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Octane verses Ethanol

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Old 06-08-2016 | 03:32 AM
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Default Octane verses Ethanol

I went a gas station to fill my new 911 today which was also the first time I actual drove it.
I'm in Florida ( Pensacola ) and I bought the car in St.Louis from a great SA named Joe K. He did not let them even drive it get the tank filled. I didn't want to drive it home in the rain and the possibility of hail. Rented a car and drove home. 1500 miles in less than 2 days, brutal.
They even paid the shipping cost. The car arrived last Saturday afternoon which was also a rainy day along with sunday. Busy until tonight so jumped in and went the gas station. About 50 mile it now. Truly an amazing machine.

The choice at the pump was non ethanol with a 89 octane rating or 93 with ethanol. I went with the non. Maybe some octane booster.
What are your thoughts and which would you have picked. The car is just an "S".

The other thing is what is normal oil temp when warmed up and normal driving.
Mine was 218 - 220 degrees.

Thanks in advanced.
Old 06-08-2016 | 06:15 AM
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what does the owner's manual say about gasoline?

what does the sticker on the back side of the fuel filler door say?

how many bottles of octane boost would be necessary to bring a tank of 89 octane to 90?
Old 06-08-2016 | 08:22 AM
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Don't run 89. Drive carefully until it burns off.

Minimum is 91.

Use the 93 with ethanol.

Your oil temp is normal. Do you have Sport Chrono? In Sport Plus mode, oil temp drops about 20-30 degrees depending on engine demands.
Old 06-08-2016 | 09:06 AM
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93 with ethanol. your car was designed to be able to run E10 or E15, so use it.

as for octane booster, the average bottle you see at the auto parts store does nothing (1 point on their scale is 89 to 89.1).

Torco race fuel additive works and I've heard that Lucas octane booster works, but can't verify.

Drive the car like a sissy until you empty the tank, then fill with 93.
Old 06-08-2016 | 09:14 AM
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I have this within a close distance. Use it for winter storage. 91 no ethanol.

Also have one place with 100 octane unleaded with ethanol race fuel. I know many will say can't tell the difference, but until you try it!

Old 06-08-2016 | 09:21 AM
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I have a similar pump nearby. Catch is, they charge $2.50/gal premium for the corn-free 91.
Old 06-08-2016 | 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Duke I
I have a similar pump nearby. Catch is, they charge $2.50/gal premium for the corn-free 91.
Whole foods' business model is the same.
Old 06-08-2016 | 09:52 AM
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The energy density of ethanol is lower than that of gasoline. I would always choose fuel without ethanol for the track or spirited driving. Stop and go traffic, it wouldn't matter.

Adding toluene would dramatically increase fuel octane ratings. I think Home Depot sells it as do other hard wear stores. Make sure to know the ratios of toluene to fuel volumes for the desired octane rating before opening the fuel filler cap. I'm sure there's some sort of verified online calculator.
Old 06-08-2016 | 10:04 AM
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do not use tinkerbell gas...........wait till you have some extra money and buy high test......no HBO drama ...high test or the most expensive stuff at a normal gas station. of course this applies only if you will drive the car .
Old 06-08-2016 | 10:48 AM
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Originally Posted by extanker
do not use tinkerbell gas...........wait till you have some extra money and buy high test......no HBO drama ...high test or the most expensive stuff at a normal gas station. of course this applies only if you will drive the car .
Perhaps this article from BP can shed some more light on octane ratings and how oil companies increase octane ratings.

http://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp-country/en_au/media/fuel-news/fuel-octane-power.pdf
Old 06-08-2016 | 11:42 AM
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There's nothing wrong with Ethanol, unless you're letting the gas tank sits over the winter. Ethanol attracts condensation, water in fuel isn't good. If you store your car, use Stabil. If you're getting a tank of gas at least once a month, then you're fine using E10/E15. Modern cars have improved fuel system and seals to protect against issues/corrosion of running E10/E15. So just put 93 in there and stop worrying about.

Oil companies fund many of those biased studies against Ethanol. 10-15% Ethanol is detrimental to the fuel industry, there are a few articles saying that if 1% of all vehicles are electric it would screw up the current oil market and forecast.
Old 06-08-2016 | 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Jnosol

Oil companies fund many of those biased studies against Ethanol. 10-15% Ethanol is detrimental to the fuel industry, there are a few articles saying that if 1% of all vehicles are electric it would screw up the current oil market and forecast.


Why do cars consistently get more MPG by using non ethanol vs. ethanol fuel?

Seems like it has zero effect on the oil companies.
Old 06-08-2016 | 11:59 AM
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Originally Posted by STG
Why do cars consistently get more MPG by using non ethanol vs. ethanol fuel?

Seems like it has zero effect on the oil companies.
You are correct, Ethanol has less power than fossil fuel gasoline by 33%. So if there's 10% ethanol, your car will be 3.3% less efficient. So fuel companies only suffer 6.7% loss in revenue vs the full 10%.

So for every gallon of E10, the oil companies lose 6.7% in revenue. The U.S consumes 140B gallons per year, that's 9.38B gallons of lost business. You see, it's a lot of dough.

OP's question is should he suffer knocking with 89 pure fossil fuel or use E10 93 (which all modern cars can accept E10/E15)? The answer is clear. :P
Old 06-08-2016 | 12:36 PM
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what's "P". I don't care about the cost, I wanted the best fuel. That tank will not be used up for a month because I drive The M6 also. I am not going to push the car hard until after break in.(OM say 2k)

I have studied the entire Owners manual just as I would when being assigned to a new jet, but just needed your opinions, there is a ton of experience here. Thanks 997 for the Web page.

When I was on the Corvette forum everyone said the Porsche forum was filled nasty and hateful snubby people. Now that I've been here a couple of weeks they there half right but there are folks here that really want help.
Being retired military and disabled Vietnam vet I don't get the bad attitudes. I guess it comes from having lots of funds.

What about the normal oil temp?

Again thanks for the helpful thoughts.
Old 06-08-2016 | 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Jnosol
You are correct, Ethanol has less power than fossil fuel gasoline by 33%. So if there's 10% ethanol, your car will be 3.3% less efficient. So fuel companies only suffer 6.7% loss in revenue vs the full 10%.

So for every gallon of E10, the oil companies lose 6.7% in revenue. The U.S consumes 140B gallons per year, that's 9.38B gallons of lost business. You see, it's a lot of dough.

OP's question is should he suffer knocking with 89 pure fossil fuel or use E10 93 (which all modern cars can accept E10/E15)? The answer is clear. :P
Hmmm… Not so fast. Ethanol can easily be a petrochemical. It pretty easy and very profitable to make them. The ethanol can either come from corn or ethylene. It depends on what's more profitable in the given economic times. Your calculations are not accurate from many standpoints, the least of which they don't take into account the burning efficiency of ethanol vs. a long chain hydrocarbon or an aromatic hydrocarbon.


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