297 messages,
Last post on Jan 20, 2013 at 2:20 PM
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Maintenance & Repair Forum.
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Engine, Fuel System
#261 of 297 Re: Alcohol [imidazol97]
by shipo
Jul 15, 2007 (7:33 am)
Hmmm, maybe I misunderstood the language of your first post:
"Is alcohol being used in lots of areas now? I thought after he Katrina mess the gov advocated using as much ethanol as possible."
My bad if I got the incorrect impression, but my reading of the above suggests that your language indicated that you were drawing a line between Alcohol and Ethanol. Please accept my apology if I read you incorrectly.
Best Regards,
Shipo
#262 of 297 Re: Alcohol [shipo]
by imidazol97
Jul 15, 2007 (8:23 am)
I didn't word the first post well to say what I had in my mind. You're right that it's not clear.
I thought after the Katrina fiasco they encouraged putting alcohol (ethanol) into more and more of the fuel across the country to increase the usage of ethanol (read: improve profit for big companies manufacturing ethanol from corn). I noticed that our pumps used to have a sticker indicating the content COULD contain up to 10% ethanol from some companies who included the ethanol in previous years. Those disappeared. I've not yet tested the name brands for ethanol in our area. I avoid those brands who include ethanol as a technique for reducing quality.
I heard a tanker driver say that only 5 Shell stations used pure gasoline in his delivery area. It used to be Speedway, Clark, and other off brands that had ethanol disclaimers on their pumps in this area of Ohio. The use of ethanol reduced the cost per galloon so these stations sold ethanol gas at a price equal to the regular gasoline and made a higher profit per gallon because the ethanol doesn't pay state tax and maybe federal tax.
I believe the ethanol gasoline gives lower miles per gallon.
#263 of 297 Re: Alcohol [imidazol97]
by shipo
Jul 15, 2007 (9:23 am)
Hmmm, I'm not sure of the politics regarding national usage of ethanol (I know they're there I just haven't gotten involved), however, I do know that the EPA has mandated oxygenated fuel in most if not all metropolitan areas around the country, and since MTBE has been found to be particularly nasty stuff, ethanol is now the preferred oxygenate.
Here in the Boston area we had no ethanol infrastructure for a long time and as such we were allowed to get away with non ethanol fuels until about a year ago. When they hit, both of our cars immediately started returning about 5% fewer miles per gallon. Grrr.
Best Regards,
Shipo
#264 of 297 Re: Alcohol [shipo]
by imidazol97
Jul 15, 2007 (9:38 am)
Hawaii legislation
This states that 50% of fuel in US contains alcohol.
governors' conference
This states a minimum amount of renewable fuels (ethanol) that will be used. Maybe this was the required ethanol use that I was recalling. Rather than percent of fuel needing to be alcohol (ethanol) it states a quantity of ethanol to be used.
#265 of 297 Re: Alcohol [imidazol97]
by shipo
Jul 15, 2007 (9:39 am)
Good stuff, thanks for the links.
An interesting point. None of the New England states sent a representative, not one. Hmmmm...
Best Regards,
Shipo
#268 of 297 Re: Alcohol [shipo]
by oluade76
Aug 20, 2007 (2:52 pm)
What about Chevron/Texaco gas stations that use Techron concentrate
I noticed that i get better Gas Mileage than from Ethanol Based Gas.
Does anyone agree or disagree?
#269 of 297 Re: Alcohol [oluade76]
by shipo
Aug 20, 2007 (3:43 pm)
You're mixing your additives so to speak.
A few points:
- Ethanol is an blending agent that is used as an oxygenate
- Techron is Chevron's additive package to help keep fuel systems and the upper end of the engine clean
- The two are not mutually exclusive
- If you find fuel that is not an Ethanol blend it is almost a sure bet that your car will get better mileage with it (Techron or no) as compared to when you are running E10 (Techron or no).
Best Regards,
Shipo
#270 of 297 MPG's
by jl49
Sep 24, 2007 (1:45 pm)
I bought a 2007 Jeep Compass just recently. I'm getting around 14 to 15 mpg's which is not the 23 to 26 mpg's advertised on the window sticker. Dealer claims it's the oil companies putting more ethanol in gas which is lowering the mpg's. What can I do?