Mike T
I have the Flip Chip.
The US Senate is proposing an energy policy that will promote ethanol blends in gas. How will this affect performance and pinging. Would I simply have to flip to the 87 program if the 93 starts pinging. I am assuming there is less energy in ethanol blends resulting in a lower octane rating

 

Hi Red

Wished we could get some 93oct here..at least 92. Our hightest pump 91.

My ride different...but have used some Arco here & Ca. It has 10% ethanol. My main gas Chevron. But needed alternative when traveling. I do have flip/chip 87/91+.

No pinging..no real noticeable power drop. No major drop in mpg.
But also only used 2 or 3 tank fulls Arco 91.

How Arco would do full time dont know. At least it didnt ping. Ethanol used in mid west/eastern states..how is it?.i dont know.

We probably read/see same news? Latest here..our gas is pumped in from the refineries in Ca. Arco is the only brand ive seen that advertises 10% ethanol. Maybe others use it?

As i understand it..MtBE was cheaper additive than ethanol. But it is bad stuff. I dont think Ethanol will just all of a sudden appear as the #1 additive. Calif. is starting to soften on total ban on MTBE until a host of concerns can be resolved.

Latest development..Right now...Ethanol production maynot be able to supply Ca. what about rest of country? The costs are astronomical, logistices, transportation, new refining methods Crop failure etc. This is short version. So...its just wait and see.

BTW...the real stink with MTBE is still going on. Alot of finger pointing..potential law suits etc. What a mess. Particularly for the environment and of course the consumer.

Good luck...OT

 

Hi RedExpy,

Good to see you again!

Ethanol-blend fuels (gasahol) do have a lower energy content, as the ethanol portion of the fuel has at least 1/3 to as much as 1/2 less energy than "straight" gasoline. However, ethanol is high octane, so the octane number generally doesn't suffer automatically. It's the energy content that drops, so the fuel mileage drops a bit too, that's the normal result.

If you start having any problems with detonation, sure, you can always flip over to the 87 octane program. You really shouldn't have to do that, you shouldn't pick up any detonation unless the fuel quality really drops. Most people running gasahol get a little worse fuel mileage, but don't suffer from detonation for the most part.

 

The senate...That is one thing i dont understand....They are trying to pass a bill with ethanol in it....That will most likley drop gas milage? So why have they been trying to make gas milage go up...sounds like a double negitave....

 

Hi Mike,

With regards to the Ethonol question, which of the following do you think is better for chip users:

94 octane with 10% ethonol blend or
92 octane straight gas, with no blend?

Also, if you have 2 same trucks, both running a chip...
1 truck is using 94 octane (with 10% Ethenol)
1 truck is using 91, or 92 (pure gas, no additives)

Will the higher octane user see a performance gain? or after a certian octane rating, does it just become redundant and overkill?

Thanks
Habibi

PS, I told my buddy Superchip is not available for his truck and he was pretty bummed. Let me know if that ever changes.

 

Hi kutter752,

It may have something to do with farmers, as the primary source for ethanol fuels are certain crops that are grown, to generate the biomass to make the alcohol (ethanol), as I understand it.

Habibi,

In both cases I would prefer the 92 octane gasoline with no ethanol of your two examples. I would love to see some truly well controlled testing of that done, as otherwise we're guessing a little bit. We know that the ethanol portion has a significantly lower BTU content, and we know that affects the mpg results. Lower energy content can affect performance as well, though the first thing that happens is you have to burn more of it. As long as you can do that successfully, you can generally make the power, and not have a big obvious penalty there like you do right away in mpg. It's a funny correlation sometimes.

As much as I am not a fan of gasahol, I'd love to see us get off of these fossil fuels and convert over to burning alcohol/ethanol. We'd have to burn more of it, but it's byproducts are far cleaner for us, the environment and the engines as well. We could make *big* power given proper fuel system design (Indy-type race cars & many others have been burning ethanol for many years), as the fuel could be very high octane. We'd just need to have bigger fuel tanks, or fill up a bit more often.

 

Thanks Mike,

I've been using Sunoco 94 (10% blend), but a couple weeks ago I filled up in NY state at a Sunoco, and I didn't see a sign on the pump that said it contained ethenol.

I am going to try a few tanks of 92 and see if I notice any difference.

Thanks again for your help/

Regards
Habibi