1sykcoupe

I did a project on alternative fuels... on ethanol. and ethanol is a cleaner fuel and reduces emissions. Regular gas has 10% ethanol... i dunno abt other places but v-power has none. So why is it when ppl go for their etest everyones telling them to run premium if ethanol exists in regular and it runs cleaner?

Oldspower

They say run 94 from Sunoco because its more combustable if I understand correctly. For some reason, Sunoco gas with ethanol burns much quicker in my Cutlass, I put 91 in of that stuff, with the ethanol and it burned 1/3rd to twice as quick as regular gas. IIRC all gas stations have some form of ethanol in them as a filler. It's not so much that ethanol burns cleaner, it does, but alot of it is that it burns Cooler. If you require very high octane, I think pure ethanol is around 110 octane level?

imported_bananax

not sure why Shell doesn't use ethanol, there was a myth somewhere that Ethanol doesn't provide as much power as gasoline who knows!

but regarding the olds issue, I did hear that Ethanol has a higher consumption rate then gasoline =p while still maintaining lower emissions though

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

because it's a stupid myth that people who are clueless constantly perpetuate. so called 'premium' gasoline should be used in vehicles where so recommended by the owners manual because higher octane fuel is less volatile and tends to not preignite (detonate out of sequence), so for engines running very high cylinder pressures and EGTs or engines with just straight up poor design don't ping. otherwise, regular fuel is what burns best (easiest). this means there will be less unburned fuel left over after the combustion process (lower hydrocarbon emissions). at the same time, if an engine runs too hot (high NOx emissions), and the fuel delivery, spark timing, and EGR system are all known to be in proper working condition, and the car is using the correct heat range spark plugs... then higher octane fuel will be needed to help lower EGTs and thus reduce NOx emissions. however, this isn't the cure-all for all NOx problems, since in some cases (i tried it) the NOx will remain high and the HC will also increase.... this happens on engines with badly fouled combustion chambers from many years of oil consumption or carbon fouling due to poor CC design. such was the case on my saturn, everything in working condition, it still failed on NOx emissions no matter what I tried. still a possiblity the injectors were fouled or the ECU was chipped with too much timing advance... I guess we'll never know.

imported_janz3n

i love how people think running higher octane will make them pass the etest better.. when it will make you more likely to fail it. listen to bbarbulo

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

as for ethanol, cars don't run on pure ethanol. when I was in school, I was part of an alternative fuels challenge, where GM donated a new truck to the university for us to engineer and execute an ethanol conversion. 1st of all, a lotta **** just isn't compatible with ethanol... like ethanol eats away at the seals/gaskets. secondly, they run like *** in very cold temperatures, you have to pre-heat the fuel in order for the ***** to start. there is also a loss of power. there were other issues I straight up don't remember... it was nearly 7 years ago now...

if you want clean burning renewable fuel, I suggest you get yourself a diesel of some kind (VW TDI, M-B turbo diesel, cummins or powerstroke or detroit diesel truck) and learn to make diesel from vegetable oil.