Mike,
I lived in VA when I got my chip from you. Now I have moved to Michigan and the fuel pumps say sometihng about 15% ethanol or something like that. Aside from gas being more $ here, could that account for some of my lack in mpg? Thanks.

 

HI dnale,

Yes indeed, those "gasahol" blends do have a substantially lower energy content. The portion that is ethanol has an energy content that is roughly *half* that of straight gasoline by comparison, and that is the big difference.

This shows up not only in your fuel mileage. but also in how much power you'll make as well. I think you'll find that the ethanol content is either 5% or 10%, we've not seen any as high as 15% yet, and your owner's manual should say something about that, I think they say that the fuel system in these vehicles is OK for up a 10% ethanol content by volume, if memory serves.

If your ethanol content is that high, if it says 15% on the pump there as yor're thinking, we'd love to hear back on that, just so we'll know. Someone else mentioend that they thought they had 15% ethanol, but we haven't been able to confirm that, I think that was up in Canada however. It's no big deal, just trivia really, but we do like to know if someone runs across anything higher than 10% ethanol by volume.

If you have a choice, and can get straight pump premium gasoline, that is what we would use, as it will pay for it's difference in cost usually, with better mileage and performance.

Good luck!

 

Mike T,
I'll check the content tonight. Especially since I have to fill up about every other day. (I thought after I moved I'd save more in gas!) It may be 10% but I haven't seen any stations up here that don't have the ethanol. It's some state regulation I guess. I pulled my chip last week to try something. I didn't reset the computer, just ran regular gas. No pinging, and I thought I was getting decent milage (almost 15 around town.) This tank however has seen those numbers go down. I will wait until after labor day now so prices of gas go back down.