Real Gasoline, not Ethanol

Non-ethanol gasoline is the only thing a lot of people will use in their small engines. On the West Coast, in the rural areas, ethanol-free is typically available. When I lived in Oregon, we used it in our chainsaws, etc.

We also kept some 10-20 gallons handy in the winter in the event of power outages, blocked roads, etc. so we could power chainsaws and generators, especially if we could not get to town for a week or better.

Where I am leading with this is:

After a month, we would pour the stored 10-20 gallons of non-ethanol into our our Camry. Maybe it was our imagination, but seemed that when that thing had a tank of NON-ethanol, there was a remarkable increase in power (car would take hills at 50 mph, rather than the usual 35 mph).

Just thought I would throw that into the mix....

 

a tank of ethanol?

 

Poster said non-ethanol.

I'm noticing a difference in mileage and power in my non-hybrid with non-ethanol. More power, increased mpg by 2.5-3.0 per gallon. Pretty nifty.

 

Yeah, saw that too, but I think "non ethanol" was implied. A typo. Incidentally, caught short while cruising to work early one morning about a month ago, I was forced to pull into a BP refuelling station to fill up. BP petrol fuels over here have an amount of ethanol in them. That manifested itself later, when "The Spaceship" barely went over 100 miles before loosing a pip on the fuel gauge. In the final analysis, I got 53mpg (UK) for my troubles (yes, winter, I know), and shockingly, 487 miles out of the tank, before the fuel exhaustion warning came up on the MFD.

So, this time around, I pulsed and glided a long distance (12 miles) to my usual Esso Petrol Station and filled up there instead, managing to get 44.5 litres onboard!
Guess what? Yeah, it's still chilly early mornings in London (low as 3c where I live), but this time, "The Spaceship" went 153 miles before the first fuel gauge pip winked out. My MPG is presently standing at 57.4mpg (UK) at almost 200 miles in. Going uphill, I'm also seeing better MPG.

It's worth noting that my best MPG figures during the summer, have always come from using ESSO Fuels.....apparently, they're not great on mixing ethanol into their petrol yet......though it seems EU regulations might force them to start doing so.

I used to use Shell Fuels when I had a 1998 Mazda MX-3 (looks like a road going flying saucer; one was used - largely unmodified - as a prop in several street scenes of the movie "I, Robot").
I ran that 1.6 litre twin cam Mazda engine on a Shell Super Unleaded blend back in the day. The MX-3 Coupe went like a bat out of hell on that stuff (if you pushed it), but when cruising, the engine was relatively vibration free. Not so on ordinary unleaded. Still, getting 180 miles out of 45 litres of fuel in winter, meant the MX-3 finally got traded in for......"The Spaceship".

Fuel economy was more important to me in 2013. It still is, and I'm totally besotted with my "Spaceship". Best vehicular craft I ever purchased! Ever!!!

 

Total do not as yet use ethanol in any grades of petrol. Esso do use use ethanol in certain areas (SW, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, and the north east).
The annoying thing is that there is no requirement in law for this to be shown at levels at or below 5% so we are being sold fuel labeled as petrol that is not all petrol.
If we were to buy a measure of spirits in a pub that contained 5% water the landlord would be summonsed under the trade descriptions act or alternatively by weights and measures.

John (Britprius)

 

...oh the joy of a non-bladder gas tank in EU...US Gen2 we can only dream about it.

 

Just to rub some salt in, we also have no coolant control valve, pump or thermos. On the downside we do not get "at least on the gen2" SKS that I would find very useful.

John (Britprius)

 

So am I reading into this fairly: use non-ethanol whenever possible?

 

Providing your not paying to high a premium for the non ethanol fuel you will get more miles for your money.

John (Britprius)

 

No, use non-ethanol when it is less than 3.3% more expensive than 10% ethanol added gas.

 

Or use non-ethanol and non-reformulated gasoline to try to maximize the miles you can drive on a tank of gas, if that silliness appeals to you!

 

I am the third owner of my gen 2 Prius And loving it. 159,461 miles and counting! I have put in no-ethanol gas ever since I bought it a year ago. Fortunately E0 is easy to get around here.

I know that E10 is permissible, and that E15 is not. I can't help thinking that if E15 is so bad (invalidating Toyota new-car warranties), how much better can E10 be? Regardless, it is reason enough to stick with E0 to avoid the corrosive effects of ethanol.

 

Welcome to the forum.
Ethanol is not the work of the devil.

Ethanol is only corrosive to some materials.
Cars made for it should not be a problem.
Cars in other parts of the world use E85 to E100 with no problems......if they are made or modified for it.

Right now, the auto makers "rules" on E15 is a CYA position.
They don't want to test all of their old vehicles for E15 so it's just easier and MUCH cheaper to say"Don't use it".
Most major manufacturers already make Flex Fuel vehicles which can take E85 just fine.

E0 has a slightly higher energy content and will give you slightly better mileage.
THAT is a better reason for using it than some unfounded fear of ethanols corrosive properties.

Where abouts is "around here" ?

 

"around here" = Tulsa, OK.

 

What?
Haven't you heard of "Demon Rum"???
As in,
"We never eat fruit case because it has rum,
And one little bite turns a man to a bum.
Can you imagine a sorrier sight,
Than a man eating fruitcake until he gets tight!"

"Away, away, with rum, by gum,
The song of the Temperance Union!"

To inject a note of rationality into this discussion , Bob Wilson has tested his Prius with ethanol mix ratios up to 50% IIRC, and he had some codes posted at the extreme mix ratios but otherwise the car ran ok.

I have found more like a 5% difference in mpg, but that may have been confounded by having non-re formulated E0 compared to my normal re formulated E10.

 

Well I don't totally agree with that either.
I DO like to sip a good bourbon every now and then.

Maybe I should have said "When used as a motor fuel, ethanol is not the work of the devil".

 

A while back I mentioned that Casey's gas stations in Indiana and Illinois had E0 gasoline.
That has now changed, as they have replaced all of their pumps. The new pumps only have unleaded E10 and premium. Another source of E0 gone up in smoke.

I just filled up. I got 60.9 mpg per Fuelly.com and that is with E10. The MFD said 51.7 mpg.
I had been hyper-mileing like mad this week. I got 322 miles on 5.28 gallons of fuel @ $2.649/gal.
I had 2 pips left on the gauge. Lets blame it on the bladder. LOL

 

pure-gas.org now lists 9688 sources selling 100% ethanol-free gasoline(E0), only 3% less than 10,000. Listings past 10,000 should occur before year's end. New York state has more than doubled its E0 sources, since October 2013 & many other states have greatly increased their E0 sources. Three states have repealed laws blending ethanol into gasoline & other states consider such legislation. Ethanol burns in high compression ratio (16:1) ethanol engines. Ethanol performance collapses, when used(not burned efficiently) in low compression ratio(9:1 to 11:1) gasoline engines.
Rule One: Use diesel fuel in diesel engines, ethanol in ethanol engines & 100% ethanol-free gasoline in gasoline engines.

 

Yeah could be fill inconsistency? I've NEVER heard of a Prius with calculated mpg better than what the dash displayed. That's like one of the Ten Commandments isn't it?

 

Not only gas price increase, but also food price increase - ethanol induced? I suspect so.

DBassidy