Finally found 100% gas.. big difference

[duaneage]

Alcohol has half the calories per gram gasoline does. It has higher octane but the octane advantage is a mute point on any engine with either compression below 9.5 to 1 or fuel injection engine management systems. In short,. it's advantages are really none but the problems are many. Adding 10% ethanol with an octane rating of 112 to fuel with standard rating of 87 means they can tweak the mixture a bit and save on other petroleum byproducts used in gas manufacturing. But you are not going to get a performance boost from the stuff.


Ethanol absorbs water, not good for engines or tanks that hold it. If we had plastic tanks like modern cars and bikes it would be less of a problem. POR-15 the tank and fuel bowls and hope for the best.

Ethanol raises the price of fuel while providing less energy. Lousy deal for consumers, great for ADM and the farmers. Energy required to make it overrides any savings on dead dinos. Running a car on 85 or even 100 percent ethanol yields mileage that is horrible at best. Try 12 MPG in a small pickup and less than 6 in a SUV.

Ethanol burns and releases water vapor. Before you start cheering this wonderful byproduct remember that water vapor is the CHIEF substance that traps heat on earth. Yes, it is a major green house contributor. Sorry to break that news.

My personal experience with this stuff showed a drop in mileage of 4 around town and 5 on the highway. I was lucky to find some real gas on a trip last year and the highway mileage was noticeably higher.

YMMV but tell your elected thieves, er I mean representatives to vote no on E20 and higher blends. You'll be glad you did.

 

[LarryA_Texas]

Ethanol burns and releases water vapor. Before you start cheering this wonderful byproduct remember that water vapor is the CHIEF substance that traps heat on earth. Yes, it is a major green house contributor. Sorry to break that news.

Just asking since you mentioned it:
Isn't water a byproduct of combustion of all petroleum products? Isn't that why water runs out of car exhaust and isn't a jet's contrail basically just ice forming from the water being spewed out the tailpipe? If that's so, why would ethanol be any different?

Second, if water in the fuel is a problem (I know jet fuel traps water) are there not additives that dispel the water? Would such a product be useful in motorcycle gas tanks? Jet airplanes often add Prist or something similar to reduce the water and to kill something that grows in that water. Some kind of algae, I think.

Piston airplanes don't add Prist because the gasoline they burn doesn't mix with water. So if ethanol introduces water in the fuel it would make sense that you would want to do something about it.

Anyone got the straight dope on this?

 

[bwringer]

Burning anything (gasoline, alcohol, wood, propane, etc.) releases water. They demonstrated this in high school chemistry class. Weren't you paying attention?

I do agree wholeheartedly that it's crazy, expensive, and wildly inefficient to manufacture alcohol for fuel using food crops, but we'll leave aside that particular nugget of political and financial insanity for now.

As far as worries about water in fuel, keep in mind that Heet and similar additives are simply alcohol -- the alcohol mixes with any water that's already in the tank and enables it to mix with the gasoline and get burned. The mixture doesn't burn very well -- it'll make the engine run like poo if there's much water in there, but it does work up to a point. So it's a little silly to dump in a container of Heet in the winter when your gas is pretty much already 10% alcohol.

With that said, you can see that if you have very much water sloshing around at the bottom of your storage and/or vehicle tanks and then introduce fuel containing alcohol, you could have a bigger problem.

 

[sachsaca]

I think if you'll read the multiple posts some like and some say it doesn't matter and some say the Ethanol is better. Look at the big picture, all bikes have different tunes and my bike may like ethanol gas and yours may like 100% gas. The post about high volume gas stations is point on, less chance of getting trash from them. If my two cent's would count I have a GEO Tracker 16 valve 1.6 ltr.engine made by Suzuki and I get alot better gas mpg with the 100% gas. It's Sunoco 93 oct and the little engine loves the stuff, my bike is a just purchased on and I cant speak for it. I had a GS 1100 E and it ran like a scallded dog on the stuff. (I actually saw my step father accidentally throw some water he boiled chicken in over the deck and hit a dog, thats fast.) So in the big scheem of things it may depend on YOUR bike and what it likes. Too may toe, to maa toe, it just depends on your specific bike tunage. I can say this though, the butterfly valves on the carbs on my vehicle are now clean as a whistle and the gas mileage is increased, city and highway, that and .89 is good for coffee.