Ethanol Gasoline in the SHO

[zeus268]

I've been having a tough time deciding what type of fuel to fill my SHO with. I'm of the mind that I want the highest octane for this car to take full advantage of the horsepower increase. So far I have been filling up with 91 octane Shell V-Power. There is only one chain of gas stations in my city (Edmonton, AB Canada) that has a higher octane of 93 and that is Husky/Mohawk. You guys in the States seem to have more choice of high octane stations than us. (kind of funny being that much of our fuel comes from the Oil Sands in Alberta)

The problem that I'm having is that Husky/Mohawk seems to use a large amount of ethanol in their fuel and I've heard horror stories about this being bad for direct injection engines. I actually steered clear of Husky when I had my twin turbo 5-series Bimmer for this reason.

Now I hear that all gas stations are using ethanol in their fuel so my question is: Should I fill up with the 93 octane fuel at Husky and risk damage to the injectors over time or is it a mute point because the Shell fuel contains ethanol as well? How well does the SHO cope with Ethanol blended fuels?

Am I just being overprotective and irrational here?

 

[wchain]

Most vehicles in the past 10 years have been built to take 10% ethanol.

 

[gregoire]

Hmmm, I get 93 oct at Shell here in Tennessee.

 

[Eric VerValin]

Same here Shell 93 is all mine drinks..

 

[zeus268]

Most vehicles in the past 10 years have been built to take 10% ethanol.

I never risked the ethanol blend in my 5 series because there were reported problems but now I've heard that having a 10% mix of ethanol in your fuel is becoming government mandated.... Which makes me wonder if there will be anywhere to get ethanol-free fuel after awhile? Husky/Mohawk oil in Canada have been advertising their fuel as "Mother Natures Gas" for a LONG time here. I never used it because of the ethanol.

I guess my main question is: Do I use the higher octane husky fuel (93) and get a higher amount of ethanol than any other gas station here, or do I use a lower ethanol (if any yet) fuel with a lower octane (91)????

Oh and if Shell had 93 octane here, my problem would be solved

 

[TRBOSHO]

I never risked the ethanol blend in my 5 series because there were reported problems but now I've heard that having a 10% mix of ethanol in your fuel is becoming government mandated.... Which makes me wonder if there will be anywhere to get ethanol-free fuel after awhile? Husky/Mohawk oil in Canada have been advertising their fuel as "Mother Natures Gas" for a LONG time here. I never used it because of the ethanol.

I guess my main question is: Do I use the higher octane husky fuel (93) and get a higher amount of ethanol than any other gas station here, or do I use a lower ethanol (if any yet) fuel with a lower octane (91)????

Oh and if Shell had 93 octane here, my problem would be solved

Zeus....Just about all of our gas stations use 10% ethanol to get the final numbers....even the cheap stuff....so run the 93 (make sure it doesn't use MORE than 10%) and enjoy the car.....

 

[zeus268]

Zeus....Just about all of our gas stations use 10% ethanol to get the final numbers....even the cheap stuff....so run the 93 (make sure it doesn't use MORE than 10%) and enjoy the car.....

You're right TRBOSHO. I was just reading the Husky website and I was wrong. They have 87,89,91 and now certain stations also have 94 which apparently is the highest octane available from any commercial gas station in Canada. The website also claims that none of their fuels have more than 10% ethanol.
I guess I'll try it. I was always cautious before because my last 2 vehicles were BMW's...
Ford would not have made this car sensitive to ethanol if all the stations now have a certain percentage in their fuel. I just always thought that Husky had more ethanol than the other guys and steered clear of it because of reported problems with the BMW fuel injection system (direct injection using a high pressure fuel pump) and my owning 2 of them.
Oh, and the nice thing is that one of the stations with 94 is in my neighborhood

 

[Unknown_Driver]

You're right TRBOSHO. I was just reading the Husky website and I was wrong. They have 87,89,91 and now certain stations also have 94 which apparently is the highest octane available from any commercial gas station in Canada. The website also claims that none of their fuels have more than 10% ethanol.
I guess I'll try it. I was always cautious before because my last 2 vehicles were BMW's...
Ford would not have made this car sensitive to ethanol if all the stations now have a certain percentage in their fuel. I just always thought that Husky had more ethanol than the other guys and steered clear of it because of reported problems with the BMW fuel injection system (direct injection using a high pressure fuel pump) and my owning 2 of them.
Oh, and the nice thing is that one of the stations with 94 is in my neighborhood

i'm using the 94 from Sunoco or now being called Petro here in Ottawa
its still the ethanol blend, from my subaru club we noticed when the pump is not on a seperate 94 only pump you may get a bit of knock but nothing truly noticeable but that was in my WRX so it could be way different with the direct injection system

whenever i take the 45 minute or so drive to the states noticed some increased gas mileage with the American Sunoco 93 or even the Quebec Petro 94 the WRX tune was running better

call around for some of the local dyno tuners ask them whats the better fuel they go by when datalogging

 

[typhoon5000]

Husky/Mohawk oil in Canada have been advertising their fuel as "Mother Natures Gas" for a LONG time here.

That's funny cause all crude oil is just decomposed dinosaurs anyways.

Like mentioned before, in most US states 10% ethanol is gov't mandated and Ford has designed their engines to run on it. Unless the Canadian models use different gaskets or injectors (highly unlikely), your car is should have no problem running on E10.

 

[93rev2sev]

Ethanol has been used for a long time. The further north you are, the more likely the gas has ethanol.

It absorbs water. A very important characteristic in the north, where large temp changes cause condensation to accumulate at the bottom of the tank and can freeze in the lines.

 

[EB_SHO]

10% ethanol is actually a good thing in a direct injection engine.

The test used to measure the octane of a fuel uses a carbureted research engine. Ethanol requires a lot of heat to cause it to evaporate, but a carbureted engine doesn't take advantage of that. So when you run a fuel with 10% ethanol in it in a DI engine you get an effective octane that is a little bit higher than what is shown on the pump because of the charge cooling effect.

A 10% ethanol 91 pump octane fuel will act like a 93 pump octane 0% ethanol fuel.

Milage will still be a little worse (~3%) with 10% ethanol though.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

Ethanol has been used for a long time. The further north you are, the more likely the gas has ethanol.

It absorbs water. A very important characteristic in the north, where large temp changes cause condensation to accumulate at the bottom of the tank and can freeze in the lines.

Almost ALL Gasoline in Florida is 10% ethanol..... The changeover happened a couple years ago and really screwed up the boat engines! When it happened, it was almost overnight, and no non-ethanol was available for marinas for the first several months. Actually condensation is as big or bigger issue in FL and in the south due to the high humidity + temps.

In Iowa, where we have had Gasohol (10% ethanol) for over 20 years, it is easier to find both 87 & 91 octane without ethanol.

I run 92 or 93 octane Gasohol and don't worry about the 1-2 mpg decrease in fuel mileage using 10% ethanol. I also use it in our boats (350 & 502) and our 2 PWC - a 2 cycle and 4 cycle supercharged-intercooled SeaDoo.

Never has been an issue.... except lower mileage. I support our farmers, even though it likely takes more energy to produce than what it saves. At least it's a renewable energy source.

 

[Racer X]

I'm you're really dead set against using ethanol, find a marina in your area if you can.