93oct with 10%ethanol = bad?

[boostboyike1]

Ok.i found a gas station thats selling 93 for .25 cents cheeper than ware i usually get gas.Well,while i was filling up i noticed it has 10%ethanol by volume.Well ,i thought it couldnt be that bad.I was wrong!I lost alot of power with that gas, and have to wait till tank is empty to get some good gas.Do you gous think its the ethanol or mabey just piss gas?

 

[keymaster]

All gas has 10% ethanol now. The midwest has had it that way for YEARS. I can't remember the last time I saw a pump that WASN'T 10% ethanol. 93 octane is 93 octane, you're not going to lose power if it had ethanol in it.

 

[boostboyike1]

Most gas stations have it but the one i usually go to doesnt.Well must have just been bad gas .Ill never go there again.

 

[Wpgdsm]

I run 94 with 10% in it and I have never noticed a difference between regular and blended. You must have gotten some bad gas, maybe they just filled the tanks and stired up all the crap from the bottom of the tank.

 

[lasertim]

ALL gas in Minnesota has been 10% ethanol for many years now.(very few places offer 100% non-ethanol gas) I would think it is more likely that you just got bad gas. Some little stations dont sell much of the higher octane gas and it can get old in the tank.

Kind of off topic. What do people actually refer to as bad gas? What is bad about it? I know that before ethanol was mixed in bad gas usually refered to gas having water in it, but now that there is 10% ethanol in all gas in MN water isnt a problem.

 

[CyberEye]

Most gas stations have it but the one i usually go to doesnt.Well must have just been bad gas .Ill never go there again.

I can almost gaurantee that your normal place has 10% ethonal, it just doesn't say on the pump.

 

[Staytuned]

I can't wait for E85 to come up this way so I can make my own E30 mix and run that.

I bet you just got a bad tank of gas. It happened to me 2 weeks ago when I was out of town, thought I was getting a tank of 93 oct and it ran like it was 87 oct. I had to pull close to 3 degrees of timing out to stop the knock.

 

[Raph]

so e10 is safe for normal cars?its being introduced here in 2009, asnd people are saying it will harm your fuel system

 

[viprez586]

Let me clarify this. Most cold climate states or places use this type of fuel because of the cold winter. Ethanol which is pretty much alcohol - absorbs moisture in your fuel system along with water.

Think those tanks at the gas station are 100% exactly gasoline? Not really after its been re manufactured and shipped all over the place to get to your gas tank which probably has some moisture and or water in it.

The EPA says that gas stations are required to have 5-10% Ethanol in their fuel. Which is the SAME thing as E10( 10% ethanol)

Ethanol also helps reduce carbon monoxide(partially burned fuel) emissions. This is termed the infamous "winter-fuel" and typically has lower volatility as opposed to higher volatility in summer.
Whats volatility? The property of a liquid that defines its evaporation characteristics.
Along with volatility being lower in winter, Reid vapor pressure is typically higher which can be associated with volatility.

So want to know how to test how much alcohol is in your fuel tank? Take 10 milliliters of fuel, and 2 milliliters of water, combine the two in a graduated cylinder and shake for 1 minute. The water will sink to the bottom, take your reading of remaining water and subtract 2. Then multiply that number by 10.

How likely are you to find that there is an incorrect amount? Not likely since every gas-station is subject to random testing by the EPA. And good luck getting a lawsuit of some type going because their main argument is that you could've received fuel from a previous gas station that was not in compliance with EPA regulations.

I hope you feel smarter now.