Fuel question (10% ethanol)

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

I'm hearing bad things about fuels containing 10% ethanol. I always used BP Ultimate 93. Now every BP station contains 10% ethanol. Did all gas companies switch to 10% ethanol? If not, which ones still use the older type? Or is the newer 10% ethanol better? Thanks.

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

I don't know...I've heard that a conventional car without the E85 upgrades could probably handle up to 15% Ethanol blend. It does make me leary though. Isn't that stuff a little corrosive on the fuel lines??

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

Isn't that stuff a little corrosive on the fuel lines??

That's one of the bad things I heard about 10% ethanol, along with poorer gas mileage. What really worries me is I use HPP+ with power tune for premium fuel, not sure how that will affect things.

[Mark B]

I would love for someone that knows this answer to chime in. I too want to know. My baby will be back on the road soon & I dont want to give her anything that will make her sick.

[EquatorHeat00]

http://www.drivingethanol.org/aspx/i...g/default.aspx
Read this. I guess you want it in your car.

[Injuneer]

Be careful on references regarding ethanol. Much of the available data is provided by ethanol producers, who obviously have a vested interest in maximizing its use.

The fact that it is used as a fuel at Indy is not relevant to its use as a fuel by the average motorist. NHRA Top Fuel cars use nitromethane.... but you wouldn't want to use that in your daily driver.

There are good arguments for and against the use of ethanol. Unforunately, most of the presentations are completely one-sided..... either 100% in favor or 100% against. Its definitely a subject that you need to research very carefully. The cited reference is obviously in the interest of the manufacturer, and is supported by little factual information.

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

Here's the email response back from Hypertech:

"We have not tested nor tuned for the ethanol blend fuels. The engine will more than likely ping/detonate if used with our tuning"

I guess I've enjoyed the power tuning while it lasted.....time to return to stock tuning (just the power tune, I'll still use the earlier fan settings as well as higher rev limit and firmer shifts).


Or, is there a website that tells me who's using Ethanol and who's still using the old?

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

There's a LOT of disinformation out there. Just today I was reading an article at cnn.com, or was it msnbc. Anyway, they stated that E85 made more power because it was rated at 100 octane. Most folks equate higher octane with more power.

[riceeaterfordbeater]

lately my daily driver has felt a bit more lively and i havent changed a thing since i got it (06 monte carlo ss), it does feel like it is running a bit rougher though, and mileage has dropped a bit also from 20.2 mpg to 16.9 mpg. not that us f-body owners are very concerned with such matters but i saw the question somewhere so i figured i would confirm it thanks to the on board comp in the monte

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

Just so everyone's on the same page, I am referring to E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline still rated at 93 octane for premium). I'm actually going to follow up with a phone call to Hypertech to make sure they didn't think I was asking about E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline).

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

Called hypertech back, still says no. I then told them the 10 percent ethanol is 93 octane, he tells me the rating is overrated and my car may ping if I use their tuning with e10 at 93 octane. I'm in NJ, are there any stations still using the old stuff? Or can someone confirm they've used e10 and hpp+ power tune successfully? Sorry to be paranoid but I don't want to ruin my car (or am I worring about nothing). Thanks

[TraceZ]

Called hypertech back, still says no. I then told them the 10 percent ethanol is 93 octane, he tells me the rating is overrated and my car may ping if I use their tuning with e10 at 93 octane. I'm in NJ, are there any stations still using the old stuff? Or can someone confirm they've used e10 and hpp+ power tune successfully? Sorry to be paranoid but I don't want to ruin my car (or am I worring about nothing). Thanks

You may get some knock if the octane rating is too low, but it will not ruin your car. The knock sensor will simply pull some timing out.

You could hook up a scanner and go for a ride. That way you could see if there is any knock getting detected. It would be best to do it twice, once with strait gas and once with E10, then look for a difference.

[Injuneer]

Info from one of the ethanol websites....

Ethanol, the high performance fuel:

Pure 100% ethanol has an octane rating of 113, so adding 10% ethanol to gasoline raises the overal octane by 2 to 3 points.

Ethanol has a lower BTU value than gasoline, meaning that ethanol burns cooler and is gentler on the vehicle's engine - less wear and tear leads to longer engine life.

That info is misleading, in that is does not say whether the 113-octane rating is "motor", "research" or "(R+M)/2"....... but generally, ethanol has a high blending octane number, so it should not cause knock. Now... when they blend the gasoline, since they know they are using 10% of the higher octane ethanol in the blend, they will use lower octane "gasoline" components for the other 90% to keep the actual (R+M)/2 octane rating exactly the same as it was for that grade of gasoline before it contained ethanol.

The second part is misleading as well.... "ethanol has a lower BTU value".... means that you don't get as much energy out of the ethanol when you burn it, so you either have to burn more to get the same energy (poorer gas mileage) or you have to give up some power.

Ethanol will also have a different stoichiometry than "gasoline", so you have the issue of whether you still want the PCM controlling to a 14.7:1 stoichiometry in closed loop.

Its not simple.............

[Mark B]

How about everyone gets rid of there SUV's and we all start using normal gas again!! Sound like a good idea?

Im just going to avoid Ethanol. Im sure that my 15-year old Camaro was never designed to take it.

[Jeffs Black 97 Formula A4]

If more and more gas stations are getting signs 'up to 10 percent ethanol' every day, how can we avoid it? Are there certain gas companies that will not convert to E10?