MTAS

The past two times I've put gas in my car, which doesn't get driven very often these days, the pump had a sticker on it that said "contains up to 10% ethanol". I haven't noticed any decrease in performance, but am wondering if I need a new tune to be safe? I run the old DTP/JLT 93 octane tune I've had since mid '05.

70MACH1OWNER

Most gas in this country has had 10% ethanol in it for the past 10-15 years or so. Mine is an 05 and the gas I run is A 10% blend and I have no issues and I'm sure you won't either. Now if they ever increase that percentage we may all need updated tunes.
Scott

Bullitt995

There's been 10% enthanol in there for years. Your tune is fine, it's still 93 octane.

MTAS

Well hell, either they never had the stickers on there or I just ignored them. Thanks for the info though!

tacbear

The Oil Companies started adding 10% Ethanol just recently to make their supply go 10% further, because supply is down and demand is up. It also increases their Profit Margin!! They are required by law to post the 10% Ethanol signs that everyone is seeing on the pumps. This information was related to me by more than one source in the industry.

70MACH1OWNER

Well I can't tell what part of the country you are from but here in Ohio 10% Ethanol has been in our gas since at least the early 1990's. So if where ever you are located at you are just now seeing this blend consider yourself very lucky indeed. And I agree they are required to post stickers on the pumps.
Scott

Stoenr

Yeah, 10% in Illinois for a long time too. I thought it was more for burning cleaner is why it was used and forced by the government, not the oil companies to stretch profits.

m05fastbackGT

Same here in western PA.

GRAYPNY

Ask any person working at the gas station (convenience store) what % of enthanol is in the gas and see what kind of an answer you get. It's actually pretty funny to see the look on their face.

tom281

I would argue the point that supply is down and demand is up- there is no more need for oil this year than three years ago but none-the-less fuel costs have doubled. And the only time they have a decrease in supply is when they voluntarily shut down refineries to cap their inventories! But I won't argue that the oil company's profits are up!

Ethanol has been in fuels from the primary suppliers for years..... it's just now our "Green Government" has decided to make it more apparent to the public.

Etnix

Supply with in the US may be stable, but the world demand has definatly gone up. China is a good example of a huge nation with a increasing demand for oil thus causing the demand to go up.

70MACH1OWNER

You are correct. It is the worlds oil usage that is up. China and India are putting a hugh demand on the supply and it's getting worse by the day.

Woodward Ave

demand for oil went up only 1.4% last year - I honestly think it's just hedge funds inflating the price.

tom281

I believe there is not the amount of increases or significant demand that would cause oil to shoot to $130 a barrell. China certainly buys a ton but you think it's much more than last year or the year before? Doesn't much matter about demand either when supply is way more than capable.... heck some experts say that we have more oil in Alaska than they do in the middle east but we can't drill it because it's part of the reserve (for now).

I buy many large commodities for a living..... oil, sugar, milk, plastic, paper, etc. and I see this happen all of the time. Usually it's created by a few large companies that band together to fix their pricing and increase profits. Typically only lasts a year or two until other markets catch up then it settles down. Just my opinion but I believe this is exactly the case happening now- if indeed supply was so tight and demand was so high, the oil companies would not be receiving record profit margins!

70MACH1OWNER

Oh I agree that the spectulators on Wallstreet and other exchanges around the world are definitely driving the price up. And I believe there is still plenty of oil reserves left to pump. What I thought the problem was there is not enough refining capacity left around the world. Meaning the world is using the gasoline as fast as it can be refined. I believe it been like 30 years since a refinery has been built in the USA. Whatever is the reason it is really going to hurt alot of people. Either way adding 10% ethanol isn't going to help out that much.

ski

Ethanol has an approx. 113 octane rating, so adding 10% of it to 93 octane gas will raise the overall octane of the mixture to approx. 95. Should be no problem using your 93 octane tune, unless they're mixing the ethanol with a lower octane gas.
However, ethanol's btu content is lower than gas, so your mpg may go down slightly.

ski

I totally agree that the skyrocketing price of oil is being caused by momentum speculation, similar to the dot.com and housing bubbles. And just like those, the oil bubble will also eventually burst. The big question is when? IMHO, it will happen when the Fed starts raising interest rates, because that should cause the anemic USD to increase in value, and oil, which is priced in USD, will no longer be an attractive hedge to speculators. Hopefully, this will happen before all of the global economies are plunged into a recession.

nynvolt

I heard world demand dropped 2.7% from this time last year...it's ok if the supply and demand arguement no longer works they will say there's a shortage of ethenol...oh wait they've used that excuse already too.

I think it would atleast be more entertaining if they said they have to raise gas prices to keep up with the exiting CEO's retirement packages.

louie428

My car was running lean with 6,000 miles, SC 12psi boost.
I changed fuel filter and added a pint of Redline injector cleaner and wot 11.0 on wide band so I came to the conclusion that ethanol clogs injectors. This is not a daily driver it sits in garage weeks at a time.
Could this be caused by ethanol?

mot250

I was watching this in Illinois and some time in the early to mid 90's you could still get 100% gas in 93 octane at some stations (I think I remember Amaco was one of the last to carry it). Then the whole state was forced to switch to the Ethanol blend. The story I got from the Amaco station was that some people were having drivability/starting problems when switching between the ethanol blend and 100% gas in the colder months so the state mandated a switch away from the 100% gas.

Could have been BS, I don't know.

But I do know that the fuel containing ethanol has more of a tendancy to absorb water from the atmosphere and from the old underground tanks.
Alcohol also allows the water condensing inside your tank in cold weather to burn off. So there is a chance that the 100% gas could allow water to collect and freeze your fuel lines if you didn't follow the old timer's rule of keeping 1/2 minimum in the winterto keep any condensed water away from the fuel pick-up at the bottom of the tank and therefore out of the fuel lines. Or use some DryGas once in a while through the winter.

Not so much of an issue now-a-days since I'd say all stations were mandated to convert to the lined tanks and they are getting fuel deliveries much more frequently.

We also get worse fuel mileage from the ethanol blend. I had that documented with my own gas milage records when IL made the switch.