It is almost impossible to find regular gas anywhere that doesn't contain 10% ethanol.  Have any of you noticed any drop in power or mileage with your gas powered RV or TV?  I can tell the difference with my Honda Element Toad, but so far have not driven the MH enough to tell if there is any decrease in performance or mileage.  I am going to be watching this closely.

Best Regards!

When we had a gas motorhome with a 2001 8.1 liter Chevy Vortec engine we could quickly tell if we had alcohol in the gas, some farm states put it in without disclosing at the pump.  Our mileage would go down from 7.5-8.5mpg to 6.5-7.5mpg and we would have a bit less power for the hills and passing.  Been told the newer engines handle it fine, but our experience was we would rather not have the alcohol.

I have a Ford Explorer with the flex fuel system (V6).  Down here in Texas they are starting to sell E85 which is 85% ETHENOL.  I filled up the last time with this and my mileage dropped from 21mpg to 15mpg.  As far as power there was no loss.  The E85 had the same performance its just the Mileage was in the toilet.  I will not use it for a fill-up again, but maybe  topping-off the tanks would be okay...I'll have to check it out more.

 

Tom

Well, I just got back from a weekend trip of 400 miles.  Appears at first blush, my motorhome's mpg has dropped from 7.5 to 6.8.  I will continue to watch over a longer time period to get a bigger sample.

I did not notice any decrease in power, my GM 8.1 engine has plenty.

Best Regards!

Please remember the E85 is the higher ethanal mixture and with the higher ethanal mixture you have to get your carberator callibrated for it, because it is thinner then reguler gas.

I don't worry much about the ethanol in gas anymore...I bought a diesel pusher. Bio-diesel, here I come!

Best Regards!

-- Edited by Old Snipe at 20:26, 2007-12-03

Here's the chemistry answer...

A gallon of ethanol contains 76,000 Btus of energy. A gallon of gasoline contains around 110,000 Btus of energy. It is these BTUs your engine uses to convert heat into wheel turning power. Thus, your mileage will drop in direct proportion to the energy contained in the fuel - which amounts to a reduction of about 30% in the miles delivered per gallon of ethanol versus pure gasoline. If you use a blended fuel the drop will be in proportion to the ratio of ethanol to gasoline. Standard pump gas has been 10% ethanol for decades.

An important sidebar is that your engine will deliver the SAME HP on either fuel IF (note IF) it is appropriately adjusted for the differing fuel delivery rates. More ethanol will need to be injected per mile than gasoline. If you are running your car at the gasoline jetting then you will be injecting less ethanol and thus getting a very lean burn with less power. The multi fuel cars of today automatically make adjustments to get around this BTU deficiency problem.

There is also a similar BTU/gallon reduction in the bio-diesel fuels.

The benefit is that more gallons of these bio-fuels can be made for less energy input than it takes to make the pure product. Hence the NET effect is a much more positive energy balance.