10% Ethanol....thoughts?

[shah269]

So I'm in NJ and many if not most of our gas sations have 10% ethanol.
Not the best thing in the world I know but what can you do right?

And I know these cars love producing carbon. And I know my bike produces a shit load of carbon when I'm running ethanol and have to add "stuff" like kid you not WD-40 to the tank to "wash away" the carbon.

How does this car behave?

My 03 1.8t VW was ok with it.

[IZAGLO]

Just put Shell 93 in the car and call it a day. WD40 LOL..indeed it is a lubricant but does offer some cleaning powers as it cleans almost more than lubricates..but in your 1M or 135i???? I would not go there myself but..........

[Colt]

Originally Posted by IZAGLO

Just put Shell 93 in the car and call it a day. WD40 LOL..indeed it is a lubricant but does offer some cleaning powers as it cleans almost more than lubricates..but in your 1M or 135i???? I would not go there myself but..........

Yea I dunno about WD40 in the BMW either lol.

I try and use Shell 93 as much as possible, but sometimes have to resort to others (Sheetz, BP, etc). I try my hardest to put Shell in every other fill-up.

[foghat]

fuel tank additives do nothing to help with carbon build up in the intake manifolds of direct injection engines.

[Venom]

You are lucky, here in CA we have a max of 91 octane fuel and even that has about 10% ethanol in it. Even the brands that claim to not use ethanol do not state which grade that's for, so most likely the 93 octane isn't octane boosted by those companies.

Originally Posted by shah269

So I'm in NJ and many if not most of our gas sations have 10% ethanol.
Not the best thing in the world I know but what can you do right?

And I know these cars love producing carbon. And I know my bike produces a shit load of carbon when I'm running ethanol and have to add "stuff" like kid you not WD-40 to the tank to "wash away" the carbon.

How does this car behave?

My 03 1.8t VW was ok with it.

[fs454]

Originally Posted by Venom

You are lucky, here in CA we have a max of 91 octane fuel and even that has about 15% ethanol in it. Even the brands that claim to not use ethanol do not state which grade that's for, so most likely the 93 octane isn't octane boosted by those companies.

CA doesn't have 93?! Crap. Gonna be there for 5 months starting January. Odd state.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by fs454

CA doesn't have 93?! Crap. Gonna be there for 5 months starting January. Odd state.

No kidding, shitty emissions laws, shitty fuel laws. Every other year, test-only station smog check mandatory(or so has been my experience).

I would love to run Cobb Aggressive but I cant here in Cali without some fuel additive which I wouldnt trust.

[Elsabor67]

Here.....

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485903

Have a read on it. We discussed it alot in the Europe forum as the whole E10 surprise was worse than a nuclear explosion to the germans. I don't use it and don't recommend it. They have it on base and also the SuperPlus on base has 5% ethanol. I drive 15 minutes from my house to get clean unadulterated spuerplus for my car.

[Adam135]

Originally Posted by Venom

No kidding, shitty emissions laws, shitty fuel laws. Every other year, test-only station smog check mandatory(or so has been my experience).

I would love to run Cobb Aggressive but I cant here in Cali without some fuel additive which I wouldnt trust.

You have to smog your car every two years and this is stopping you from loading the Aggressive tune? WTF? It takes all of 20 minutes to unload the tune and that's if you are sitting there watching the screen.

[Indo Rider]

Think you mixed that up... He doesn't run the aggressive tune because the fuel available doesn't have the octane rating to support it without adding a bottle of octane booster to every tank, which I agree isn't desirable, though I've been running 30-40% E85 lately so I dunno what's worse honestly...

[Venom]

BINGO!

I run sport stage 1, I'll be on stage 2 Sport soon. Finally got me some DPs.

How much is that octane booster running you per bottle?

Originally Posted by Indo Rider

Think you mixed that up... He doesn't run the aggressive tune because the fuel available doesn't have the octane rating to support it without adding a bottle of octane booster to every tank, which I agree isn't desirable, though I've been running 30-40% E85 lately so I dunno what's worse honestly...

[BuddhaPilot]

All U.S. market gas can have up to 15% ethanol blended into it with no advertisement posted at the pump. Pretty much all gas stations in my area still put a sticker on all their pumps stating that it can contain up to that much ethanol. The only place I've been able to get ethanol free stuff is a local chain of CITGO's.

[Venom]

That's what I thought it was and what I put in my original post, couldn't find a source to confirm it, though. I also remember reading that anything below 93 is always adulterated.

Originally Posted by BuddhaPilot

All U.S. market gas can have up to 15% ethanol blended into it with no advertisement posted at the pump. Pretty much all gas stations in my area still put a sticker on all their pumps stating that it can contain up to that much ethanol. The only place I've been able to get ethanol free stuff is a local chain of CITGO's.

[Mikbek]

In Wisconsin we have 10% ethanol in most of our gas including the 93 octane. We do, however, have certain gas stations in certain counties that can lawfully sell 100% gas, no ethanol, and they advertise it and get a premium. I only put 93 octane ethanol free fuel in my 135i. It deserves the best even though it costs a few cents more. It gets better mileage on it too so if you put any value on its effects to your engine it is probably a wash money wise.

[Adam135]

Originally Posted by Indo Rider

Think you mixed that up... He doesn't run the aggressive tune because the fuel available doesn't have the octane rating to support it without adding a bottle of octane booster to every tank, which I agree isn't desirable, though I've been running 30-40% E85 lately so I dunno what's worse honestly...

Ah ha - got it! Thanks

[shah269]

Nope i shit you not!
A half a cup of WD40 in the bike would help with the old carbs.
When i bought the car i found the previous owner and he suggested adding a cup or so of 2 cycle oil to the system.
On the bike it works very well since the gas in the bike act as lubricant for all those FUCKING moving parts in a carb.

but just not sure about Di engines?....shut up what do i look like a freaking mechanical engineer!....ok i am one!

so what luck have you guys had with "washing" away the carbon using various products? since well....per my friend who works for Volvo and another who is a head mechanic for Chevy that on average it's 20% of the corn juice!

[Diver]

Texas has 10% ethanol and 93 octane. I have not seen a 15% sticker on a pump yet. California 91 octane is supposedly worse than any other 91 octane. It is sometimes called ACN 91 for Arizona, California and Nevada.

Let's face it, the government thinks driving your car is bad for you and driving a fast car is worse.

[shah269]

Well...actually if you drive it fast that will blow out the carbon.
but my drive to work is only 15 milest at 30mph so...unless i'm doing it all in 1st....

[Wibbles]

I have Shell 99 RON fuel 2 minutes from my house, at nearly £7.00 a gallon it's not cheap, but my car noms it

[sochermit]

Why Shell 93? Is it different than other stations with 93 octane?

[1Fasst1]

Originally Posted by sochermit

Why Shell 93? Is it different than other stations with 93 octane?

If you look on Cobb Tuning website their is a link that list the Top Tier gasolines available in the U.S. You may find one that is more excessable to you than Shell.

[tkruger206]

http://pure-gas.org/ <-- tells you who sells pure petrol/gas in your state

I try to only put pure petrol/gas in my car, i'm lucky as there is a Grange Supply which sells Cenex brand gas (A Canadian fuel company who does not use ethanol) right near my house.

That said if you're driving your car most days and not letting it sit for too long the ethanol it's really that big of a deal. It's main problem is that the ethanol absorbs water molecules quicker than petrol/gas. So it's hell on marine engines or if you let your car sit for a long time.

There is a product called Star-Tron which is good to use if the car has sat for a while because it helps push out any water in the tank. The Star-Tron bonds the water molecules to the gas so it gets pushed out and burned with the petrol/gas.