So I got this bright idea to try some 24% ethanol enriched gas out. And so far this is my second fill up and so far performance you don't feel the difference but you know it's there. There is definitely a small difference between the 10% enriched 91 pump vs the 24% enriched ethanol gasoline.

Anyone else trying this?

 

not a lie if you believe it...

- RB.

 

Considering your car isn't tuned for the higher octane, how do you know this?

 

Ehem, butt dyno and some 1/8th mile goodness.

 

Not buying it. Without a tune for the higher octane, any gains would be very minimal at best.

 

more ethanol means more moisture. Thats not good

 

just waiting for the boom

 

i think you're the only one trying this

 

It's not really a higher octane. More ethanol. They use more ethanol to bring up the octane rating. So basically they start off with 87 octane and add ethanol to bring it to 91.

 

not 24%, they do that with 10% ethanol. Anything higher is for FF vehicles. They have e30 and e40 pumps too. They are supposed to be a trade off for cleaner fuel but better gas mileage than e85.

And if you have a higher content of e85 then it does have a higher octane. Ethanol is high octane so when you add that to a 93 fuel you will have to calculate out the amounts to find the octane rating. a blend that's 85% ethanol (e85) is somewhere around 105 octane i believe (depends on who's doing the measuring).

also, if you're on a stock fuel system it doesn't use teflon lines so e85 will destroy the oem fuel lines. Just as an FYI. Notsure how long it will take for e30 to do it though. Another thing, the more ethanol that's in the blend, the more fuel required. Therefore going from e10 to e30 will make your car lean unless you adjust your tune.

 

Ethanol also decreases gas mileage...

 

can you link the study that showed this?

That belief is on every e85 myth chart though so I'd love to see where you read that.

 

+1
I thought the ethanol (an alcohol, hence the -ol) causes the fuel lines (made of rubber, but alcohol also affects certain plastics and metals) to deteriorate over time, which is why all fuel lines had to be replaced. I do realize that newer cars are better prepared/equipped to reduce the deterioration from alcohol fuels (most pump fuels now contain at least/up to 10% ethanol), so maybe it doesn't matter.

 

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...view/index.htm

We stopped using E85 on our patrol Tahoes at work after we observed a 20% drop in mileage.

 

http://www.ethanolmt.org/switch.html

Just a fast search from people that transport ethanol. Why would they anodize all their aluminum and change out rubber components if it wasn't a problem?

http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docush...AE-1746pod.pdf

ohio state university. they only tested e10 and e20. Found both to be "ok" and "shouldn't" cause engine failure but changes in metals and rubbers were noted with both fuels.

So with e20 there is some swelling and degregation. e85 will be more pronounced. Wouldn't be an instant problem but i sure wouldn't want to try to fix it after it breaks down some rubber and pieces are floating around in the tank.

ALso, if it wasn't an issue at all, why would GM upgrade all their seals and fuel lines to teflon before approving the vehicle for flex fuel? Seems they have quite a bit more on the engineering side than the average consumer.

 

you should really study what ethanol is, and how it's properly used as fuel in cars...because you're way off the mark with your guesses

you don't feel the performance because it isn't there in the first place

now you get to potentially deal with clogged cats, blown injector seals, potential pitting in cylinders

 

But, but, but... It's got higher octane... Everyone knows higher octane means mad power.

 

yep totally...I'm about to use some Sunoco purple in our Murano to gain any extra advantage I can

 

I did some research on it. But mostly on e85. Its only been 1 and a half fillups so I doubt any real damage was done. There isn't much info on running 24% ethanol so I went ahead and used it. My intentions were not solely for the purpose of higher octane but since we do not have a shell gas station here that I trust with clean burning fuelcf so I chose tbis for an alternative.

 

but it's never smart to use a higher percentage than designed by the manufacturer. Most non FF cars are designed to withstand 10-15% ethanol content. I think a greater amount 10% but i think some say 15% because of differences in areas.