I'm very tardy reporting my latest tank. I filled up last Monday, the 22nd!
Once again, because gasoline was over 10 cents a gallon cheaper than E85, I filled up with premium.
87 octane was $1.56. E85 was $1.69. Premium was $1.76.
I got 14.167 gallons of premium. The tank is now 11.5% ethanol. Octane is 92.7.
The last tank finished up with 23.5 mpg at 32 mph.
I don't notice the car driving any different with E20 or premium. They're equivalent, performance wise.
On the bright side, I saw that gas spiked to $1.66 today. E85 is still $1.69.
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Experiments in running E85 ethanol, mixed with regular 87 octane gasoline, in non-flex fuel vehicles (2004 Acura TL and 2007 Saab 9-3.)
4 comments:
This is Saabwhite from Saabcentral forum.
Question - why are you using such a new car? Are you not concerned about warranty complications?
I've got a 2008 9-3, while the ethanol idea sounds interesting, i'd be concerned I'd violate my warranty. Something I don't have too much to worry about right now since my car is with GM under investigation of a stalling issue. But assuming I get it back, or a replacement, I still wouldn't do anyhtng that could even remotely mess with my warranty. Since Saabs come std with a 50k mile warranty, I'm assuming you don't have 50k on you 07?
Saabwhite- I cannot answer for "The Swede" but I never run Premium NL in my '04 9.3 2T Areo.
It only sees E20 with the exception of occasional E30. I have only recently passed the 50,000 mile mark but am now on a 100,000 added warrantee program. (I only got the 100,000 warranty as I bought it used with 24,000 miles and the car was an unknown).
While you are correct that a dealer could claim that it voids the warranty I am confident that at the lower levels I am running no issues will arise. Once my car hits 100,000 miles I plan to convert it to full E85- until then like Swede, I am keeping my levels low chosing not to tamper with ECU programmng. I run E20 in every vehicle I have that is not flex-fuel. My '96 Silverado 5.7L now has 226,000 miles on it and all of the last 125,000 miles has been on E20 or higher blends. The engine and fuel system components are all original as is the ECU. Orininal lines, fuel pump, injectors- everthing. There are a lot of myths out there I have found none to hold water. Look at a seal/elastomer chart sometime and you will see what i mean. While there is always a possibility a manufacturer might have used an oddball seal or other component (this can and does happen) I am not worried about it for my own use. You have to decide for yourself once you have completely reviewed the info out there. If I had a terne coated tank then I might not go to higher levels but then again- they knew E10 was out there and likely to come into use- how much worse is E20 or E85?
My only concern is if I have enough injector, ECU authority, and fuel pump size to deliver enough fuel at WOT without stting a CEL. I worked in the oil industry at one time and I want alternatives. What I really want is one of the Saab Biopower models to come so I do not have to bother with a full conversion of the 9.3 I have.
Alcohol
Saabwhite, no doubt, there is a risk to the warranty. In fact, GM has sent out a bulletin to their dealers to be on the lookout for cars damaged by E85.
My thinking is along the lines of what Alcohol has written. I've gone beyond the point of getting a CEL, but I've backed off and am running within the capacity of the existing fuel injection system. The risk to the car is minimal.
I also don't think that a dealer could or would make a link between damage to the car and E85. If I ever have an issue, I will be sure to fuel up with regular gas before I head to the dealer.
Finally... the car is a lease. I may buy it after the lease is up. I may not. Depends on what kind of a deal I get. So I'm not necessarily looking at 100k miles with this car. 39k miles may be my limit (and I'm averaging a little less than 1k miles per month, I'm currently at 14.5k miles).
The chances of having trouble with a car running on E20 or E30 within 39k miles is minimal.
However, in your case, I would not put E20 in a car with a stalling problem. E25 makes my wife's Chevy Venture stall.
Ditto- If it has a stalling issue right now do not introduce anything other than a standard fuel so that 1) they can find the problem quicker, 2) you do not get "stuck" by a warranty issue, and 3) dealers do have test kits that under certain guidelines will pull out and run a test. Once this issue is diagnosed and long gone then think about E20.
Alcohol
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