Hey guys. Got a gas question for you. My bike is approaching it's 4th (week) anniversary with me and I've been using a small gas station in my area that sells gas with no Ethanol in it. There is a larger gas station in the area that sells gas that is 10% Ethanol, and they guarantee their gas and will pay for any fuel related repairs to your vehicles.

Now, the gas with the corn in it is $3.66 a gallon. The cornless gas is now $4.05 a gallon. And, the when I got my receipt yesterday (after putting $20.90 worth of gas in my tank) it showed that I had pumped their cheapest gas, which is only 87 octane. So I worried, and worried for a couple of hours as to whether I'd grabbed the right nozzle. When I replayed the events, it was plain to me that I did in fact grab the correct nozzle (91 octane) and they're playing some kind of game with the machines and what is displayed on the receipt.

So, my question has to deal with whether I should continue to use the high dollar, pure (yeah right) gasoline, or would I be okay in switching to the gas with corn filler in it?

What are the negative effects of the ethanol? Will it cause even more heat? What about pinging?

Thanks in advance. And sorry it's so long but I figured I'd be answering all those questions eventually.

 

In my part of Illinois we have no choice, only corn gas available. I haven't had any trouble with the bike, but it is hell on small engines, weed eater, leaf blower, chain saw, etc.

 

K. Ethanol will give you less mileage and will absorb water. It also dries out rubber. That being said ethanol also cleans the fuel system and combustion chambers. I personally only burn premium and here in Sask premium is 100% pure gasoline. My mustang doesn't run right on ethanol gas so I don't run any of it in anything. There are some pro's to it though I am sure but I dont know em

 

Okay. Let's approach this scientifically.

Less mileage = bad
less water = good

dries out rubber = bad
cleans fuel system and combustion chambers = good

You're not a lot of help! LOL Thanks for the replies so far. Seems like there is a trade-off.

 

<<Less mileage = bad
less water = good

dries out rubber = bad
cleans fuel system and combustion chambers = good>>

Absorbing water is a BAD thing, ethanol being hygroscopic means pulling moisture out of the air and suspending it in the gasoline, which then gets run through your engine.

 

Don't worry about it, your motor was designed to run on up to 10% ethanol. The only thing you should be concerned about is if the gas is going to be sitting in your tank for longer than a month, then you might want to add some fuel stabilizer.

 

I can't tell any difference in how the bike runs with either fuel most of the time, but fuel mileage does suffer with ethanol. If the station you want to buy from is not very busy, don't go there. As said, water is a problem and the longer the fuel sits there the crappier it gets. By me, it's harder to find stations without ethanol and if you get gas that has been sitting for awhile, you will notice. It will be okay to use it, but if there is an option, your only talking 5-6 gallons.

 

I cannot tell any difference in performance or mileage. I've run both for a couple months at a time, back and forth and I see no difference with my bike. I decided to stick with the cheaper of the two. No difference in running temperature either.

 

there is about no advantage to ethanol ( regardless of source)

Given a choice I'd go without.

mileage is decreased by an amount almost the same as the percentage of ethanol

combustion temps can be higher

fuel line, tank and seal problems ( just about every chevy pick up on the road has a non-functioning fuel gauge sender)

as an oxygenate, ethanol additive can help to reduce tailpipe emissions, but this is possibly offset by the raw fuel spills caused by the damage to fuel delivery systems.

AZ has up to 10% in the summer up to 15% in the winter, and it's been just hell on the older vehicles and lawn machinery

mike

 

I've been running 10% ethanol fuel for several years in my motorcycle, car, and all my small engines (lawn mower, string trimmer, and weed blower) have had no issues.