my experience with non-ethanol gas

[mtondreo]

I have a stock Expy with the Superchips Cortex running the normal tune. I typically buy inexpensive gas from Sam's club and get occasional pinging. I decided to look up one of our non-ethanol stations and try it. I only ran one tank and I did not change the tune (it was $.80 more/gal). at the end of the tank I was averaging 13.2 mpg (this is normal for me) and although there was no pinging - I did not notice any real performance gains either. Just inquiring because I know some of you guys have run non-ethanol and said it made a difference. to be fair premium does not seem to make a difference either. Did I not run it long enough - or is it just me that did not notice a difference?

Just thought I would throw out my experience. I am sure there are threads on it, but since gas has come down a little, I figured I would throw it back up here.

 

[GAINMOB]

you will prob need to run more than one tank to see any numbers...that what it gets in the system real good and whatever benefitting properties from it will be evident...like royal purple from what i hear...your 1st oil change with it you wont see anything...but the 2nd and 3rd is where you get/feel the benefit...

 

[splintrcel]

Ethanol burns like garbage. The lower amount of Ethanol you can get per gallon, the better. Ethanol is like adding powder sugar to cocaine, it gets the job done but still isnt as good as it would be pure. Ethanol also leaves a residue. We should go back to just normal gasoline instead.

 

[mtondreo]

I agree - I would prefer to run just non-ethanol. I was just surprised to not be able to tell much difference. I made the mistake of running our boat on ethanol blend and it was horrible. Just not sure that I can justify a $16+ plus premium per fill up on the Expy. I may try and run 3 tanks and see if there is a difference. But I will probably try it after the holidays.
I will probably just try Sunoco or someplace else besides Sam's Club to see if I can get rid of the pinging. Incidentally - the mileage was no better on the mileage xs tune on the superchips.

 

[toms89]

I cannot find any non-ethanol fuel around me. Everything is E10 which is 10% ethanol. I doubt you will feel much if any difference unless you specifically tune for the different fuels. When I run race fuel I feel zero difference unless I adjust the tune for it accordingly.

Stoich of ethanol is 9 to 1 vs gasoline 14.7 to 1. So the 10% blend ends up being around 14.3 to 1. This can account for a slight loss in fuel economy with E10. Whats nice is the ecu when in closed loop runs stoich regardless of fuel. O2 sensors dont actually measure air fuel ratio. They measure stoich.....which with straight gasoline happens to be 14.7 to 1. But the difference comes in the tune when running open loop. (WOT for instance)

Many race vehicles and some street/strip run E85 because it runs cooler and has a much higher effective octane. When properly tuned for it, it can make much more power but at the cost of fuel economy.

(Stoich is basically the ideal air/fuel ratio where all available O2 and fuel is consumed.) Rich or lean means there is unburned fuel or O2 present after the combustion process.

 

[Stoned06]

Every station in my area has 10% Ethanol. I ran it in our Expy and boat for the last 5 years without issue. Would I prefer non-Ethanol fuel? YES. Do I see any loss of power or poor running engines from it? NO. I regularly get 18-19 MPG highway, and 13-14 around town, and the engine runs strong.

 

[mtondreo]

Understood Stoned06 on the boat. It is mainly 2-stroke older outboards that notice the difference in the ethanol blend. You're I/O should not see the same issues (much like I did not see a difference in my Expy). Now that we have changed our boat motor to a 4-stroke outboard (thanks to blowing the 2-stroke), I will have to see if there is a difference in fuels after the break-in period. I will give the Expy a shot on a few tanks of non-ethanol - - after I finish recovering from the new boat motor I got the family for Christmas.

 

[sgtowing]

I have one station in my area that has it. I tried it and it seem to run better (that may have been in my head) but I can't justify the extra cost. About $.70 per gallon more.

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