2011FX2Crazy

I want to begin by offering some background into my reasons for finding and using ethanol free fuel. This thread will be updated as needed to allow others to see what I'm experiencing real-time using it in my EcoBoost.

I've been doing allot of reading online concerning the effects of ethanol on our gas engines and what I'm finding across the board is not very good. Ethanol is a filler used to reduce our dependency on oil. it has no real good qualities in an internal combustion engine. It is basically used as a filler to lower the oil content in our gasoline.. Although some may disagree, I can see it is no good for our engines.

However it does one positive thing.... Reduces our need for oil.

Ok... about a month ago I began my Ethanol free gasoline challenge to see exactly what benefits I'd get keeping ethanol out of my EcoBoost and so far the results are impressive.

First things first.... There is one station, about a mile from my house that offers 90 octane ethanol free gas so I've been buying my fuel there all month. It fluctuates in price just like the ethanol stations do and is usually about 15 cents a gallon more then all the other local stations. So do expect to pay slightly more for it but as you'll see here in a minute, it's worth it IMO.

I've put 5000 miles on my EcoBoost using 10% ethanol gas at several local stations... I try to use name brands such as Chevron and texaco but that isn't always the case.
My truck has averaged between 20.5 and 22.2 MPG's during it's first 5000 miles on ethanol gas.

At 5000 miles I filled her up with 90 octane "ethanol free" gas. This first tank averaged 25.9 with mixed driving.

Second tank of ethanol free 90 octane was used during the Christmas holidays where there was allot of highway driving... This tank averaged 28.8 mpg's. Now I know some of you are very skeptical but I assure you these are accurate numbers, all hand calculated and double checked because I even doubted it.

I just finished my third tank of ethanol free 90 octane with being back to work and my normal driving routine of mixed driving. I got 26.7 mpg's.

I am averaging almost 600 miles per tank and the performance is noticeably better on ethanol free.

Now I'm no expert on gas but it's clear to me that the ethanol is obviously hurting our mileage at the least.

Oh yeah, I noticed something else... I used to have to clean this black soot off my chrome exhaust tip every time I washed the truck... Since switching to ethanol free I no longer have that soot on the exhaust tip... Hmmm... Makes you think..What in the hell are we burning

In closing, if this information is useful for somebody then great....Do your own research and you'll see what I'm seeing....

For Ethanol free gas stations in your state go to http://pure-gas.org
there are over 500 in my state of Florida alone... Try it out and you'll be surprised at the mileage improvement, not to mention you won't be putting all that crap into your engine.

J

kjo43

thats fantastic... thanks for providing the info. Your threads are informative AND fun to look at.

I wish we had the selection of ethanol free you do - In all of New York State there are less than 50 stations serving up ethanol free gas and most of those are marina$

'05 F-150

that is very interesting, i have found by burning all 93 octane i actually save about $4.00 per tank because of better FE aand the truck performs so much better

Bob_Mac

So is his avatar!

rmdesigns

Very interesting, but I would have to drive over 400 miles to get to the nearest ethanol free gas station. That's Southern California for you.

SultanGris

You are 100% right about getting better mileage with non ethanol fuel, however as ethanol burns cleaner than gas you are wrong about the soot problem being caused by the ethanol. In my 5.4L if I use e85 my truck is way more responsive and has more power than when running regular gas or even 10% ethanol, but at the cost of using more fuel, however the ecoboost isnt made to run e85 so I would just stick with regular gas or e10 if I was you. I notice about a 1-2 mpg gain when using regular gas vs 10% and about 4-5 when using regular vs e85, however if the e85 is 20% cheaper its the break even point on $ per mile.

KGSloan

my experience was that the gains were neglible at best, and perhaps not even there.

ethanol has 85% of the energy of gasoline - and is only blended at 10%

so, you have .1 x .85 + .9 = .985
this means that E10 has 98.5% of the energy of 100% gasoline. so we should see a decrease in mileage due to the lower energy level ~1.5%. These claims of a 30% increase in mileage (28.8mpg / 22.2mpg) are unrealistic in my opinion - no way you will see that gain from a fuel source that contains 1.5% more energy per volume.

EBinMT

I personally see about 2mpg less on E10.

G2G

I agree that I would rather be able to purchase ethanol free gasoline, but I have some issues with your test. The first 5,000 mile average is really a bad comparison. The truck is not "fully broken in" according to Ford until the first 1000 miles are completed. Many people have noticed substantial increase in mpg after crossing some milestone marks, if I recall numbers have been thrown out around 4,000 5,000 and 8,000 miles. Don't know if any of that is true or not.

A better test would be to calculate between oil changes. The next time you get your oil changed, dump all the fuel and begin using 10% mixed ethanol. Then when you need to change your oil again take note of the oil life percentage and then switch to straight gasoline. Then when oil life has reached your previous recorded value, that's when you stop and average your mpg. This would be a more representative test of the difference you're getting in mpg's.

Then there's the psychological factor, after thinking about these experiments and what not, you might subconsciously begin to take it easy when you switch to full gasoline. This is over the top I know, but it would give a more accurate value to compare.

That being said; ethanol has roughly 76,000 BTU's per gallon vs gasoline at 116,090. Therefore your ten percent ethanol gasoline actually only has 112,081 BTU's in it per gallon. That's only a 3.5 percent difference and percent change. That's also assuming that you burn 100% of the fuel injected, which won't happen. The difference in mpg you registered is 23.7 percent difference and a 27.1 percent change which is very significant.

Not trying to be a dick, but I think even using a tank to tank comparison would be more indicative of the difference between the two. Once my truck breaks in and gets a few more miles on it, this may be something I consider testing.

Anyway, you are seeing great results and I am interested to see what your mpg's will be over time.

- Steiner

Lurker

OK I tried this too, but my difference was only 0.5 mpg and when I am only getting 16 mpg (avg speed per tank 52 +/- 2 mph), yes it helps but it isn't enough due to the additional cost. Now in Illinois that the subsidies for ethanol are gone the prices might be in line more and it might be a little easier to justify.