Now that all the gas stations are switching from MTBE to ethanol, has anyone noticed a difference? I've heard rumors of reduced power and lower mileage but haven't noticed it myself.

 

I dont think its got here yet... [X(]

 

wait, are you planning to put ethanol into your car?

i think that it may be a bad idea. i am pretty sure ethanol should only be used in cars made for it

 

its not E85..

you can get 89oct ethanol at our pumps but it doesnt have the same properties as E85, the gas content is way higher and little ethanol

 

I know what you mean, and no, I havn't noticed any diff.

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90/10 mix is fine for our cars, in fact many people don't look at the pump but much of the gas here in the mid-west has this mix.

 

That being said, I think you could totally run a performance car on e85. There's still some bugs to work out, but I think as far as the world's fuel problems go ethanol is our best bet. From what I understand, "flex-fuel" vehicles are seeing performance on ethanol-based fuels that are pretty close to what you get with gasoline in terms of power. Mileage may not be as good, but with better infrastructure for production and distribution, e85 should be much cheaper than gas.

What I'm wondering is, how would performance and mileage be for an e85 ONLY vehicle? I bet with some good engineering you wouldn't notice the difference. Go ahead and pump that boost up to 21psi, ethanol is pretty hard to detonate.

I would totally drive a Stang that ran ethanol.

Either that or I'll convert mine to bio-deisel. And run it on nothing but pure seal oil [sm=badbadbad.gif]

 

Yes, I have definitely noticed a difference running 90/10. I dropped considerably ( by about 40 miles a tank ) in fuel mileage.

 

I posted about this a few weeks ago. I noticed when Chevron made the switch i lost about 2mpg almost instantly. It seems the car has adjusted to the new blend and has increased the mpg back tom where it was. I have heard from several people in the industry that the ethanol is not the best way to go. It cant be sent through pipelines like MTBE so it has to be shipped by truck or rail and that really drives up the price. It cant be mixed until right before it is trucked to final destination so they have to build seperate storage at all the hubs. It gives you 85-90% of the energy compared to gas so theoretically would drop your mpg by 10%.

 

I have run 90/10 (gas with 10% ethanol) and didn't notice a change in mileage or performance.