I'm having the same problem. I hate that stuff. Ever since they put it in all of the gas, all of my car's gas mileage took a dump. I spoke with my father and he said all of his cars did the same.
The Magic Mechanic show in Orlando talked about adding 1 oz. of Amsoil 2-cycle oil to every 5 gallons of fuel to compensate for the Ethanol being added. As I was driving through Orlando almost a year ago or so and heard him on the radio talking about it. He stated that the very small mix also helps lubricate the fuel pump, which makes sense to me. He said that oil does some chemical reaction to reduce some of the effects caused by the Ethanol that eats up the gas mileage. I had somebody who lives in Orlando recently contact me and tell me that he heard them talking about it again.
When I do my first oil change on my Insight, I will have to order a bottle and test this theory out. I am keeping tabs on the MPG for every single tank. I want to do everything I can to reach an "average" MPG of 50 MPG. My last top off yielded me a paultry 39 MPG and I was not too thrilled. The Amsoil 2-cycle oil is very cheap when you order the tiny bottles, so it's not that big of a deal to add 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 ounces to each tank just to see if it makes a difference or not. If it doesn't do anything, then I'll just not use it anymore.
But I am pro sustainable and domestic energy and fuels... Ethanol falls into this category.
I will agree there are issues... there is always a con for every pro it seems.
For instance it is not as clean as it is often depicted to be ... or as clean as I would like it to be ... for instance it is very hard to compete with the cleanness of a EV powered from renewable energy ( RE ) sources.
The effect on food prices is very often a bad thing.
The effect on MPG is often discouraging ... but I look at it like this ... If some fictional fuel ( which ethanol isn't this good ) , lowered me down to 10 MPG, but was domestic , sustainable, and as clean as the RE powered EV... I would view it as better than a 200MPG conventional gasoline ... Although even if it were better unless it were at least close to the same price range as gasoline , allot of people probably would not spend the extra money for it.
But I am pro sustainable and domestic energy and fuels... Ethanol falls into this category.
I too am pro the first part.
Ethanol is only a drop in the bucket maybe in reguards to the first part, with a different set of serious problems.
But I have an ethical issue with burning "food" for fuel. And _any_ plant based alcohol is not carbon neutral, unless acreage currently in production is used (the food issue again). See:
Just like it says in the article, it makes the catalytic converter run hot. I know a guy who tried those gas pills and it made his run hot and cost him a lot of money to repair it. Ethanol will do the same thing to these older cars.
I searched around and found a couple of gas station websites that people use to track the availability of ethanol free gas. I don't remember the sites, but was a able to find a couple in my area. Some of the old ones listed are no longer 100% gas, but new ones come up as well. Recently, a common retailer in our area (Kwik Trip) just started offering 100% gas premium at a pump or two at each station. I now use them, so I don't have to drive out of my way. My advice is to search around on the internet.
I also read an article the other day regarding the increase in customer demand for ethanol free gas, and the resulting increase in gas stations offering it. So, even if its not availible to you now, it may be soon.
__________________ "Is your car man enough to wear a skirt?"
TPS mod; Scanguage; K&N air filter; Window Tint; Engine block heater; 100% gas (recently)
No place close to me. What a buzz kill. I'm going to order some of that Amsoil 2-cycle oil and give that a shot. It's a lot cheaper to buy that than to drive like 90 miles to some gas station to get Ethanol-free gas.
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Unwanted ethanol mandate
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