I hate Ethanol

[larrendeuce]

I filled up again today after running a tank of 10% ethanol that every gas station now sells. I went from getting around 18-20 mpg to 13 mpg. I'm beyond pissed. The lightning is really bad off. I haven't calculated mileage in that yet but it was getting 13 mpg. I talked to my parents and their getting poor gas mileage too. So does anyone want to bring up adding acetone to gas again?

Maybe I'll go buy a drum of C10 . . . maybe not, its $9 a gallon

 

[bill302]

acetone in my tanks give me an average of 2-3 mpg increase..2 oz. to 10 gals.

 

[1990Coupe]

HUH??? i thought that gas stations ALWAYS had 10% ethanol in recent years to combat pollution and have engines burn cleaner. Last i read was bush was lifting the clean air act so that ethanol could be left out of the mix since it was in short supply... am i wrong??

 

[larrendeuce]

I know they have been oxygenated. There might have been some areas with ethanol.

 

[larrendeuce]

Quote from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0126_060126_ethanol_2.html "By correcting for those factors, the scientists found that corn ethanol actually reduces petroleum use by about 95 percent per gallon of fuel, though it only reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 13 percent.

"These claims that ethanol is no good, period, do not stand up," Farrell said. "

This is in direct contridiction to what I am experiencing.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

It's probably all conspiracy....they sell us the same stuff only with ethenol in it so we get worse gas mileage and in turn have to buy more gas.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I was always under the impression that ethanol-blend fuel burns cleaner, or at least it doesn't tend to carbon up the top-end of your motor as badly as standard unleaded...? It's just the oxygenated crap (especially what we get here in AZ for half of the year ... all that MTBE garbage) that runs like poo.

 

[mustangramair]

I haven't ever had that problem with ethanol... That's all i put into my other car.

 

[millhouse]

Are you sure you didn't put in some e85 by accident?

In no way should your mpg have reduced by such an inflated amount. I believe the typical reduction caused by the 10% ethanol blend is in the 1-2% range. I'd look elsewhere for the cause.

 

[larrendeuce]

Are you sure you didn't put in some e85 by accident?

In no way should your mpg have reduced by such an inflated amount. I believe the typical reduction caused by the 10% ethanol blend is in the 1-2% range. I'd look elsewhere for the cause.

No, I didn't put e85 in. Everyone I know is getting less mileage. They don't run better or worse, just can't travel as far on a tank. All the work trucks are getting less mpg too, except the diesel.

 

[Deleted member 87397]

Well mileage aside, when they started using more and more ethanol, my car began pinging while using 93 octane and since I've started the acetone I've gotten better mileage and my car quit pinging. I'm a believer

 

[crazypete]

+1 for acetone. Since so many folks have mentioned it, I thought I'd chime in.

About 3 extra mpg here. Only reason its not used otherwise in production fuel is it greatly increases evapoarative emissions.

 

[millhouse]

No, I didn't put e85 in. Everyone I know is getting less mileage. They don't run better or worse, just can't travel as far on a tank. All the work trucks are getting less mpg too, except the diesel.

Considering a you witnessed a 28% reduction in fuel economy…I'd say you have some issues that are unrelated to the methanol. As I stated before, a 10% ethanol blend will typically reduce the fuel economy by ~ 1-2%.

Here is only one of many study's floating around as an example….

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...onomy+reduction+10%&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=18

 

[larrendeuce]

Considering a you witnessed a 28% reduction in fuel economy…I'd say you have some issues that are unrelated to the methanol. As I stated before, a 10% ethanol blend will typically reduce the fuel economy by ~ 1-2%.

Here is only one of many study's floating around as an example….

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...onomy+reduction+10%&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=18

This figure I came to was after one tank. Its on the extreme end, being there was extended idling. However this is the sharpest reduction in gas mileage I ever had. Since I am finding such widespread reduction in mileage I am posting this.

2003 Ford E-250 4.6 V8 : usual 14-15 mpg / now 12.5 mpg
1993 Ford F-150 Lightning : usual 12-13 mpg / now 11 mpg

I'll add more as I get them.

 

[Marlboro_Man]

Here in houston we just just started getting the ethanol blend about two months or so ago (or at least thats when they started advertising it on the pumps). Since then i haven't had any pinging but i have noticed that i have to fill up more often. I don't have a speedo gear on my tranny or a speedo cable thanks to the previous owner, so i have no way of calculating my mpg. On a typical friday/saturday night i would use 1 full tank of gas, now i'm using about 1 1/2 to 2 tanks and doing the same amount of driving and i don't rag on my car either.

I have been wanting to try the acetone but I'm still unsure of the negative affects it might have on things like fuel lines and o-rings ect.

 

[crazypete]

I have been wanting to try the acetone but I'm still unsure of the negative affects it might have on things like fuel lines and o-rings ect.

It has no effect whatsoever on the plastics/rubber of today.

Think about this: fuel injector cleaner is much more caustic than acetone and it doesnt ruin your fuel lines when you use it. Seafoam is made of toulene (and other stuff too)! Talk about caustic! But its safe to pour in your gastank, oilpan and suck through a vacuum line.

I have run acetone for quite a while now and not a single carb gasket, rubber line or anything else shows a bit of wear.

Go for it.

I think all the negative hype is done by gas company interests who dont want folks getting 2-3 extra mpg for free. They love the idea of e85. It costs like 1.90/1.80 but you need to use about 1 1/2 times as much so you end up paying them the same $3 to go the same distance but for some reason people feel happy cause the number on the pump reads "1.90" instead of "3.09"

 

[wht93gtEd]

no negative effects of the e10 blend here...(been using it for a little over a month now)

I just averaged 26mpg in my WRX, which is right on par.

 

[ExplodingGopher]

this is funny..... i got 10 mpg (which is pretty damn good) in my 460 mustang, city driving down to summit. I was very impressed with the gas mileage, about 40 miles there and 40 miles back, used about 8 gallons of 93 octane.

 

[Daggar]

Millhouse is right on. I'm no proponent of ethanol blends (read ethanol is BS) however, 10% ethanol is not going to cost the differences in mileage stated above. I believe that all the "good" that's supposed to come from the use of ethanol is mostly hype for someone's private agenda but it's not going to cause a 5 to 10 MPG difference.

Sure... ethanol blends may produce less green house gasses per gallon but you gotta burn more gallon(s) to cover the same distance. What I've read so far about ethanol/methanol blends, always quantifies the amount of freed pollutant per gallon of gasoline but never quantifies it in distances traveled or energy produced. Another reason why I think it's all hype.

As for the individual with the pinging issue. Ethanol/Methanol on it's own has a higher octane rating than does regular gasoline. What may be causing your trouble is the additive package in the gasoline that you've obtained. There's a lot more to pump gas than straight gasoline and ethanol/methanol and each service station chain has a specific additive package that they use. Let's also not forget that spring is here. Those same additive packages change with the seasons so even though gas station X is the same station you've filled up at for the last year with no problems, you may need to consdier that the seassonal changes in their gas may be the cause and not the ethanol/methanol blend.

In other words: Try a different gas station from a different company and see if the problem persists.