Maybe a fuelish question?

oldmattb wrote:
Toyota Echo driving from Houston to Atlanta and back several times, I noticed a drop in mileage from 43 highway to 39 highway. I came to realize it was the alcohol in the gas. In this case, ten percent alcohol reduced mileage by ten percent.

Matt B

That shows the danger of informal testing. You are saying that you got no energy from that 10% ethanol. Other factors like vehicle loading, driving style and wind might also affect the results.

Toyota Echo driving from Houston to Atlanta and back several times, I noticed a drop in mileage from 43 highway to 39 highway. I came to realize it was the alcohol in the gas. In this case, ten percent alcohol reduced mileage by ten percent.

Matt B

Non-ethanol gas will have more energy content, which may increase fuel economy. Around here, we have some places selling regular unleaded with no ethanol. Generally 20 to 30 cents per gallon extra.

As for higher octane, unless your vehicle is recommended to use mid-grade or premium (due to how it's tuned), you won't see any advantage with it.

Here in Wisconsin we hate ethanol.I will pay for premium just so it isn't in the fuel. We don't use it in small engines or it will burn them up. My friends that burn ethanol end up changing a lot of o2 censers.

I get it...

Title of post is...

Maybe a fuelish question?

agesilaus wrote:
Ethanol gets 20-25% lower mileage than pure gasoline. So if you are burning 85% gas/15% EtOH then you'd get 3-4% less than pure gas. I think that's what the OP was asking.

When I burn E85 I get 20% less miles per gallon then I do on Regular (E15). This was not towing. So that would support the above findings. Ford says that I do get more horsepower on E85. I called the Ford support people and I was told that I would not see any benefit in using a higher octane fule in my low compression 5.4.

In the good ol' days, we ran premium in the second/aux tank. Switched over to premium in the hills. Ran regular on the flats. No computers to retard timing back then.

kaydeejay wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Ethanol gets 20-25% lower mileage than pure gasoline. So if you are burning 85% gas/15% EtOH then you'd get 3-4 mpg less than pure gas. I think that's what the OP was asking.

That's the way I read the question and I agree with the comment.
What Premium does NOT have Ethanol? I thought the Feds legislated 10% in ALL gasoline.:h

We have several stations with premium non-ethanol but you pay a fine price for it. It seems to help the small engines last longer. I run it for the small generator for the house, chain saws, trimmers, blowers, my little ATV Mule and lawn mower.
Generally speaking non-ethanol will get you better mileage but the higher cost would offset that extra mileage.

agesilaus wrote:
Ethanol gets 20-25% lower mileage than pure gasoline. So if you are burning 85% gas/15% EtOH then you'd get 3-4 mpg less than pure gas. I think that's what the OP was asking.

That's the way I read the question and I agree with the comment.
What Premium does NOT have Ethanol? I thought the Feds legislated 10% in ALL gasoline.:h

Ethanol gets 20-25% lower mileage than pure gasoline. So if you are burning 85% gas/15% EtOH then you'd get 3-4% less than pure gas. I think that's what the OP was asking.