I'm sure this has been discussed before but I haven't been able to figure out how to search in this forum since it's been reformatted... So feel free to point me to a thread that discusses this topic. I have just recently been filling up with ethanol-free gasoline. There is no gas station near my home (Maryland suburbs of DC) but I found one about 5 miles from my work place in Charles Town, WV. I've filled up three times so far and I think I have an overall gain of 1-2 mpg - but so many other factors have changed recently it's not easy to tell. Who else here uses ethanol-free gas and do you feel it helps your mpg? Also, do you think it is "better" for your engine?
If my engine was made before 1991, E0 (pure gas) would be better for it. There are two ways trying to be ethanol (E10) free may be costing you. In theory, E10 has 3% less energy than E0, and sure enough you are losing 1 to 2 MPG out of 50ish MPG. So if you are paying more than 3% more for it, you would save money by buying E10, instead. You are driving 10 extra miles to get gas that you would not be driving otherwise. If a tank is 500 miles you are losing 2% in just driving, so E10 only has to be 1% cheaper than E0 that is 5 miles out of your way.
Ethanol gasoline is a necessity in lawnmowers, trimmers and blowers, especially two cycle machines. The lawnmower manufacturers and repair shops make quite a bit of money on replacing and repairing machines damaged by ethanol gas. I have NEVER used ethanol gasoline in my 16 years old cheap riding lawnmower. I've replaced the spark plug only twice. It's 12.5 HP Briggs and Stratton engine starts up the first time every time. The only thing I add to the gasoline is Stabil gasoline treatment. For my two cycle engines, I use only TruFuel with no ethanol in it. They are over 6 yeazs old and starts on one or two pulls. Thy still have their original spark plugs.
Fixed. I wholeheartedly agree with this. That's why we have to put premium gas in our 2 strokes because they don't put ethanol in the premium here.
I understand the economics...the ethanol-free gas costs 10 cents more than the regular at the same station. In fact, it can cost 16 cents more than where I usually buy gas in near my house -- but the price there has gone up recently so I don't know what the difference is right now. So my mpg would have to be increased by the same percentage as the increase in price in order for it to be worthwhile purely from the cost perspective. However, what I'm interested in finding out is what other people have experienced. There is a whole website devoted to this, which is how I found this particular station, but I'm interested in whether the Prius community has found any advantage in using ethanol-free gas.
Is there a way to test gasoline? | PriusChat As for ethanol testing, earlier this year I ran tests and found we can run E50 without seeing an error code. Mileage on E50 is poor in miles/gallon but proportional to the expected energy content. Unfortunately, E85 is not price by BTU but gallon. Bob Wilson
I tried buying 100% gas at a Shell station and it was priced .75 cents higher! Didn't buy any gas at that station - ripoff.
Right NOW, in my area, the ethanol gas station is a $3.19 a gallon, while the no ethanol station is at $3.39. At that price difference, NO ETHANOL is really worth it.
I think most Prius people here feel you probably get 1-2 MPG better with E0 reflecting the better energy content. Unfort this small difference is very hard to measure as most of us see bigger differences just due to ambient temp, driving style etc. I would like to see EPA or Consumer Reports do some standardized testing for selected models with E0 and E10 but they do not do so due to costs, and perhaps politically they do not want to develop data showing ethanol reduces MPG. So we are stuck with estimates based on ethanol energy content which as a first approximation seems to fit the observed results.
Service advisor told me my throttle body on my Camry needed to be cleaned due to ethanol gas causing more deposits. Can anyone verify whether E10 really does cause more varnish or deposits to form vs E0, or was it typical service advisor BS? SCH-I535
...I am not aware of ethanol causing any problems like that. Top Tier gasolines contain more detergent additives you may want to consider if you may be using an off-brand gaso with less addtives. Funny that HI using E10 ethanol?
The only type of gas we've had available here in Minnesota since the late 90's is E10 and I've never heard of that. If anything, ethanol is a cleanser. I say BS.
Interesting, my exposure to 'sticky throttle valve' happened before our area became E10 universal. I didn't do any before and after metrics when testing E85 but others have suggested it is a strong cleaner. Bob Wilson
Same here, at least with Chevron. They have four octane grades: the lower 3 are bunched together on one hose, with a sticker saying "may contain up to 10% ethanol", and their highest octane is on a separate hose and say's something to the effect that it contains no ethanol. Off hand, I wonder why that's the case. It's kind of frustrating, considering virtually no vehicles on the road require this highest octane, due to high compression engine or whatever. Off-topic, we were in Honolulu a while back, and every time I gassed up (at self-serve) I had to go in, tell the attendant the pump number and leave my credit card with them. Due to out-of-state (or out of country?) credit card: the pump asks you to enter a zip code. No such problem on Maui.
