Father Goose

Ijust recently moved to Colorado and can not find straight 100% gasoline, all of the fuel around here is mixed with enthanol. I remember back when I bought my 7, it came with the recommendation to avoid ethanol. After several months of using the stuff, my 7 is extremely low on power. Willl the fuel have caused this or is the problem elsewhere?

Does anyone else have a problem with ethanol and how do you get around it?

kgray

Around here, most of the gas has some ethanol in it. My 7 loved 10% ethanol mix. I wouldn't suspect that the ethanol is the cause of your problems. It could, however, expedite the "cleaning" of your fuel lines, so a fuel filter change would be a good place to start.

Box_Man

I hate the stuff, I was getting 24 miles to a gallon on 100% gasoline but on E10 I'm down to 17. I also noticed a huge power difference. On straight gasoline I'd set the timing by advancing it in increments until I heard it barely ping, then I'd back it off a degree or so which would usually put me at ~10 degrees more advanced than what the stock timing marks said to to (If I remember correctly). I can't use this method anymore because the car refuses to ping. I ended up at 20 degrees before I finally decided to quit before I broke something and left it a little north of my special advanced mark that I had made on my front pulley. I did get some power back but the mileage is still crap. I'll inevitably fix all of that with Megasquirt whenever I'm ready.

PercentSevenC

Man, I wish my gas had MORE ethanol in it. When will an E85 station open up around here?

Keith13b

iTrader: (6)

I'm with Box Man on this. E10 is is pure **** in my opinion. Fuel economy went to hell with ALL 4 of my cars, power is noticibaly down, idiling is rough with surging; and the list goes on and on. I have nothing good to say about it. Sooner or later I will have to replace the entire fuel supply lines since the Ethanol eats those like candy. My daily driver already had a factory recall to replace the entire fuel system due to issues with ethanol. Too bad Mazda doesn't do that as well! I'm just glad I don't own a boat! Huge problem with those engines!!!!

To top it off, the price of corn has gone though the roof. Used to get 10 ears for a $1 - now it's a $1.20 for one frigin' ear!

kgray

I had no complaints with fuel economy on 10%. Perhaps a 1-2 mpg drop from 100% gasoline. Then again, I could hit 30mpg+ cruising on the highway.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

E85 (85% ethanol / 15% Gas) has an octane rating of about 105.
Normally aspirated Rotaries like a LOW octane rating.

This is why the Original Poster has issues with any ethanol being mixed in with
regular gasoline.

E85 will have lower fuel economy than straight gasoline. Between 20-30% lower miles per gallon.
10% ethanol in regular fuel will not affect your stock fuel lines. It's doubtful that even E85 has any effect on stock fuel lines as well.

However, on Turbocharged cars, e85 is even better than race fuel.
Besides the very high octane rating of the gas, the cooling properties of this fuel are almost like methanol.
You dont even need an intercooler! It really makes detonation extremely difficult to do - especially at street power levels.

I personally have been waiting to see what someone with a draw-through turbo system (cheap/easy to install) could see in huge power gains with E85.

Keith13b

iTrader: (6)

Tell that to all the new car manufacturers that are quietly recalling their original aluminum fuel lines. I've had 2 cars from different manufactures replace fuel lines because of the ethanol as a "preventative" (yea right!) measure.

Boat owners are having a nightmare because of it as well. Check out some of the boating fourms. I live in Florida, so boating is a rather big deal, but boaters are going to great lengths to buy non- ethanol fuel. Marinas even advertise it now. They, too, are seeing noticable power loss and lower fuel economy with E10....not to mention pitting of the fuel cells, clogged fuel filters and injectors, etc.. Not to mention the separation if the gas sits too long.

Man this ethanol is an absoulte nightmare. Hopefully in a few years, all cars will be built with ethanol in mind and this will be a moot point. But if you are stuck with a pre-2008 model vehicle - expect some long term problems....This may be great for those running boost, but us N/A guys will be crying our way to the bank to replace part after part a few years down the line.

Somewhere ...someone is making a ton of money at our expense. Watering down gas with ethanol and charging the same ammount of $$. Gotta love capatilism!

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Pretty much all street fuel in Cali is 10% or more ethanol now, & has been for years. "Oxygenation," they say. Lower emissions, they say.

More gallons sold = more gas taxes paid, is more my thinking.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

This is the same kind of crap I heard in the early 70s when ethanol came out. Ethanol, at least here, has a 2 point higher octane rating then regular gas. When I had my 71 Road Runner, a tank of ethanol would clean out the carb and combustion chambers, extending plug life along with a noticeable power increase. On leaded fuel, plugs lasted about 1500 miles before performance dropped off.

Fuel systems have long been designed to handle ethanol. If there is a problem, it's most likely with moisture because ethanol is hydroscopic, it attracts/absorbs water. Why do you think HEET works so well in the winter? In nearly 40 years, I've never once had an issue with the 10% blended fuels.

vipergts_3

iTrader: (9)

i agree. the gas is not the "problem" i use 10% in all my rx7's and i have not ever had a problem or a failed gas line.

PercentSevenC

Seriously. What people are doing on E85 is nothing short of miraculous, especially for a cheap pump fuel. 800 WHP daily-driven 13B? Sure, why not? There are guys running gasoline-equivalent AFRs of like 13:1 and seeing no detonation at all at 30+ PSI! I gotta get me some of that. And a bigger turbo.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

its been something like 15 years? i haven't noticed any problems. regular gas will get better mileage, but that's about it

thunkrd

iTrader: (1)

there's an e85 station on my way to school.. i might put some in my gslse.. not sure what it would do tho

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

You will see no benefit at all. The car has to be tuned for e85 for any advantage.
If you put e85 in a stock GSL-SE it probably wont run right at all, and might not even idle.

Unless your car is boosted, don't bother.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

That's pretty much what my point was.

AZRotor

iTrader: (1)

In AZ we have been using it for years. Not my preferred but have to deal with it. Problem we have is that we use fuel during the summer months and blended during the winter.
Main issue was with the semi-auto choke mode. Cars would run like crap when the choke pulled off until they reached full operating temp. If we set the car to run right for that 10 minutes then we found mileage went down and driveability suffered. So ended up just telling the client the problem and learn to live with that 5/10 minutes.