The last few gas station holdouts (the ones that offered 100% gasoline and 0% ethanol) have caved.

I cannot find ethanol free gasoline anywhere in this town.

How is this going to affect the MINIs in the long run and what kind of issues can I expect?

I already know I will lose 4-6 MPG........what else?

 

I went to e85 and love it

 

What you mean they started adding 10% ethanol? Dont worry about it, it wont hurt the car at all.

 

more info please.

 

I think most people are running e10 by now. (Not by choice... ) Shouldn't cause any problems.

e85 I would imagine there are conversion kits out there, but either way I wouldn't do it...

 

Well, technically MINI recommends use of "Top Tier" fuels only. These fuels, by definition, have up to 10% ethanol.

 

Those top-tier fuels CAN HAVE up to 10% ethanol.

Unfortunately you are going to find only E10 fuel available real soon as the gas suppliers are all having to meet the new req's.

 

You won't notice anything.

 

Nearly every fuel station in New England has some degree of ethanol mixed into their gas, usually 10%. We've never put anything else into our '05 MCc and it's been absolutely fine- that being said, I've had my '04 JCW MCS down in Florida for about three years now, and when I first moved here the pumps were still pumping 100% gasoline. Apparently, at some point in the last three years they've all switched over to 10% ethanol. I never even noticed. I saw more of an MPG drop from the installation of the JCW kit than I did from any changes in fuel. I really don't think it's anything to be worried about, especially if you keep your injectors, fuel filter, and the like clean.

 

To comment further... gas stations have been adding up to 10% ethanol since the late 1980s. The one country that is 100% E85/E100 is Brazil. They did the conversion over 30 years ago.

 

One word of warning...e-10 is a good solvent...if you have never used it before, it may clean out your fuel system..(and the gas stations tanks).....many gas stations in mass/nh paid to have people's fuel pumps/filters replaced when the change was first made...the ethnol disloved the varnish/gunk that had collected over many yeas in may gas station tanks, and pumped into folks cars, causing problems...mini/BMW in the area had a spike in repairs (mostly fuel pumps filled with varnish and black+brown gunk/muck) for a few months (it actually made the news...) Now when stations switch..they usually close, and have the tanks/equipment cleaned, the pump e-10...so don't buy gas for a few weeks from the stations that just switched....and you should be fine. You should loose 1-2 mpg, and might get an am stumble, caused bt the e-10 burning slightly cooler, resulting in a richer mixture for a few seconds, then it will run fine....maybe.....
I can say that with a dyno tune, my car seems to run great....kinda like before e-10....better now, but I suspect these cars were tuned to run pure gas at the factory, and they tolerate e-10, but don't thrive if you will on it, unless retuned for it...that and all the other great tricks tuners do to make our cars run so well!!

 

I am going to develope a process to extract/evaporate the Ethenol from the new gas mix.....maybe a magic pill I can pop into my gas tank

Corn is made for eating, feeding cows, and moonshine. Not burning it in my MINI !

 

I would bet a few cans of Seafoam run through the gas tank would take care of those deposits in the BMW fuel pumps. Any thoughts as to why the MPG loss Tim ?

 

I remember in the first few month after I took delivery in 2005/late 2004....most places were switching from MTBE to E-10, and many folks were having cars die....folks were getting tanks of sludge...if you just have a bit, sea-faom will help...but too much...and it will kill it.
Heck..it might be the reason your fuel filter is so nasty....the gas stations you are going to are cleaning their tanks...by dumping into yours...a bit at a time...so new stations with e-10, or cleaned since the switch is strongly recommended.
As to the MPG loss...simple math...less BTU's per volume in ethanol..so it reduces total BTU's..octane is better, but less energy....so you must burn more volume...and that is why, in part fuel systems must be modified to run e-85 with 550' injectors among other changes...to flow more fuel.

 

My wife had a true "flex fuel" vehicle that would run on E-85 fuel - my understanding was that if your vehicle was not a true Flex Fuel vehicle, to NOT run E-85... too much Ethanol will gum up a standard motor...

If you are running E-85 in your Mini, how are you getting along? Motor issues, mileage issues, other issues? I am very curious...

 

Oh, come on! Get the fryer grease instead and make your MINI smell like french fries.

 

I have a correction to make. Brazil uses E20/E25 exclusively. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_..._fuel_mixtures.

 

If you change your pump, lines and get bigger injectors and an e85 tune it wont cause issues.

 

So if it takes more E-10 fuel to push the same tonnage, and lowers fuel economy, how is using the E-10 better for environment ? I just have to fill up more often than before, so stations have to be filled up more than before, and the trucks delivering the E-10 run on diesel.......So isnt more diesel fuel being consumed now ? Along with more tires/engine oil/coolant being worn out/used and replaced sooner on said trucks as well..... ?

 

Pure Gasoline has more energy per unit then Ethanol. By diluting the gas you're lowering the amount of exhaust produced. Ethanol does not have the same emissions as gas.
Gasoline HHV = 125,000 Btu/gallon
Ethanol HHV = 84,000 Btu/gallon

 

But if more delivery trucks are making more trips to the gas stations since we are now using more fuel, how is this going to help ? Seems to me the only benefit now is that they are just selling more gas now ?

And if we are growing more corn, the tractors and farms which use diesel / tires and oil are only going to make more pollution, and consume more fossil fuels growing the corn.....and what about the process/energy for making the corn into ethenol....trucks and equipment and processing plants are all solar power ?

So again, how will it help ?

 

Lol, there really is no positive benefits. It does give american farmers some work producing the corn and distilling it, but the negatives outweigh the benefits. Car's use more e10 then if we ran on 100 gas, our emissions would be less with modern systems and direct injection. Methanol is a much better alternative.

 

Artoo (2003 MCS) has seen Shell 93 almost exclusively for the 100,000 miles he has been on the road. And no fuel issues at all.

For fun at the last DC Region MARRS 4 I tested a bunch of the fuel in our class for ethanol content as the rumor was that the Shell station outside Summit Point has no ethanol as it has no sticker on the pump. Nope 10%. Other samples from Mobil, BP, Sunoco and Citgo all had 10%. But the race pumps at the track had Sunoco Ultra 94 Race Fuel with no alcohol. 0%. I assume the higher octanes were also alcohol free. It was only $2.50 a gallon so I filled Artoo for the trip home and frankly felt no difference and saw, maybe, a 1 MPG increase but it could have been a tail wind.

Rich

 

hmmmm, good to know. $2.50 a gallon is excellent price.

I just paid 3 dollars for e-10 93

 

Here's an article to ponder over using ethanol as a fuel: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-e...anol-facts.htm. At this point in time, it takes more energy to make ethanol than what it can produce as a fuel in terms of BTUs. As with other technologies, this will eventually change as the process of making it becomes more refined.

This article also mentions "corn alcohol gasoline" has been around quite a bit longer. The photo alone illustrates that.