Poppa

Gents, I would like your opinion concerning the use of gasoline that contains ethanol. I know in my boat I never run anything but ethanol free fuel, same for my lawn equipment, but what about for use in our vehicles. I've always used a top tier gas but all of them have up to 10% corn. There is a station that's not too far out of the way that sells E free gas and I've thought about running it in my cars.. My first concern was this station is sort of a wholeseller so it's not like it's a texaco or shell station... It's called Delta.. They also sell Sunoco racing fuel as well as aviation fuel. When I asked one of the guys that worked there what "brand" of e free gas they sold he said it was "unbranded".. Anyway I found the company on facebook and sent them a message asking them what "brand" of fuel was in their e free pump and I got a message back saying it was Chevron... however I don't know if it already has the techron additive already in it.. That's part of the reason I've used Chevron or Texaco over the last several years... Obviously I can still go to my area chevron station like i've been doing, but this is Chevron with out ethanol.. your thoughts? thanks in advance guys.

Roland

Mike728

They put in the additives at the station, so no Techron, if that's important to you. The only real benefit to using Ethanol free gas, is you would see a slight increase in fuel economy. Ethanol burns faster.

bc6152

In my car I would only use a tier one gas from a branded gas station with a large brand sign outside. One that is used by numerous customers and the gas is turned over frequently...
Costco tier one fuel included...

Dmaxdmax

st1800

Mike728

If that's the case, all gas will have additives. It's more of a marketing thing anyways. As far as Ethanol goes, burning through it quicker per mile is the same as burning faster.

Dmaxdmax

Some Circle K stations are now selling Top Tier gas. I'll check ours.

st1800

Mike728

In the US there are regulations for additives that all gas being sold must meet. Like I said, the rest is just marketing BS.

For reference:

"Unbranded gasoline that heads to stations like US Gas also receives the detergent or additive package, albeit a generic one that is regulated by the government."

http://blogs.platts.com/2010/08/23/unbranded_vs_br/

Sulu

This is out of my 2015 ES 300h / ES 350 owner's manual, in the section named Fuel Information:

Do not use any fuel greater than 15% ethanol. E10, E15 are fine but E20 (and higher) are not recommended. Use of ethanol blended into gasoline may cause problems with the engine.

I found this in Popular Mechanics (source):

jfelbab

You can find ethanol free gas near you here: https://www.pure-gas.org

Some are unbranded but most in my area are branded. There are a larger number of stations selling pure gas near marinas and areas near the water. The reason non-ethanol gasoline is so much more available around marinas is that ethanol has a propensity to absorb water. Ethanol loves water and can cause boaters huge problems.

In my old Lexus, I got 1-2 mpg better gas mileage when using pure gasoline on highway driving and little difference in city driving. Ethanol has less energy per volume than gasoline which accounts for poorer gas mileage the more ethanol in the gas.

Dmaxdmax

jfelbab

You could run a couple tankful and record your MPG. If the increased MPG makes the cost of operating the vehicle on pure gas cheaper than using Unleaded (E10) gas go for it. If not, I'd not worry about it.

Also, a few years back I started tracking my MPG based on octane grades, I found I got better MPG when using higher octane gas on a 2004 RX. I repeated the testing on my 2014 RX and the same held true but the cost made it not worth the extra cash. Back in 2004 the price of premium was only 20 cents more than regular so I used premium and typically always ran pure gas. The manual suggested to use premium for better performance but recommended a minimum of 87 octane. Time marched on and the price premium now is much higher and performance seems fine on regular 87 octane. Many stations charge extra for pure gas these days even though it is cheaper to manufacture. This makes the economics a looser. So do your own math and make the call. I don't think gas makes much difference outside of the Top Tier brands having a higher level of detergents in all their grades.

I'd worry more about making sure there are no skimmer devices on the pump.

Poppa

First, let me thank you all for your replies.. I really appreciate it.. did a little more investigating today and found out the following... actually talked to someone at the station who told me the fuel in their ethanol free tank is "unbranded" and has an octane rating of 92.. They actually get their fuel from a local refinery about 30 minutes from my house. So my question to you is would you be concerned about using an "unbranded" fuel, even though it was E free and had a 92 octane rating? I have always used Chevron / Texaco fuels in all of my vehicles, so I'm a little squeemish about using an unbranded gas. as far as price goes, at the e free station, it runs about 10 cents a gallon less than at the chevron station... but I'm retired now and do a lot less driving, so cost per gallon isn't really a major consideration.

bc6152

You've been running your 2013 for around 5 years without an issue and I don't know why you would want to start using a "mystery" fuel. For me, using a name brand top tier fuel at whatever price (I'm also retired and don't use a lot) is the way to go to be problem free. No "unbranded", unnamed fuel going into my car from the guy down the street... Stick to what you know and use the good stuff...