Does E10 render "top tier" moot?

[thoots]

BITOGers,

I'm in Oregon, and E10 is mandatory, state-wide. "Not quite correct yet" -- the sparsely-populated east side of the state has to be there by September. Most of the rest of us have been there since January.

So, E10 is my only option. But, gosh, wouldn't you call ethanal "The Ultimate Additive," as such? I mean, doesn't ethanol clean the holy heck out of anything it touches, better than any other additive could?

And thus, if you're gonna get nothing but E10, wouldn't the cleaning capability of the ethanol be far more "effective" than any additive package, "top tier" or not? And thus, shouldn't you feel just fine and dandy getting the cheapest stuff you can possibly find, rather than buying into the whole "top tier" campaign? Sure seems like that would be the case, to me....

 

[Bruce T]

That's a very good question. I would guess the additive package is a bigger factor than the ethanol, but I must defer to more knowledgeable members.

 

[G-MAN]

I've noticed here in SC that once gasoline crossed the $3.00 per gallon threshold, generic stickers that say "May contain up to 10% ethanol" started showing up on the pumps at name brand stations. At the BP station that I usually frequent right below that sticker is another that say "Not 100% BP product."

What this tells me is that the local distributor for all the brands is starting to blend ethanol into everyone's gas before it goes in the tanker trucks for delivery. The end result is that almost all stations around here are now selling E10 no matter what grade or brand you choose.

 

[Dominic]

I don't like E10 for the fact that ethanol is a water-attractant.

 

[SecondMonkey]

Originally Posted By: Dominic
I don't like E10 for the fact that ethanol is a water-attractant.


It also absorbs any water that might be in your tank so you can burn it out of there. I sure hope they stop selling fuel dryer products like "heet" in Oregon now.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'm not sure what the constituents of deposits are in injectors/valves/combustion chambers ..but ethanol would surely reduce any lacquers that formed. When ethanol was first intro'd in during the Carter administration (aka gasohol), you went through about 3 fuel filters before you could run the stuff without worry. Fuel is a lot cleaner now in comparison, but I don't think that its as clean as it once was. The deposits are allegedly formed from lingering fuel evaporating at shut down.

 

[Big Jim]

Here in California, E10 has been a fact of life for some time. E10 still creates carbon and still allows restricted injectors. So for the OP, no, ethanol is not the ultimate additive.

 

[lewdwig]

There's a paper on the internet about Australia researching the use of E20 in vehicles, the E20 produced different engine deposits than unleaded after the 48,000 miles of testing, not neccessarily better or worse, just different. BTW- E10 will absorb 0.3% water by volume.

 

[addyguy]

I've often wondered this as well, if E10 acts as a cleaner, and keeps engines cleaner than standard gas. Good info here!