Canuckistan here the routine is gas stations have to average a certain amount of ethanol in their fuels, its either 10 or 15 %, I can't remember which. How they do that is up to them. That works to our advantage though. For example, Esso stations here have their ethanol mixed only with the regular and mid grade fuels, enough to meet the required standard. But their Premium gas is ethanol free.
Here is a list from pure-gas.org (user administered though) of other currently ethanol free fuels in Canada.
Esso Premium is not on the list, but I double-checked Esso's site, it should be on it.

All Canada: Shell V-Power 91, Canadian Tire 91
Atlantic Canada: Irving Fuels premium
Western Canada: CO-OP premium
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI: all premium? Please confirm with evidence!
Ontario: Costco 91; Ultramar 91
British Columbia: Chevron 94

Hope that helps a bit for those of us up north of the 49th.
 
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#11 ·
Years ago I inadvertently put E85 in my 86' Mustang GT. Started fine and the interstate was not to far away. As I was accelerating down the on-ramp the car fell flat on its face. Floored on the flats I could get the ole girl up to 55 but as I started climbing the hills to the house I could only manage 40 mph. I got home and hooked up the code reader and it was complaining of running to lean. No poop, Sherlock! I am amazed it ran at all. There was no way the stock injectors/programming could dump enough fuel in the cylinders to make it run right. Most of the tank was used to drive 68 miles.

So I drained what remained and figured the old 1942 Ford 2N would run on it (it would not). Once filled up with good ole unleaded the car ran great again.

Ethanal sucks.

I run my chainsaw, snowblower and tractor on Aviation 100LL fuel. The stuff can sit for years and not degrade. The mustang gets 100LL as the last fillup of the year.
 
#12 ·
Ethanol blended fuel has less energy than pure gas, and it will not have the mileage or the power that 100% gasoline has.
For my small engines I use mid grade, about 91 octane blended fuel but add Stabul. It seems to nullify the ethanol effects and I don't get that white crusty deposit in the fuel bowl.
 
#13 ·
Has anyone considered building a e85 engine?
You can run up to 16:1 compression naturally aspirated.
12:1 with boost.
But fuel air ratio would be around 9-10:1 as opposed to 13-14:1 for gasoline.
Also the evaporative effect of alcohol does more to cool the intake air.
If built right the engine could be really strong. But maybe not so practical for street use.

The thought has crossed my mine. I just don’t have the time or money to take on such a project.
 
#14 ·
If a car is stored eight weeks or longer, is it really too much trouble to drain the fuel system before storage ? That's all it takes to live with the E-10 and E-15 fuels. Stabil and other additives certainly help, but I'm cheap, and draining a gas tank costs me 15 minutes and zero dollars, aside from being 100% effective.

I've seen hundreds of vintage motorcycles and cars come thru shops where I've worked, none of them had any issues with any modern fuel blend, IF the gas had been consumed in a timely fashion . The vehicles that showed fuel system issues, regardless of what fuel was used , had all had been stored long term with gas in the carb and fuel not drained. Any fuel will cause issues if kept around too long. With the E fuels, "too long" just happens a bit sooner.


Z
 
#17 ·
The best way to store ethanol fuels is by keeping the tank full. This reduces the headspace in the tank and limits how much can evaporate away. It also keeps water from condensing on the walls of the tank which would eventually become mixed with the fuel.

Of course this can’t be done with a carburetor. There is always headspace inside the carb.
Best to remove and drain the carb when storing your car for winter.
(Same goes for your lawnmower)
Or, if you have an electric fuel pump, let the engine run with the fuel pump shut off. Let it run till the carb is out of fuel.
 
#20 ·
Ethanol and E-15 is basically corn syrup that you are putting that in your gas tank. Think about that every time that you fill up.

:eek:)

Tony K.
 
#22 ·
Flame suit on.


My dad worked for Ford in the engine testing lab in the mid fifties. I figured he knew a thing or two about engines. He told me that you could advance the timing a bit (without pinging) when you put "high test" in and get a bit more power. I did it all the time. Granted, if you just put high test in and made no other adjustments, you were wasting your $.


Flame suit off.
 
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#23 ·
Makes perfect sense. The higher octane rating is a measurement of how much more the fuel can resist pre-ignition. Pinging IS preignition (and the precursor to detonation) so I'd say your dad knew exactly what he was talking about.
 
#24 ·
Personally, I'd love to build an E85 motor, complete with high compression and lots of advance.

The comment about it being hard to find E85 in rural America... what kind of dope are you smoking? Every Holiday store in Minnesota serves E85, and you can't swing a dead cat without finding one. Same thing as Farmer's Co-op.

Minnesota E85 Gas Station Locations

Ethanol is great cheap race fuel. And not even slightly as bad on engines as old wive's tales indicate.

I know multiple businesses and organizations burning E10 and E85 on fleet vehicles without issue.
 
#26 ·
I run marine gas in nearly everything I have. Lawnmower, chainsaws and all my boats. Never really have a problem finding it, and it's usually only about 10 cents higher at the pump (unless you fill up at the marina). Maybe it's easier to find in Florida

Not a lot of experience with cars, as I am just starting my first rebuild but plan on doing the same. I have had to rebuild and work on way too many outboards that have sat with ethanol gas in the tank. The extra bucks for marine gas is well worth it in the long run IMO. I know the marine industry has been a staunch opponent of increasing ethanol in gas and has shelled out a lot of money to continually lobby senators and state reps but I fear it may be an uphill battle that is getting harder and harder to climb.
 
#30 ·
I don't pay much attention to gas, just put in 91 even though my 9.3: 1 probably doesn't need it. My holley 650 vents to the air so within a week or two my bowls are empty so storage is NP. So far my gas tank has no holes in it. I usually go through my carb every 7-10 years or so whether it needs it or not but frankly there really isn't much rubber in a Holley 4150 except the float valves which I bet are almost 20 years old and always look fine - I do replace the acc pumps every 7 -10 years whether they need it or not ;o)

I know I know Tom and Brad,let me save you the quote: "well now we know why you have carb fires" - ha ha...
 
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