10% Ethanol fuel

[BacNBlak]

So all of the gas stations in the Virginia Beach area have 10% ethanol in their gasoline. I havent read any good things about this fuel. There is an article on Mercury's website that says a gallon of gasoline has approx 119,000 btu's in it. 10% Ethanol has around 79,000 btu's. Less horsepower and worse fuel economy. Is running this fuel dangerous? Should I be looking for a new tune, considering I used to live in Mississippi and ran 100% gasoline?
The ole girl runs fine, but does seem a bit down on power.

 

[Bluebolt]

muscle mustang did a aticle last month on e85 enthanol. It claims it got some horsepower gains after modding to be able to run it. it was on a cobra. It's the issue with the orange and white stang on the front.

 

[Charlie41]

There is a very long calculation to answer your question. Basically, If you where running a safe 12.0 afr. You will now need to run a 11.3 afr to be safe.

And yes, you will have less HP. and less fuel mileage. For the life of me, I can not figure out how they figured that less fuel mileage is better for the environment.

Charlie

 

[lightninmike]

Better for the enviroment because it burns cleaner but like you said if you have to burn more of it.........
I Have not had any issues with my truck and feels just as strong as it did before. But we have had it up here for 2 years

 

[Scuba-Matt]

I'm with you Charlie.

 

[emig5m]

My friend in his 4 cylinder Kia noticed (actually, the right word is "complained") a drop in gas mileage, you better believe the Lightning gets less mileage with it. I first noticed the drop in mileage and power way back when I had my 98 F150....thought maybe I was imagining it....but Mobil at the time was still 100% normal gas and I could notice more power and mileage with it over the 10%. The motor was a v8 4.6.

 

[Kryo-Genik]

Better for the enviroment because it burns cleaner but like you said if you have to burn more of it.........
I Have not had any issues with my truck and feels just as strong as it did before. But we have had it up here for 2 years

you just re-tuned for it correct? you didnt have to change injectors or anything stupid like that right?

 

[BacNBlak]

Well sounds like no major problems. Thats good to hear. Im in the good ole US Nav and we've been having major problems with the fuel. After sitting for 30-60 days it gets some NASTY moisture accumulation in the bottom of the fuel tanks. Makes for a very long day

 

[92GreenGT]

I was going to post a thread similar to this on my local forum but I'll ask here as well:

If a gas stations fuel contains up to 10% ethanol, do they have to list it on the pumps?

 

[Scuba-Matt]

I was going to post a thread similar to this on my local forum but I'll ask here as well:

If a gas stations fuel contains up to 10% ethanol, do they have to list it on the pumps?

Down here in Florida they do.

 

[Sinister04L]

Down here in Florida they do.

They do here in TX too.

10% ethanol gas isn't that bad. I may have lost a little bit with it, but my truck still puts down great numbers compared to similar trucks in areas that don't have 10% ethanol gas. I don't think it's that big of a deal.

 

[wayboarder]

The stuff is supposed to reduce costs and burn cleaner... But have any of you guys seen a drop in price at the pump? There is a mix of the 100% and 10% gas stations by my house and there is no difference in fuel prices. And If your looking in the tidewater area for some 100% gas places you should fil up at the hess stations. All of the Hess stations in NN are still 100% gas. You should also check out tidewatermusclecars.com for the local guys in the tidewater area.

 

[SWThomas]

I don't see ethanol lasting very long. It's supposedly better for the environment, but it's not a efficient as gasoline. Plus, think of the amount of money everyone would have to spend to convert their vehicles to be able to run E85. Plus, I don't think we'd be able to make the stuff fast enough to keep up with the demand.

 

[wayboarder]

I don't see ethanol lasting very long. It's supposedly better for the environment, but it's not a efficient as gasoline. Plus, think of the amount of money everyone would have to spend to convert their vehicles to be able to run E85. Plus, I don't think we'd be able to make the stuff fast enough to keep up with the demand.

I agree with every bit of what you said. I remember last year about may when the gas prices were "skyrocketing" to about the same price they are at currently. I remember being underway on the USS Eisenhower and watching all kinds of CNN reports about how E85 is this great thing and blah blah blah. Then Fox comes out and says that it would take 2 states worth of crops to supply enough to keep up with demand as well as all the current crops. This would in turn raise prices of commodities so if we werent complaining about gas we would start complaining about prices of milk.

 

[wayboarder]

I don't see ethanol lasting very long. It's supposedly better for the environment, but it's not a efficient as gasoline. Plus, think of the amount of money everyone would have to spend to convert their vehicles to be able to run E85. Plus, I don't think we'd be able to make the stuff fast enough to keep up with the demand.

I agree with every bit of what you said. I remember last year about may when the gas prices were "skyrocketing" to about the same price they are at currently. I remember being underway on the USS Eisenhower and watching all kinds of CNN reports about how E85 is this great thing and blah blah blah. Then Fox comes out and says that it would take 2 states worth of crops to supply enough to keep up with demand as well as all the current crops. This would in turn raise prices of commodities so if we werent complaining about gas we would start complaining about prices of milk.

 

[junioRace]

Here in my area, gasoline with a 10% blend of ethanol usually runs about ten cents cheaper than regular gas. Octane is rated at 89 vs. 87.

I don't think ethanol is going away. There is a new plant scheduled to be built here. They are popping up everywhere here in the midwest.

 

[Scuba-Matt]

There was a report on CNN a few weeks back that said it takes more energy to make ethanol from corn than the ethanol can make. And right now our Government is subsidizing a big portion of the ethanol production. Some other Country's are using sugar cane to produce ethanol and the cost of production is 1/5 compared to corn.
Ethanol is not a bad thing for us performance nuts is fact you can make some big HP with ethanol. It's going to take time for the after market performance industry to catch on, but once they do we could see some unbelievable hp numbers.

 

[SWThomas]

It wouldn't make any sense to keep ethanol alive. It costs more to produce it. It takes longer to produce it. And I read somewhere that the ammount of corn needed to make a gas tank full of ethanol is equal to the ammount of corn the average american consumes in a year. Doesn't sound like a worthwhile commodity to me.

 

[Scuba-Matt]

It wouldn't make any sense to keep ethanol alive. It costs more to produce it. It takes longer to produce it. And I read somewhere that the ammount of corn needed to make a gas tank full of ethanol is equal to the ammount of corn the average american consumes in a year. Doesn't sound like a worthwhile commodity to me.

Ethanol can be made out of any organic plant. I think were just at the start of the ethanol era.
If our Government would of made this move back in the 70's we wouldn't be dependent on foreign oil.

 

[SWThomas]

Ethanol can be made out of any organic plant. I think were just at the start of the ethanol era.

Hopefully the end also. I'm not too excited about having to convert my vehicles to be able to run this garbage.