91 No Ethanol vs. 93 E10 Gas

[Wytchdctr]

Not on the stock tune; so I am stuck with high octane fuel. Also; even with the option to run lower - I am good for now.. or at least/about 2 more dollars a gallon before I switch to the lower octane tune.

I do have a local option to run zero ethanol fuel; pump shows its rated at 91 octane.

Is the lack of ethanol beneficial? or is it better to run the E10 and get the 2 bonus octane from the corn gas since this thing was built when that was the norm (especially with this freaking heat)... or.......... does it not really matter at all and I would be wasting money?

Side Note 1: I really like that places breakfast tacos... so I tend to stop in the morning anyway. So it's not like I am not at that station from time to time.

Side note 2: If there is an advantage to the 91 pure dyno no corn; I would be stuck getting it from a single station nearby. Not many sell that other than Buc-ees. Not a deal breaker.. see taco comment. I also think they have the same gas at their location near the furthest I drive the truck in State. So even on a "long" trip for me I can stay with the same fuel.

Sponsored

 

[Frenchy]

Some simple things to note,

Regardless of said tune it's already known the Ranger prefers premium fuel which you are using as we speak.

The Ranger is rated up to E-15 Fuel so the PCM will adjust accordingly up to E-15 Fuel.

Generally speaking the less Ethanol you have the more power you.can make, but the higher the octane the better the engine will respond since it will have less chance of knocking or pinging.

Between 91 Ethanol free compared to 93 with E-10 I feel you will see very similar results. Due to that I would run whatever is going to cost less.

 

[Wytchdctr]

Some simple things to note,

Regardless of said tune it's already known the Ranger prefers premium fuel which you are using as we speak.

The Ranger is rated up to E-15 Fuel so the PCM will adjust accordingly up to E-15 Fuel.

Generally speaking the less Ethanol you have the more power you.can make, but the higher the octane the better the engine will respond since it will have less chance of knocking or pinging.

Between 91 Ethanol free compared to 93 with E-10 I feel you will see very similar results. Due to that I would run whatever is going to cost less.

I had a feeling but didn't know it was already setup to run E15. Probably in the manual that I read for sure.

93 E10 is cheaper for by enough to stick with it over the 91 corn free stuff.

 

[Racket]

I ran a couple tanks of über expensive 90 octane ethanol free against E10 93.

I got a mid grade tune made for me by Unleashed Tuning because I figured there could be a future where premium wasn't financially going to make sense - but I wanted better performance and some tweaks Torrie added.

Gas mileage wasn't significantly better and I felt the performance was lower on the ethanol free. The idle was just as smooth and I don't recall anything different in what the temp gauge showed.

I can't say if the ethanol free resulted in less condensation in the catch can.

It didn't make financial sense and I doubt there is much long term mechanical benefit. My wife's 2020 Honda seemed to run much better on the 90 octane ethanol free over the usual 87 10% and it didn't seem to run 'better' on 93.

Now, when I had access to E30 94 octane which is an odd duck the truck ran really well and I didn't take any real hit on MPGs. The cost savings made it hands down my favorite fuel. This same station had 15% 88 octane and was okay but I never ran purely in it - just topped off if I was halfway through some Sam's Club premium. When I asked Torrie about using it with the midgrade tune his response was I'd simply get more performance. I didn't get any CELs at that point and I'm not interested in fooling with E85 even though it is (at this time) way cheaper and 104 octane. It would be a pretty complicated kit to adapt E85 - ethanol sensor, injector rail on the intake manifold and programming but the performance would likely be crazy. And unnecessary for me. Although I think of a separate methanol injection system at times.

So bottom line opinion? Run anything but pedestrian 87 octane E10. Our turbocharged engines love ethanol.

 

[Langwilliams]

I don't think the ethanol matters much to modern engines. It is a little less efficient an mpg could dip. I ran E88 once as an experiment an it ran fine on it an only lost a a few tenths. I didn't try it multiple tanks in a row which I think is needed to get a good indication. They had it for $1.99 a gal which was a buck thirty a gal cheaper so I tried it. I've mixed it in a few times too.

I run E90 ethanol free in my lawn stuff. I have John Deere lawn tractors from the 80's that were designed before it was required to be added to gas. My experience is ethanol doesn't react well to small engine rubber fuel lines. I find little black specs in the fuel bowls which I assume is it eating the fuel lines.

 

[Rinn69]

Side Note 1: I really like that places breakfast tacos... so I tend to stop in the morning anyway. So it's not like I am not at that station from time to time.

You answered your own question......good breakfast tacos/burritos trump those 2 octane points. You really need to get your priorities in the right order

 

[deleriumtremor]

A while back I had a GM truck and a clone GM scan tool. When I drove it around and watched the spark advance, I could see a pretty big difference between 87 and 91 octane E10, as far as how retarded the spark would be kept on the lower octane gas. I am not a big lead foot, so I never really felt the difference between the 87 and 91 power wise, but watching those spark curves, when driving on 87 octane it was clear, that engine was riding the knock sensors like crazy and the engine definitely wasn't going to be producing max potential on regular.

These days with modern EFI and really smart ECU's they can accommodate a wide range of octanes, but I think if you really did a scientific study, you would find higher octane generally provides better performance and better efficiency. Let alone keeping those knock sensors quiet.

Ethanol added to gasoline might be the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the American consumer (I apologize for my frankness to the corn farmers among us).

The good news for those same corn farmers is Ethanol free is a bigger scam today (nothwithstanding that guy I see occasionally at the Ethanol Free pump, filling his vintage Corvair Corsa…).

 

[SigOris]

Not on the stock tune; so I am stuck with high octane fuel. Also; even with the option to run lower - I am good for now.. or at least/about 2 more dollars a gallon before I switch to the lower octane tune.

I do have a local option to run zero ethanol fuel; pump shows its rated at 91 octane.

Is the lack of ethanol beneficial? or is it better to run the E10 and get the 2 bonus octane from the corn gas since this thing was built when that was the norm (especially with this freaking heat)... or.......... does it not really matter at all and I would be wasting money?

Side Note 1: I really like that places breakfast tacos... so I tend to stop in the morning anyway. So it's not like I am not at that station from time to time.

Side note 2: If there is an advantage to the 91 pure dyno no corn; I would be stuck getting it from a single station nearby. Not many sell that other than Buc-ees. Not a deal breaker.. see taco comment. I also think they have the same gas at their location near the furthest I drive the truck in State. So even on a "long" trip for me I can stay with the same fuel.

FWIW

My 2013 and 2019 F150 saw an increase of about 3 MPG when I ran non-ethanol fuel.

in my 2022 Ranger I saw no difference in MPG

 

[TICKLE ZOMBIE]

The local Sheetz (non branded but I believe fresh non branded gas is just fine) has 93 E10 and 90 ethanol free.
I alternate tank fulls. Seems okay!
On a road trip I ran a tank of Buc-ees 93 ethanol free and it was like my truck drank a 6 pack of Red Bull…it felt so powerful and zippy!

 

[mtbikernate]

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of buc-ees food for road trips. cheap gas is good, but the food is definitely better than most fast food places.

they also have enough space to walk dogs that the traffic noise is far enough away that my dog will actually use the facilities there. if the traffic noise is too close, he'll just watch the cars go by and not do anything. and, there's usually not junk like chicken bones, trash, and broken needles laying around in the grass.

I have a stock tune and have occasionally run the locally-available 100% gas fuel, which is posted as 90 octane. Definitely runs better than the regular 87 octane, but I can't tell between it and premium 93. sometimes it's cheaper than premium, but lately it's been much more expensive.

I put it in my lawn equipment, too, so I might top off the tank in my ranger if I'm also filling fuel cans.

 

[mtbikernate]

On a road trip I ran a tank of Buc-ees 93 ethanol free and it was like my truck drank a 6 pack of Red Bull…it felt so powerful and zippy!

when I fill up at buc-ees, I definitely notice the pep and later on the extra range. they do seem to have good gas.

 

[Racket]

I had a feeling but didn't know it was already setup to run E15. Probably in the manual that I read for sure.

93 E10 is cheaper for by enough to stick with it over the 91 corn free stuff.

I suspect the reason Ford didn't certify E30 because it's an odd duck blend. It doesn't seem to upset the ECU and I can't rationalize the extra ethanol (over E15) poses a risk mechanically.

 

[Grandaccess]

up here in N.Y I run 92 ethanol free, I try and run it only I just dont like corn in my gas LOL
I do notice more pep and 1 or even 2 MPG, once a month I run a fuel treatment

 

[jflogerzi]

Some simple things to note,

Regardless of said tune it's already known the Ranger prefers premium fuel which you are using as we speak.

The Ranger is rated up to E-15 Fuel so the PCM will adjust accordingly up to E-15 Fuel.

Generally speaking the less Ethanol you have the more power you.can make, but the higher the octane the better the engine will respond since it will have less chance of knocking or pinging.

Between 91 Ethanol free compared to 93 with E-10 I feel you will see very similar results. Due to that I would run whatever is going to cost less.

sound logic... all modern cars are required to be able to ethanol blend gas. which is possible higher quality IE Chevron vs crap back water gas ?

Sponsored