Is Bio Ethanol Gas bad for your vehicle?

VFX · #1 06-26-2010, 05:02 AM

I have 2 vehicles that are recommended to run higher octane gas so I run Octane 92 (recommends 92 min.) for one & Octane 94 (recommend 93 min.) for the other.

With the 'better for the environment' thing, along with getting BCAA points, I decided to use Bio Ethanol enhanced fuel from Husky & have been using it for the past 3 yrs.

Now I read on a BMW forum that 'corn gas' is bad for the engine & will lead to quicker degradation & engine failure

They say that using something like Shell 91 Octane would be better than Husky 94 Octane (better performance, better additives & detergents etc.).

Can anyone chime in & shed the light on the myths regarding bio fuel?

Link to Husky

As an aside, does anyone know any 94 or higher octane gas in lower mainland that isn't Husky?

.

intarsiabox · #2 06-26-2010, 05:21 AM

I am no expert by any means but countries like Brazil have been almost soling using ethnol based fuels for many years before north america without problems (with the exception of cutting down the rain forest to grow sugar cane for fuel). Ethanol is supposed to burn hotter for a more complete combustion with less residue so I doubt that it would harm your engine any more than any other fuel. As far as being "greener" I read an article in National Geographic not too long ago that the process for creating ethanol in N.A. uses about a gallon of fossil fuel to create a gallon of ethanol because of the plant types we use. Places like Brazil use sugar cane that has a much higher ethanol yield compared to corn that has a very low yield. So well your car may be polluting less the ethanol factories are making up for it. My 2 cents!

Funky_Fish14 · #3 06-26-2010, 07:06 AM

In terms of performance... I used to drive a VW Golf. Premium(90 or 91+) was recommended for the car. I tried tons of gas types in there (performance-wise)... domo, safeway, superstore... that kind of stuff... car runs like crap. They are all watered down gasses (particularly the safeway/superstore stuff). Petro canada is bleh... its ok. By far my favorite gasses to run in the car were Shell premium and Husky premium. Shell premium ran very nicely, but I noticed the absolute best performance with Husky 94 Octane Ethanol enhanced. The Octane rating is for OCTANE (Which cannot be including Ethane or Ethanol, etc... any other type of hydrocarbon)... It has to be for the octane(C8H18) content. If it is not being accurately represented by Husky they are breaking the law IMO.

I found my car to run much smoother and be peppy with the husky gas... I even had noticeable improvement in power (HP/Tq.) when I pushed on it. The husky did the same (its premium gas right?) but the husky stuff was very nice. I try to run only husky or shell gas in any vehicle I drive now... I've also had less engine nasty ness (read dirt) and smoother running since getting picky with these fuels.

I dont know anything about wrecking the engine but I HAVE heard talk of what you mentioned before... but my golf ran like a champ with that gas, and so does any other vehicle I've owned.

Cheers,

Chris

andestang · #4 06-26-2010, 07:20 AM

So are your vehicles FFV's (Flex-fuel vehicles) ? They are designed to properly run on ethanol (E85). The PCM (powertrain control module) and related sensors perform the correct fuel to air ratio, the fuel sytem & engine is designed to withstand the alcohol (gaskets, seals, fuel lines etc ). While Ethanol may have a higher octane rating than regular gas, which is good for higher compression engines, it also has a smaller energy density than gasoline. This means that you will have lower MPG than if you are using regular fuel (need more fuel to perform the same engine demand) and this can be as bad as 30 % less in fuel economy. Most newer cars should be able to withstand the use of ethanol (its the alcohol in it that can cause problems is older vehicles) but I wouldn't use it unless the vehicle is designed for it.

Funky_Fish14 · #5 06-26-2010, 09:27 AM

Ethanol cant have a higher octane rating.... They are different chemical compounds? That does not make sense?

The mileage difference with the husky(ethanol containing) stuff though is still better MPG (or I prefer L/100K) on mid-grade or premium than with other regular gasses. Just tossing that out there. I dont think there is enough ethanol in it to make that much of a mileage difference.

But it is absolutely correct to say that per molecule the energy density is higher in octane than in ethanol.

Edmonton newbie · #6 06-26-2010, 02:34 PM

these high octane engines are starting debates just like when we started taking lead out of the gas. personally i only run esso or shell in my cars. Every other gas that i have tried in my car makes her ping and knock.

Seamazter · #7 06-26-2010, 03:47 PM

I don't know what kind of gas i use, depends on what kind of car i siphon it from.
Guess ill look for more Vw and BMW's to suck gas out of.
U think a mouthful of saltwater is bad....
Cheers all.
8-)

dsaundry · #8 06-26-2010, 05:43 PM

If I remember correctly Chevron has a 94 octane rated fuel, If you use Save On Foods etc you can get points on it as well. I have also read the great debates on the different fuels, Best rule of thumb is if BMW does not recommend it for their vehicle-don't use it. They have the engineer's that design them, not always perfectly.

But they usually know what works best in their vehicles. Have you talked to BMW regarding this?

VFX · #9 06-26-2010, 06:14 PM

BMW say anything at the recommended octane is fine, including Husky 10% ethanol fuels. Anything below 92 will be fine once in a while when premium is unavailable.

The consensus on the BMW forums is that anything detrimental will be in the long term & wont show up until after the car is out of warranty. Therefore BMW may say it's fine because nothing will show up in the warranty period & they won't upset any of their oil partners/suppliers by telling customers not to use some of their fuels.

Porsche say the same thing but advise that performance & economy will be reduced by roughly 5% on ethanol fuels.

I just want to know the long term effects of ethanol fuels on engines that need to 'compensate' for ethanol rather than engines designed to run it.

Which Chevron has the 94? The one by Wendy's/Walmart didn't seem to have it.

mike31154 · #10 06-26-2010, 07:17 PM

I foolishly forgot to fuel up my BMW R1200C motorcycle in Kelowna a few years back before heading south on Hwy 33 (Rock Creek). None of the towns on that stretch of road have anything close to the octane rating BMW recommends for this bike. I'm sure I was running on fumes when I finally stopped and had to put regular into it. Didn't miss a beat on the rest of the trip, but I've never put regular into it since, so, no great help to you, but I was quite glad it ran ok. You tend to be more in touch with what your engine is doing on a bike, it's right there under you growling away, so if anything's not right, you usually notice straight away.