E-10 Fuel mileage better ???

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StevieC

StevieC

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ON, Canada eh?
Ok so I thought I would try a bit of an experiment with my trip down to Ottawa and back. (550 KM's of driving each way)

I filled up with 100% Ethanol Free Shell V-Power for a couple of tanks before the full tank I left with so that I was sure there wasn't any Ethanol fuel in my tank for the trip.

I made it there using 3/4 Tank of fuel. The wind was calm and I kept a steady cruise control pace all the way with no passing or stopping so as to not skew the numbers for this test.

When I arrived I filled up with E-10 Shell and did so for the next tank I needed while there. I then filled up today with E-10 Shell and left for home keeping the same speed and with the same weather etc.

I made it home with more than 3/4 of a tank.

Now sure it's very close, but one would think that the E-10 should offer less mileage than the 0 Ethanol fuel no?
 
Doesn't sound controlled enough to make any judgment on to me, honestly.

E-10 should give worse mileage given it has less energy content per unit volume than pure gasoline.
 
Even a minor discrepancy in winds can have a profound difference. My 1990 Town Car I used to have once got over 40 mpg on the highway, since I had a giant tail wind. The trip back was about 18 mpg. Obviously that's a lot bigger difference, but there are so many factors beyond our control to judge mileage that accurately.

Is the fuel tank filled exactly the same each time? Wind? Temperature? Humidity? Exact same oil? Same driving pattern precisely? Exact same grade and road surface? A/C use or not? ....
 
E10 should give less mpg,since ethanol contains less heat that gasoline.E10 does not provide any lube,particularly to the top piston ring.Now I use a fuel add. that has a lubricant in it.ok
 
Help me out here as I don't have a lot of understanding regarding the use of ethanol in gasoline. I was told by a local station that they don't have to advertise ethanol content on the pump unless it's 10% or more. He said that even though not indicated, most gas now has some ethanol in it...just less than 10%. I was led to believe that I'm probably getting SOME ethanol unless the pump advertises "ethanol free" which is getting harder to find. Is this true?
 
Originally Posted By: oilmaven
Help me out here as I don't have a lot of understanding regarding the use of ethanol in gasoline. I was told by a local station that they don't have to advertise ethanol content on the pump unless it's 10% or more. He said that even though not indicated, most gas now has some ethanol in it...just less than 10%. I was led to believe that I'm probably getting SOME ethanol unless the pump advertises "ethanol free" which is getting harder to find. Is this true?


According to this site: http://www.fuel-testers.com/state_guide_ethanol_laws.html

pumps do not have to be labeled at all in MI.
 
10% ethanol gasoline is not good for mpg, nor for the engine and the parts related to fuel delivery to the engine. Ethanol can cause rust from the inside/out. My mpg was 27 mpg, now it is 21-22 mpg, in my truck. Lousy,lousy,lousy....
 
Even a difference in the wind can account for the difference you observed. E10 has resulted in reduced fuel economy in all of our vehicles.
 
My Impala is a "Flex Fuel" model and can run the E85 fuel. I've never tried it as there aren't any local stations that sell the stuff. From what I'm told, it'll run fine but have noticeably less power and take a big hit on mileage. The extrapolated savings for the lower cost of the fuel doesn't seem like it would make up for the lower mileage. The ethanol rage seems to have quieted down somewhat for many reasons.
 
Maybe Ottawa was uphill? Or maybe the car was using the very slight heat advantage 87 octane has over 91 or 93 octane to advance timing more...

Sadly all we can get is E10 around here. So it's back to hunting for the cheapest station since it's all the same corn swill.
 
High octane fuel is likely to have a higher ethanol concentration than regular unleaded fuel. Ethanol adds to the octane value relatively inexpensively compared to other options. My guess is the test was invalid for quite a few reasons, not limited to the following:

* No information on grade between the two points
* No way to calculate the wind load
* Unknown actual ethanol value in the various fuels
* Temperature variations en route not accounted for
* Climate control and electrical loads not factored in
* Tire pressure variations unknown

Of course, that said, there's really no need to experiment for this at all. It's easy to prove what the theoretical reduction in fuel mileage should be for a given gasoline/ethanol blend. There are still other factors we can't account for though, such as the effects of additives and their concentrations, and real-world variables too numerous to mention. To get any sort of statistically viable data out of an experiment, more concrete data is needed as well as numerous tests.
 
Originally Posted By: J. A. Rizzo
Of course, that said, there's really no need to experiment for this at all. It's easy to prove what the theoretical reduction in fuel mileage should be for a given gasoline/ethanol blend. There are still other factors we can't account for though, such as the effects of additives and their concentrations, and real-world variables too numerous to mention.


All very true. E10 should produce worse mileage numbers under constant conditions. However, a Top Tier ethanol blend might produce better mileage numbers than say some absolute garbage no name bottom of the tanks non-ethanol gasoline. Such poor quality fuel obviously invalidates any attempt at comparing E10 and pure gasoline on an equal footing.
 
E10 should definitely give worse mileage, as a fuel.

However, I do agree with sciphi that it may be possible in certain unique cases where the engine might have been running on retard ignition due to knock, and that the low knock properties of ethanol allowed ignition to fully advance.
 
Originally Posted By: jsap
E10 should definitely give worse mileage, as a fuel.

However, I do agree with sciphi that it may be possible in certain unique cases where the engine might have been running on retard ignition due to knock, and that the low knock properties of ethanol allowed ignition to fully advance.


I'd certainly rather have a good blend of E-10 in my tank than a bad load of pure gas.
 
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