87 oct Ethanol Free/Non Ethanol in 4.7

[DeuceRunners]

I searched for Ethanol Free in the search bar but came up with just threads about differences between 87/89/91/93/etc.

Here in Daytona, normal 87 oct is about 2.10 gallon, ethanol free 87 is a tad over 2.70. I think my bill was about $11 more for this fill up.

I did fill it up COMPLETELY with this ethanol free tonight and wondering if the added cost for ethanol free should help performance / add mpg -- making it worth while.

Any body else running 87 ethanol free on the regular in their 4.7? Do you see anything noticeable?

I don't drive my 04 4.7 often... Maybe just 50miles a week, ALL city.

I'm sure there are threads about this -- I just couldn't find any that related. Thanks!

 

[Gatafly]

Around me the only ethanol free fuel is 91 octane and it is only legal to use in small engines or collector cars. I usually obey the law, but one time while filling up a can for my ATV I decided to fill up the 4.7 also since I was almost empty. Yes, I planned on doing this as I wanted to see the difference. It was only highway miles that trip, but I increased my mileage by 2 mpg. Doing the math I still ended up paying more as the higher price was not offset by the mileage increase. I hate ethanol so if it was legal I would likely never put ethanol in my tank again even though it does cost more.

 

[DanielMaat89]

I did this on North Carolina with my sr5 v6. After the second tank, I was seeing 4-5 mpg better on average, Of course, this was the outer banks and it was all flat, and doing about 55 with the AC off and the windows open. It did seem to have better pickup, but that was probably the placebo effect.

 

[07V8]

I did this on North Carolina with my sr5 v6. After the second tank, I was seeing 4-5 mpg better on average, Of course, this was the outer banks and it was all flat, and doing about 55 with the AC off and the windows open. It did seem to have better pickup, but that was probably the placebo effect.

It definitely was not placebo.

 

[DeuceRunners]

Around me the only ethanol free fuel is 91 octane and it is only legal to use in small engines or collector cars. I usually obey the law, but one time while filling up a can for my ATV I decided to fill up the 4.7 also since I was almost empty. Yes, I planned on doing this as I wanted to see the difference. It was only highway miles that trip, but I increased my mileage by 2 mpg. Doing the math I still ended up paying more as the higher price was not offset by the mileage increase. I hate ethanol so if it was legal I would likely never put ethanol in my tank again even though it does cost more.

Fortunately I don't drive my T4R much, so I might just continue with ethanol free whenever I can. It's a little out of my but only about by 4 miles. It's so much better for the engine so in a way I think that helps to balance the price out.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I see much of a difference in all city driving!

 

[Dominic]

There's a gas station here that sells ethanol free but it's expensive (1.99 for ethanol mixed compared to ethanol free at 3.69). I tried it once and got a little better mileage but it didn't offset the price.

 

[kevinpt]

you will do better on gas but power will go down

 

[DeuceRunners]

you will do better on gas but power will go down

I'm no mechanic.. but I figured if MPG went up, that would mean the engine was running more efficient leading to more power as well.

 

[unevolved]

I'm no mechanic.. but I figured if MPG went up, that would mean the engine was running more efficient leading to more power as well.

Energy density of gasoline is higher than ethanol. 34.2 MJ/L for pure gasoline vs. 33.18 MJ/L for E10, and 25.6 for E85. Takes more Ethanol to do the same amount of work. The engine is producing roughly the same amount of power (accelerating the same vehicle at the same speeds, so on and so forth), but is requiring more fuel to do so.

 

[DeuceRunners]

Energy density of gasoline is higher than ethanol. 34.2 MJ/L for pure gasoline vs. 33.18 MJ/L for E10, and 25.6 for E85. Takes more Ethanol to do the same amount of work. The engine is producing roughly the same amount of power (accelerating the same vehicle at the same speeds, so on and so forth), but is requiring more fuel to do so.

Well you are definitely much smarter than I am haha thank you for that info

 

[unevolved]

Well you are definitely much smarter than I am haha thank you for that info

Hey, it's rare that my car knowledge is useful! Glad I could help.

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, you can start calculating price per MJ or btu and figure out which one is REALLY costing more, and when ethanol free actually makes more sense.

 

[DeuceRunners]

Hey, it's rare that my car knowledge is useful! Glad I could help.

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, you can start calculating price per MJ or btu and figure out which one is REALLY costing more, and when ethanol free actually makes more sense.

Do you not feel that Ethanol-Free would be worthwhile to use as much as possible? Even if nothing more than a few extra MPG and possibly because it's just better for the engine itself?

 

[V8Man]

Fortunately I don't drive my T4R much, so I might just continue with ethanol free whenever I can. It's a little out of my but only about by 4 miles. It's so much better for the engine so in a way I think that helps to balance the price out.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I see much of a difference in all city driving!

This is the exact reason you need to put pure gas not ethanol in your tank. Ethanol blends don't store as long and are hydroscopic. The longer it sets the worse the fuel becomes. People that drive everyday will not see damage but in cars older than the 4th gen this E10 will slowly destroy them. Especially if the car sets a lot.

 

[unevolved]

Do you not feel that Ethanol-Free would be worthwhile to use as much as possible? Even if nothing more than a few extra MPG and possibly because it's just better for the engine itself?

I deal with a lot of flex fuel vehicles at work, and as long as they're not sitting for long periods of time, there's really no harm in using ethanol blends.