My wives 2003str was averaging 29.7 MPG when I filled it with non ethanol premium. We had the car serviced and they filled it up at a fuel station that uses ethanol and now she is averaging 21.3. That's a huge difference. Even though the closest place is 15 miles away, I'll find a reason to get fuel from the fuel station with non ethanol from now on.

I've witnessed not only the MPG loss but she has less power as well.

 

Must be something wrong. I get ~30 MPG on E10 all the time.

 

Not that I know of. Since I filled it up again with the non ethanol the MPGs are back to 29 average.

On a side note.
I called all the local fuel stations to find ones that had non ethanol and found one that claimed they did. I bought a dollars worth of fuel and tested it. It was almost 20%. I called and complained about being lied too.

 

Good luck finding any......
Here in TX, I believe it is the retail outlet's option whether or not to report it, not sure how the regulaton is structured there in OH.

Is that LEGAL in the Buckeye state now?

 

The test-at-home kits are notoriously inaccurate.

 

Pttt..HAHA! I guess I didn't get enough coffee yet.

I thought about having a couple of wives but then that would be a bit (big of me)(bigamy). Sounds better when said not typed.

 

It's very easy to see the difference between gasoline and alcohol. Ohio is a dumping ground for bad fuel.

 

If that's how you concluded that there was 20% ethanol in your pure gas, this supports my statement above that test-at-home is very inaccurate.

 

29.7 mile per US gallon does sound kinda high for an STR. I get closer to 21 per usg with about 80/20 highway/city. Your premium gas must pack a punch!

That test for alcohol in gasoline may not be very accurate, but it's easy to do and can quickly confirm that the gas has 0% alcohol. Must go out and get me a 100 ml graduated cylinder.

 

Do you have a better method?

 

This is how I found ethanol free fuel stations. Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

 

I don't bother testing. The difference in energy content between pure gas and E10 is 3% so that that's how much change you'll see in power and mileage. Most drivers don't notice that small of a change. We've had E10 here for 20 plus years, it's pretty much old news about nothing locally.

 

about pure-gas.org
Why does pure gas give me better mileage?
Pure gas gives better mileage than E10, and much better than E85, simply because gasoline has higher free energy than ethanol. The free energy of gasoline is 34.2 MJ per liter. The free energy of ethanol is 24.0 MJ per liter. That means E10 (10% ethanol) has a free energy of 33.2 MJ per liter, and E85 (85% ethanol) has a free energy of 25.6 MJ per liter. As a result, your mileage is reduced by 3% with E10 over pure gas, and 25% with E85 over pure gas, all else being equal. Mileage will be reduced even more if your engine doesn't run as well on E10, which is often the case with older vehicles.

 

'Older vehicles' is 1950s era antiques, not modern EFI vehicles.

 

Most automobiles since 1982 were designed to be compatible for use with up to 10% ethanol (E10), and since the year 2000 most marine engines are now compatible with E10 use. But, almost all marine engines manufactured prior to 2000 prohibit the use of any alcohol fuel. As of 2012, automobile manufacturers only allow the use of up E10. The use of more than 10% ethanol in your fuel will void most automobile warranties. The only vehicles designed for the use of more than 10% ethanol are the flex fuel vehicles. The flex fuel vehicles have special ethanol resistant fuel pumps, fuel tank sending units, fuel tanks, fuel lines, and fuel injectors!
Ethanols’ Water Problem;

Ethanol is hygroscopic, which means that ethanol attracts and absorbs water moisture. Ethanol mixed gasoline fuels (E10, E20, E25, and E85) can readily absorb over 40 times more water than non-alcohol gas.




Ethanol’s Fuel System Cleaning Problem;

The Ethanol in E10, E15, and E85 is a serious solvent / degreaser / cleaner. Ethanol scours and scrubs varnish, gum, sludge and dirt deposits out of a fuel system. The deposits will be “held” in suspension in the Ethanol fuel and will eventually wind up in the fuel filter / main jet / fuel injectors, and can choke off an engine’s fuel supply. This cleaning effect will normally not be a problem, and will keep every fuel system component nice and clean. That is, until you get one or more bad tanks of fuel from a service station that has had a bad load of fuel delivered, or that does not take maintenance seriously by changing the pump filters regularly. Before the use of ethanol, most of the gunk would sit on the bottom of your gas tank forever and adhere to the varnish / deposits in the bottom of the tank. Now, with ethanol, any and all deposits will be lifted into the fuel, held in suspension, and will get to the fuel filter, pump, injectors, micro filter, etc.




One bad tank of gas can lead to fuel injection problems.


Injector Repair LLC: Ethanol can cause fuel injector clogging and fuel injection problems.

 

I did a test a few months ago with ethanol blended fuel and then 1/4 tank ethanol blended and 3/4 tank pure gas and I got 27.4 with the the mix which is a lot better than I typically get. There's a thread about this.

But even Mikey didn't like it ...

Have a look, I think I picked up 3-4 mpg. Our federal government at work for YOU!

 

You have a link?
EDIT: found it https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...e-test-115462/

Thanks for chiming in on this. I have to agree wholeheartedly on how well the .gov works for us.

 

I have no interest in reigniting that rather unpleasant battle but please take this point into consideration- virtually everyone in N. America has switched back and forth from pure gas to E10 knowingly or unknowingly. The reports of huge variations in fuel consumption are few and far between. Given the negative press surrounding E10 and mass panic if pump prices rise a few pennies, if there truly was a significant (let's say greater than 10%) increase in consumption with E10- where's the outcry and media attention?

My take is that one tank of gas is not sufficient to draw any conclusions. There's too many other variables to isolate just one cause.

 

I'm going to try this out again at some point but I will probably try a tank full of it in in my Maserati Biturbo in about a month to see if I notice any improvement in performance before I repeat the Jag experiment.

Seeing such numbers clearly isn't a fluke but whether the 4 mpg is completely accurate I don't know. Something is going on though. I wish I could buy the stuff on a regular basis but I'm too far from any supply.

If it does the same exact thing twice then some of the skeptics on here will be hard pressed to carry their case, but they will none the less.

BTW, a lot of the entries on that website for zero ethanol gasoline in my area are simply places that sell VP race fuel and that stuff is expensive.

 

As a suggestion to avoid setting off another battle- individually track and record at least 10 full tanks of your usual fuel before switching. Note the variations in mileage from one tank to another.

Try at least ten tanks of the other fuel tracking each the same way.

Take any other variations into account. Winter gas vs. summer makes a significant difference.

Ideally the driver shouldn't know which fuel is in the car to avoid swaying the results to favour one fuel or the other, but that's not realistic.