Greg, I wish I could offer something meaningful.  I ran 5 tank fulls of regular gas, NO ethanol, and got the same gas mileage as well as the same backfire, farting, etc as I do with the 10% ethanol crap.  All it says to me is, these engines will burn just about anything and provide a degree of reliability in the process.

Here in Central Nebraska, we don't usually have all those choices. The 87 octane is usually the "pure gasoline" and usually goes for 10 to 20 cents more per gallon. The 89 octane is the E-10, and is the bigger seller because it is a few cents less expensive. I have run both, and tried to keep at least a few notes. But I cannot tell any difference in anything I own or have owned for at least the last ten years in terms of mileage or anything else. For the last year or two I have been tagging my fuel purchases on Fuelly with "E-10" when I am reasonably sure that is what I purchased. Sometimes I don't know, as some pumps are just marked with something like "May contain up to 10% ethanol." Just remember, if you try to derive something from my Fuelly tags, the "E-10" tag applies to the present fill-up, but the mileage is from the last one.

By the way, I have NEVER been able to see any damage or deterioration in any fuel system parts which I can attribute to ethanol. And I have been using it for over thirty years.

Gyrobob wrote on 10/14/12 at 19:34:51:


I was trying to avoid that discussion, as I have rather mixed feelings about it. Bear in mind I live in Nebraska, where a lot of corn is grown. The current drought is having its effect on corn availability and prices, with resultant effects on ethanol plants and cattle feeding operations. A good time is being had by all.