Non Ethonol gas
 

Hi all. Has anyone had any experience using non ethanol [alcohol free] gas? Wondering if there are pros and cons of using this. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Well with pure gas you have a higher risk of fuel line freeze up if you get even a little moisture in the tank. Not sure that is relevant for you though.

Waste of effort if you have to go out of your way for it at all. It doesn't really do anything for you, except that it may quiet crickets, not because of the lack of ethanol but because of the difference in the additive packages and blends. When I tried it to get rid of crickets it either made no difference or made the crickets louder, depending on the station. I have had much better luck using gas with 10% ethanol from brands whose additive packages aren't as noisy in my fuel pump.

Additionally, the Top Tier standard includes a requirement that the fuel have 8% to 11% ethanol as a cleaning agent (nominally 10%). If you buy ethanol-free gas, it's not Top Tier gas. That may mean nothing at all if the gas is fresh. Or it may mean that the gas is crap because it not only doesn't meet the ethanol standard, but also doesn't meet other parts of the Top Tier standard.

You will go slightly farther per gallon on ethanol-free. But you'll pay more for it, so you don't save any money and probably end up paying more overall.

Thanks, freezing would not be a problem as I live in south Florida/

Thanks for this info. I have a station right down the street that caters to power boaters.

The only ethanol free gas I know of in California is the gas you can buy by the gallon for about $10/gal at the lawnmower shop. I guess it is better for storage?


Funny how every time I have been in Boise I see several stations that have signs boasting that they have ethanol free premium gas available?

It works much better for carbureted vehicles so some older boats and cars can take better advantage of it. Almost meaningless in injected cars.

That is because the stations still have tanks that were filled in 1972. 'Cuz Boise.

This makes sense. For storage of such vehicles too.

It's not usually the first tank that makes the difference for me but the second usually does. I get slightly better mpg and the crickets go away.

Pros Pure ethanol has an effective octane of 160 in direct injection engines and it's great at keeping things clean.

Cons? There is debate as to oil dilution, but I haven't seen much evidence to suggest that it great reduces oil life for e85 let alone e10.

In older cars I suppose it can wreak havok on older fuel lines and cause issues with maintaining a proper AFR.

read up and decide yourself.
personally I hate it. evaporation, poor economy, lots of reasons not even getting into the political subsidies.

My brother owns a store that sells non ethanol and does quite a business. yay.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/t...l-in-your-gas/

At 10% all those "issues" are so minor as to have zero impact in normal driving.

Ethanol absorbs water which is bad for engines. This isn't really an issue if the car is driven a reasonable amount. It's only really a problem on lawn equipment where you put stuff up for the winter or in a boat where you put 300 gallons in it just before the end of the summer and then it sits all winter. Most marinas sell ethanol free so that shouldn't be much of a problem. Where I live in Florida we have ethanol free all over the place (because it's a boating community) but they are all like 87 octane which wouldn't work well in the Twins.

If anything I would go the opposite direction and get E85. Hahaha.

Ethanol is amazing in direct injection applications. The more the better.

The moisture issue comes up if you DON'T fill your tank before putting it away. Cooling cycles will cause the moisture in the air in the tank to condense on the inside surface of the tank and run down into the fuel. An emptier tank --> more air volume --> more moisture available to become condensation.

If you fill your tank completely to minimize this volume of air, you minimize the amount of moisture in your tank. The downside of that is that fuel left for more than a couple of months will start to go stale, so it's best to add a bottle of fuel stabilizer before putting it away.

I always buy non-ethanol 91 octane. My JRSC FI engine runs smoother (and no crickets) if I use non-ethanol 91 octane instead of 93 octane ethanol gas. I should do a datalog one day to check the difference.

I think the answer depends on the tune most. There was no noticeable difference between the two when the engine was stock (other than crickets).

That brings up something I have wondered about. When you do load up a tune does the ECU still adjust the engine for different fuels? The stock tune will pull timing and such if it detects knock but does a custom one do the same?

My tuner said I could get 10 more HP if I ditched the TRD catback for something more free flowing. He said I wouldn't need to re-tune, that that was within the adjustability of the tune.


I don't know for sure, but I assume still acts the same to protect the engine. At least I hope so.


I guess this is where a master tuner pays off.

While you may want to run an IAM of 1.0, usually tuners keep anyway the three knock correction methods of the ecu logic intact and working, why would one remove the factory timing corrections against knock? that s dangerous and not really smart, I never saw a tune that disable those

corn is for making sour mash liquor. gas is for going zoom zoom.

I don't know the other tunes. But, yes, JR tune detects and adjusts for knock. Those adjustment can be seen in the data logs. But, I think, the knock tolerances are more sensitive and can be done in a smaller range when the engine is boosted.

Stewart's sells non-ethanol in upstate NY. I can definitely see that their 91 octane non-ethanol is better than all other 93 ethanol gas I tried.

Thanks. I was just curious. People do dumber stuff to their cars so you never know!

Everybody's car is a little different, I guess. The drivers certainly are. As for me, switching to 93 octane non-ethanol has caused small improvements in nearly everything you can measure or sense: mileage, exhaust note, acceleration, crickets, etc., on the order of 7 - 10%. We're lucky in NC to have an oil company who are very proud of their gasoline. They are called Quality Plus, have 75+ stations all over the state and the pumps dispense 87 with 10%, and 93 with 0%. Period. Right out in front. It's consistently good and currently costs $3.22/gallon. The BRZ loves it, and so do I. A 3000-mile round trip to Maine last August demonstrated the reality of the above claims through occasionally being unable to find the Right Stuff and filling up with a substitute. The Z pouted and dragged his butt until we used up the tank and refilled with what he has come to love.

The hassle factor of using this gasoline is very low, especially with the PureGas app on my phone, and the stations even provide free air pumps. And when we use the improved mileage figure to adjust to the net cost, there is very little sticker shock as well. Thomas, you can drop your mike -- your corn likker quip is the last word.

:cheers:

the advantage is you will be a champion of every babyboomer, chud, and right wing nut job, also you will get marginally better mpg, if you let it sit for ever in the humidity less water will absorb, and you dont help the bullshit corn subsidies. some downs sides are, more carbon build up, worse emissions, paying way more for essentially the same shit, it gels easier, less power potential, and harder to find.

Ethanol Free???? Hell I drive out of my wat to get the most ethanol as possible in my fuel!

Methyl Hydrate is around $8 dollars a gallon at a big box store, not really an issue.

Ours is usually 90 in SWFL, a can of boostane(professional, 16oz) will bump you up to 97 or 98ish.

They're in VT also.

The nearest station to me that sells non eth is Stewarts and the nearest one of those is ~50 miles away. When I know I'm headed into Stewarts country I let my tank run down so I can fill up with nearly a full tank first time so it doesn't have to mix. I can usually feel a difference by the time it gets to half a tank. If I start with a half tank it's into the second before there's a difference. The only problem with Stewarts is the coffee is always hot fresh and good and the $1 chocolate chip cookies are impossible not to eat the whole box.