So since I got the Caravan I have been using ethanol free Petro Canada gasoline 91 octane because I'm not paying for it and why not benefit from the added detergents in their premium gasoline over the regular (as they claim there is). Either way it's Top-Tier so it isn't really necessary and I certainly don't need 91 octane but heck it's free so why not.
Well I didn't connect the issue until I was thinking about it on the drive home one night a few weeks back.
There was an ever so slight stumble here/there when hot-restarting for the first minute or so. I thought it was odd and most likely a coil breaking down slightly or a plug due to the heat soak because this is the only time it would occur.
2 Weekends ago I took the plenum off because it was bugging me (I know it's a new vehicle), and I took all the plugs out and gapped them to 0.44 as required as they were set between 0.30-0.35 from the factory. (Stupid FCA engine plant). Anyway. I put it together temporarily and scoped the ignition coils and and they all looked perfect on hot-restart when it had the slight stumble which I thought was really odd and thought ok, I need to look elsewhere.
I put the van back together fully and needed gas, as I pulled up to the pump I had a thought, what if it's the premium gasoline having 0 ethanol (This is a flex fuel vehicle), or what if its the 91 octane (hard to believe), or maybe a combination of the two with the winter gas formulation. And started thinking further that this annoyance (not really a problem) started shortly after I started using the ethanol free formula.
Ok so I had a quarter of a tank of Ethanol free fuel when I gassed up. I filled it with E-10 and then kept topping it off each night I would get home with E-10. And sure enough the stumble disappeared. Not believing this I then refueled with ethanol free and it started with the slight stumble again although not as much because the tank still had some ethanol in it. I again played with ethanol and non-ethanol fills and every time I go back to E-10 the issue goes away.
I burn a lot of gas each week so the results are quick to happen.
When I had the plugs out for gapping the colour was a nice tan brown colour so I know the burn is proper.
It's really weird, but it makes sense as my dad's 2012 that I drove before he had it only saw regular E-10 gas with the fleet card and it never stumbled. Even to this day with 300K on the clock it's smooth as butter. The in-laws as well and I know he uses Petro Canada exclusively for the points and always E-10 as it's about $0.10/L more where he lives compared to here.
Just thought I would share here in case anyone else experiences the same thing. I am going to try the premium again when the summer gas returns to see if it's just the combination with the "winter blend" they are using that is causing the issue.
Well I didn't connect the issue until I was thinking about it on the drive home one night a few weeks back.
There was an ever so slight stumble here/there when hot-restarting for the first minute or so. I thought it was odd and most likely a coil breaking down slightly or a plug due to the heat soak because this is the only time it would occur.
2 Weekends ago I took the plenum off because it was bugging me (I know it's a new vehicle), and I took all the plugs out and gapped them to 0.44 as required as they were set between 0.30-0.35 from the factory. (Stupid FCA engine plant). Anyway. I put it together temporarily and scoped the ignition coils and and they all looked perfect on hot-restart when it had the slight stumble which I thought was really odd and thought ok, I need to look elsewhere.
I put the van back together fully and needed gas, as I pulled up to the pump I had a thought, what if it's the premium gasoline having 0 ethanol (This is a flex fuel vehicle), or what if its the 91 octane (hard to believe), or maybe a combination of the two with the winter gas formulation. And started thinking further that this annoyance (not really a problem) started shortly after I started using the ethanol free formula.
Ok so I had a quarter of a tank of Ethanol free fuel when I gassed up. I filled it with E-10 and then kept topping it off each night I would get home with E-10. And sure enough the stumble disappeared. Not believing this I then refueled with ethanol free and it started with the slight stumble again although not as much because the tank still had some ethanol in it. I again played with ethanol and non-ethanol fills and every time I go back to E-10 the issue goes away.
I burn a lot of gas each week so the results are quick to happen.
When I had the plugs out for gapping the colour was a nice tan brown colour so I know the burn is proper.
It's really weird, but it makes sense as my dad's 2012 that I drove before he had it only saw regular E-10 gas with the fleet card and it never stumbled. Even to this day with 300K on the clock it's smooth as butter. The in-laws as well and I know he uses Petro Canada exclusively for the points and always E-10 as it's about $0.10/L more where he lives compared to here.
Just thought I would share here in case anyone else experiences the same thing. I am going to try the premium again when the summer gas returns to see if it's just the combination with the "winter blend" they are using that is causing the issue.
Last edited: