Not Ethanol Fuel

[Jay508]

Was wondering what the advantages, if any, or disadvantages, if any, there is to using non ethanol fuel in my 2010 WRX hatchback. I have just recently discovered a fuel station in my area that offers premium non ethanol fuel and am wondering if this is a benefit to performance or maybe detrimental to performance.

Any info/ suggestions is appreciated.

Thanks

[Jay508]

I meant to label the thread "Non Ethanol Fuel". OOps....

[Calvinball]

Hmm...

Gas mileage would be a bit better, knock resistance a bit worse?

I know that ethanol nets you worse gas mileage, and I believe it gives you better resistance against knock. These are just guesses though.

[Mf645]

Slightly better milage, slightly better power, slightly more emissions with Gasoline over E10. Gasoline also lasts much longer since Ethanol absorbs water from the air, it typically has a 4 week shelf life from when it is delivered to the station. I must say however that I use E10 in my GSXR (all I can buy around here) and even after 8 weeks, there has been no issues

[teflon_jones]

You're not really going to notice much difference between the two. Any power or mileage differences will be negligible. E10 doesn't have a 4 week shelf life. Not sure where you got that info mf645. It's easily 6 months under any conditions, and under most conditions it'll go for a year or more.

One of the biggest differences in my book is ethanol eats at the rubber fittings in your fuel system while regular gas does not. They've made a lot of changes to today's fuel systems to help versus older systems that can get eaten alive by the stuff.

[Mf645]

The ethanol component of E10 is Hydroscopic and absorbs water from the air. While the amount of moisture in the fuel may not cause a problem right away, the fuel is given an expiration time of 4 weeks once delivered to the station. While 4 weeks not a problem for most people, I don;t think you would have much luck getting a car to run well with 6 month old E10 in the tank.

[MainFrame]

The ethanol component of E10 is Hydroscopic and absorbs water from the air. While the amount of moisture in the fuel may not cause a problem right away, the fuel is given an expiration time of 4 weeks once delivered to the station. While 4 weeks not a problem for most people, I don;t think you would have much luck getting a car to run well with 6 month old E10 in the tank.

I've seen cars sit for a year or more with e10 in the tank and fire right up without issue after charging the battery. Now I wouldn't leave a car sitting with e85 for six months or more, but with e10 it's not really an issue. Besides, the turnover at gas stations is pretty high.. the age of the fuel is something that you really don't need to worry about. With e85 it's a little more of an issue, but I've still never heard of someone having issues with it.