E10 87 octane vs E Free 90 observations

All,

I ran a tank of ethanol free 90 octane in my truck last week just for giggles to see if there is ANY difference between that and the usual E10 87 octane I have been using for years.

For information purposes my Taco is a completely stock 2.7 5 speed SR5 with 266K on the odo. I am the original owner.

I only use ethanol free gas for my small engines, lawnmowers, blowers, trimmers etc. because of what it does to the carbs and hoses. I know the damage it does to rubber components as last year I had to replace the rubber gasket on the fuel tank for the fuel pump assembly on my truck. It was hard as a rock and I was getting the check engine light for emissions. Thanks to ethanol. Since then I use Stabil 360 ethanol treatment at every fill-up.

So, this one time I bit the bullet and paid the extra .80 a gallon and filled up the empty tank on my truck just to see if there was any performance difference or gas mileage difference in my 100 mile a day highway commute. For comparisons sake the drives on the two tanks, one 87 and one E-free 90 were identical from weather conditions to traffic conditions etc. From work to home and back 4 times a day all highway.

What I noticed right away was better throttle response and smoother idling. Not by huge margins, but noticeable.

Fuel mileage improved to 25.6 from previous tanks at 23.8, 24.4, 24.4, 24.4, 24.1, 24.4, 24.2 and so on. I calculate pin to paper using Fuelly and confirm with my Scangauge.

I was back at the station yesterday and really wanted to do another tank but at .80 a gallon more I could not stomach it. But, I did hesitate because I felt the E-free 90 octane gas was so much better.

Just to think how much less fuel would be consumed in the entire country and world for that matter if my results were multiplied by the amount of vehicles on the road that are forced to use this ethanol crap.

Sorry for the long read, just wanted to post for information purposes.

 

I bought a tank of Shells top stuff yesterday for my 2.7 auto. I normally use Mobil 87. I too noticed an improvement, especially on the hilly rds of Western Ma. However, at 3.85 a gallon it’s pretty not gonna happen again.

 

Likely the octane had little to do with it on an older motor as predetonation you would have noticed by now.

 

So if you drive 20,000 miles per year and get 20mpg, it will cost you can extra $800/year to run Efree. So assuming 1.8mpg better on every tank, you will save $72 at the increased rate of $.80. Spend $800 to save $72.

 

Gas prices are out of hand. Only thing getting premium is the motorcycle and car. Def not the truck

 

He was referring to ethanol free, not necessarily premium gas- which is a waste of money unless your engine requires a higher octane rating.

 

I know. I don’t even know if we have ethanol free here in SoCal that I’ve seen. We do have a race gas station across the street

 

Little fact there is more heat energy in 87 than there is in 90. If ethanol is so bad how come race cars burn it?

 

Hight test auto fuel octane rating 92 to 94 octane rating of ethanol 113. Strange that.

 

No doubt, that is why I went with the regular at $2.77. Juice ain't worth the squeeze.............................

 

In general, ethanol has about 33 percent less energy than gasoline.

 

That is correct so mixed in a tank of fuel you are looking a huge difference of maybe as much as whole 3%! That also is why ethanol burning race stuff is run at a higher fuel rate but at 113 octane it's worth it. Bottom line the expensive stuff is just not worth it. Always get a kick out of "my truck feels much better" got to wonder just when did a truck develop feelings?