cciardi

iTrader: (1)

96 Max SE 5 spd - No mods
I just took a road trip from NY to Michigan. The car ran awesome on the way there. Strong with great gas mileage. I filled up last night, it was just about out, with Sunoco Ultra 94 in Michigan and noticed that there was a sticker on the gas pump that said they use 10% ethanol blend.

Immediately after the fillup, the car began to stumble and stall at idle, it runs fine outside of 1000RPM. Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks

willard00

iTrader: (1)

im pretty sure all gas has 10% ethanol now. its to make gas prices a little cheaper. it shouldnt hurt engine performance at all.

edit- here:

"Adding ethanol to gasoline increases the octane number - a measure of the fuel's resistance to pre-ignition or engine "knock." As well, ethanol contains oxygen, which allows for cleaner and more complete combustion. This in turn helps the environment."

another edit: not all states, just like 10 have 10% ethanol. only thing youll notice is a slight decrease in mpg (about 2-3%)

redwood_usa

iTrader: (4)

Yes - ethanol has less energy than gas. So your car is running lean. Most noticable at idle.

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

they all have 10% ethanol now. They did it to replace that one compound that was made illegal. They say it actually raised the price of gas because not enough ethanol was available.

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

Yeah I thought all gas stations had 10% ethanol. I've seen it on stickers at the gas pump saying they have it from a month to another month.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

Ethanol actually hurts the fuel systems in cars so do not say that it is all good. It will cause premature ware on the fuel tank, injectors, and rails. It eats away at these parts faster than regular gasoline.

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

where do you get this info from? It's not anymore of a solvent than gasoline is, besides the fuel system is designed to handle it.

Ethanol does have a lower energy value than gasoline, but it also has a higher octane rating (which doesn't really mean anything for us, since 93 octane is 93 octane whether it has ethanol or not).

If you had problems, it wasn't because of ethanol. It could have just been bad gas. (water in gas, dirty gas, etc). Or it could be something wrong with your car.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

Well it wasnt my car it was my fathers car. The mechanic claimed that the injectors failed at 50K because of running 87 regular with the ethanol in the gasoline. He stated that many cars have been having fuel systems failing because of the ethanol.

redlobster

iTrader: (3)

agreed, at least here in kansas ive seen pumps for at least the past 5 years that have stated that the gas was 10% ethanol and none of my vehicles have had problems

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

Mechanics claim all kinds of things.

whlimi

iTrader: (11)

Here in Ontario, Shell gas stations have stickers on the pumps stating that there's 10% Ethanol in 87 octane gas, 5% in 89 octane, and no ethanol in 91 octane gas.

andrei3333

lets settle this once and for all; here i come with my trusty 97 manual

Page 9-3 bottom left corner:
"If an oxygenated-blend, excepting a methanol blend, is used, it should contain no more than 10% oxygenate. (MTBE may, however, be added up to 15%)"

jvelos3

iTrader: (2)

well i live in Illinois and it is the law to have atleast 10% ethanol in fuel. Ethanol is bad for mostly older injectors like the older 300zx 1990-93 ones. i believe the newer injectors are designed to handle the ethanol or atleast withstand a little of it.

Bobo

I have been running 10% ethanol gas for about 2 years with no problems. My car runs like a champ on it and I have seen any adverse effect on fuel economy to date.

I can by 90 octane ethanol gas at the price of 87. Locally there is only one company that sells ethanol gas.

nick_auto96

I tried all gas stations exon, mobil, bp, hess but Shell worked best for me. The difference is little noticable everytime I switch to Shell V power. My max's VQ becomes smoother, doesn't stumble at idle and the MPG usually improves by 1-2. I even tried Sunoco and engine felt little sluggish and mileage dropped by 2 mpg. Anyway, Shell V Power is FTW!

ImmaSquashYou

iTrader: (7)

yup, i notice a huge amoutn of mileage lost with gas stations that have 10% ethanol. Can't really find one that doesn't have it now. i'm losing about 30-50 miles on a tank. But i get them back once i go 91. Go figure.

BlackMaxdout

Yes, you are right that ethanol has lower energy....less BTU's/gal.

However, this does not make your car run lean. The chemical makeup of ethanol does not contain enough oxygen to play a role in the stoichiometric A/F ratio.

Edit: One bad thing about ethanol is that it is highly hydrophilic. (It mixes with and attracts water.) This equates to more corrosion on the internals of the engine.

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

Good point about ethanol's hydrophilicity...I never thought about that. Good for mixed drinks, bad for fuel systems....

BlackMaxdout

thumbs up to mix drinks (irish car bombs in particular)

yeah, top fuel dragsters have to rebuild engines constantly because of the ethanol and high stresses. My little nitro R/C car has "after-run" oil that you literally dump down the carb to prevent corrosion from left over nitro in the engine.

Maxgig

iTrader: (5)

with all that being said wouldn't a fuel additive help with the water attraction issue?

BlackMaxdout

Generally, adding the ethanol makes the gasoline a lot cheaper, but still allows it to behave the same way, because it's only a 10/90 mixture. The corrosion of the ethanol is at a minimum as well.

OnEBadAsSi30

iTrader: (1)

Ethanol has a lower BTU than gas. Gas has a BTU (British Thermal Units) 135,000 BTU. But Ethanol has 75,000 BTU. You will expierence a little worse gas mileage but if your car is having problems I suggest possibly running all the gas out of it and filling up with something that doesn't have as much Ethanol. I use 93 from Shell and have had no problems for 3 years. V POWER FTW.