Ethanol or Non-Ethanol???

Has anyone compared the gas mileage difference between the two fuels? I have a friend that claims he gets better gas mileage with the non-ethanol fuel in his Dodge Pickup? I haven’t tried it...with the difference between the two fuels at about 25¢ here in Alabama, it might be worth it? Any thoughts?

 

Pure gasoline gives better mileage. I get about an extra 2 MPG, but the price has gone over the top in my area. Give it a shot and do the math to see if it's worth your while.

 

Pure Ethanol has a base octane rating of 118.
Pure ethanol is stoich at around 9:1 air/fuel ratio.
Gasoline is stoich at 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio.

A gasoline engine that gets 29.4mpg running "E-0", tuned properly and running "E-100", would get 18mpg, and would produce about 75% of the power.

Ethanol is not our friend.

 

I am supercharged and I notice a HUGE differance when not running E-10 gas. WIth E-85 and tuned for it a boosted engine can make huge power numbers but for the average vehicle it sucks.

Check this site out: http://www.pure-gas.org/

It lists all the known non ethanol gas stations in your area. I use it all the time, also most non ethanol fuel is 91 octane or higher, thats one of the main reasons for the price difference.

 

Thanks guys! Going to the beach next week, might try it out then.

 

I just recently did this exact comparison. better gas mileage, but the price difference for the E0 is soo high that it makes it the same cost per mile.

 

Ok, I tried it and here are my results:

E0 (87 Octane) - $3.71 a gallon; drove 321.4 miles (mixed interstate and city roads); used 15.797 gallons. So, 321.4 miles ÷ 15.797 gallons = 20.346 miles per gallon. About 18 cents a mile.

E10 (87 Octane) - $3.51 a gallon; drove 343.1 miles (mixed interstate and city roads) used 16.674 gallons. So, 343.1 miles ÷16.674 gallons = 20.577 miles per gallon. About 17 cents a mile.

I just hit around 2500 miles on my truck at the start of my experiment. So, I guess it is somewhat broken in. With that said, this is the first time that I’ve averaged over 19.3 miles per gallon since I bought my truck. For those keeping up with it, I have been able to exceed 350 miles per tank of gas. I haven’t tried to hit 400 miles yet. Might have to wait for a trip to Tennessee for that experiment.

Oh, E0 (93 Octane) was available at $4.06 when I statrted this process. I just chose to use the 87 octane for both E0 and E10.

 

Two data points (tanks) is not enough.
Take a look at the graph on my Fuelly link.

That is 100% the same gas from the same station (even the same pump), and the same commute.
The only difference is the density of traffic. Some days I'm flying along at 75-80 getting horrible mileage, some days I'm stuck sitting for 3 hours for the 40 mile trip getting horrible mileage, and other days traffic is flowing a smooth 60-65 all the way home and I'm cruising along getting 26+ on the Ultragauge for the SRT Trip indication.

It needs to be averaged over many tanks under similar weather conditions.

 

I agree with you Rick that two trips is not enough data. I just wanted to see if there would a big difference between the two fuels during my trip down to Gulf Shores and back home. In my case, there really wasn't a big difference. I do calculate my fuel mileage with every fill up. I don't chart the information. With that said, I only got a little over 18 mpg on my first tank of fuel (around 320 miles). My mpg has increased everytime as one would expect as the truck breaks in. The last two fill ups finally put me in the 20 mpg range. Not sure if the E0 made a difference or not. My truck seemed to like the E0 better than the E10. My limited trial doesn't show a difference between the two. Like you said, I would need to gather more information.

I notice you have the 2.7L engine. My first Tacoma PreRunner ('98 Extra Cab) had the 2.7L engine and I averaged between 23 and 24 mpg per run. I loved that truck!

 

Also, at 2500 miles your engine is no where near broken in. The 4.0 dosent really start loosening up until 10000+ miles. You will usually see an increase in milage after that. Also, E0 makes a big difference for me because I am supercharged and pushing about 5-6 psi so the non ethanol is a big increase for me.

 

Actually, if you can kick the boost up, and get the computer to properly adjust the mixture AND the timing, you could pull some decent power out of E10 (at the cost of economy).
Ethanol has a lower BTU content than gasoline, but the 118 base octane is a big help if you can hold it rich enough to run higher pressures.

 

I know, thats why most of the tuners run E85. But unless your specifically tuned for it it dosent add any benefit.