u should use leaded gas or diesel :D. Do some experiment!!! It's fun

 

Anybody have experience with ethanol blended fuel? I don't mean the E85, just normal gasoline with ~10% ethanol added. Iowa strongly pushes the use of this fuel via a tax break that makes 89 octane w/ethanol cheaper than 87 octane by about $.10 per gallon, cheaper than 91 octane by about $.20-.30 per gallon.
The manual does say up to 10% ethanol is okay... and I do have the 'de-tuned' 4-port engine/auto trans combination... so I would imagine this fuel would be okay.

 

In Minnestoa E10 is mandated by law. You lose approx 3-4 MPG.

Any chance I get (Iowa, the Dakotas, etc I always fill up my 8 w/ real fuel, not ethanol blend. More power, better mileage.. etc.

If 3-4 MPG loss is enough to justify any price difference w/ E10, go for it. Otherwise skip the E10.

 

Butt dynos aside, it has to do with the engine retarding the timing of the engine (i.e. lose hp) when you go to 87. This subject has been discussed ad nauseum in other threads. For everyday driving , you will probably not notice the difference, but I have to put 91 in my car no (& did even when it was NA.

 

A gas price related joke:

Two blondes were filling up at a gas station when the first one said to the
other, "I bet these awful gas prices are going even higher".

The second blonde replies,"It won't affect me. I always buy exactly $10
worth"


Dennis

 

Just got my car and the salesman told me to run 2 tanks of premium then switch to regular.

 

Ah, so if I buy E10 I'd be 'saving' ~10-15% per gallon (compared with regular and premium, respectively), but using ~15% more gallons for an equivalent amount of driving. Not much of a deal after all.

Thanks for the reply, now I know to stick with premium.

 

ehh everything out here in Vegas is E10, and its still 20 cents more than the rest of the world, that may have something to do with my lower than expected milage... im trying the 87 expirment right now, so far everything is running great, ill keep a can of octane booster around if it turns out to be a mistake

Tracker

 

I have found my '8 doesn't get any different fuel economy when Using E10, or just pure gas.

Milwaukee has a full out requirement for E10. I drive to madison, and get 21 mpg. Madison has no Ethanol requirement.. and fill up with "pure gas". drive back, 21 mpg.

I realize your "milage" will vary... but I don't think it is significant...

 

HAHA, gas blonde joke. My girlfriend is blonde and I appreciate these jokes more. Just kidding, honey!
Reading ya'lls input, I'll try the regular.
$3 a gallon now. Ouch. My next car will be a hybrid RX-8.
I also have a truck, 26 miles a gallon.
BUT, I reason out that the pure joy of driving my 8 is definitely worth the price at times

 

I want to thank you all for all your replies, you made up my mind, Regular is the way to go at the pumps.

THANKS

 

I live near Mobile, - and like alot of places gas gets hard to find after a hurricane. I have always put Premium in my 8 and certainly don't mind the extra couple of bucks at the tank, the 8 is worth it to me.

My delimma is - after the storms, many stations only buy regular gas - and premium/mid becomes hard to find. I wonder if it would be acceptable to use an octane boost additive with regular gas to put me back at 91/93 where my 8 is used to running.

Any thoughts or flames?

 

I would just put in the regular for now - what you can get - and not worry about the octance booster. The engine has sensors to avaoid damage, but you may not enjoy the peformance you are used to but it should be fine until the crisis passes.

I have been testing with mid-grade Chevron in my 8 with no noticable ill effects, I am thinking of trying some regular for a few tanks to see how it goes. Since I get MUCH better mileage in the S and the weather has cooled of I have parked the 8 and I am driving the S. Gas is $3.00 - $3.50 a gallon here right now and I get 13-15mpg in the 8.

Dennis

 

Sounds expensive.

The easiest way to get 87 'regular' octane gas to a 91 octane, is to add 2 gallons of xylene to the tank.

xylene is about $12 a gallon.

Regular gas is around $3.

So: 13 gallons of gas is $39 plus 2 gallons of xylene $24.

Roughly a $65 tank of gas.

 

For the two weeks after Ivan I only used regular. I didn't notice a major differrence, I didn't hear any knocking. Premium, or any gas, is hard to find in Pensacola right now. I'm probably going to go out very early tomorow morning and hunt for gas.

 

I have been using 87 in my RX8 during the winter and the car runs fine on it. But when summer comes around I switch off between 89 and 91 since I get noticable power loss and pinging.

 

I'm in the same boat with you on that one. I drive from Baldwin county to Pensacola for work.

I know it's a drive - but I heard on gulfcommunity.com that Orange Beach is a good place to get gas with no lines, right now. I would still recommend the morning time though, everyone seems to sell out by the end of the day. I've had pretty good luck finding places off the beaten path that have minimal lines. I just can't see myself waiting in a gas line for an hour or more. I don't want to drive anywhere, that bad.

/Anomaly

 

Thx for the tip, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Getting gas around here is hard enough these days.. I had a great run in with a redneck the other day at a BP near my house. He was a volunteer, directing traffic into the pump area of the gas station that he usually hangs out in during the week. (70+ year old, retired oldtimer)

As he was directing me to a pump, I noticed that one of the two available had a bag over the premium. I said, "yeah, I'd like to get to that pump w/ premium if it's not too much trouble"

The answer I got was "You'll get what's available and be damn happy to have gas."

Ahh yes... now I remember why I love the deep south............

=)

/anomaly

 

I have used regular grade almost esclusively for 2 years and it is fine. THere is an excellent study of various brands and grades of gas. I will try to find it and post it. It explains that there is no more ENERGY in premium but rather a formulation of anti-knock compounds that are higher for higher performance engines with higher compressions. The article also explains that Octane refers specifically to the "knock quotient" and not power/energy. The burning rate of the engine also effect the "need". I am not an expert but I understand that the rotary burns quickly and actually needs less detergent than a higher compression perfomance piston engine. In effect, it should burn cleaner. Oh, the article also says that climate can effect the burn ability too. Low humidity and very hot conditions may require higher octane levels.

 

Anything wrong with switching to 87 for now? I have been using 93 or better since I bought the car brand new everytime I fill up.

 

Ditto.

 

I'm not sure on your "burn cleaner" statement. A few people that have broken down their Renesis noted that it had quite a bit of carbon build up. Octane signifies detonation resistance. There is an "optimum" setting for most cars. i.e. if your car is supposed to run 91 octane, most manufacturers will make your settings at 91 octane optimum. So if you put 100 octane in the car, it can not go past that optimum setting. But an engine has a range as well. So if you put 87 in it, the engine can retard/lower the timing to a certain extent. A few people who have put 87 in their cars have noted knocking in there car. What that tells me is that the engine had lowered timing as far as it could, and could not go any further (down). I linked an article on this from Car & Driver a while back on another one of these gas threads. The cars set to run on 87 showed little improvement on 91, but the cars set to run with 91, lost about 10%-12% on 87.

 

i didnt read the thread and i just saw gas and i just filled my tank today and was 48 bucks and i though id let yall know that this sucks.

 

run what you want to run. 87 won't hurt the car. just about all production vehicles are designed to run off 87 octane. if you note on the gas door, premium is recommended, not demanded. each person on here has their opinion on the subject, is entitled to it, and will post it most of the time. problem is, no one knows the truth. we just go by heresay.

 

Good points, but isn't the point of running a higher octane about idling, and engine longevevity, cause it is proven that the higher grade does make the engine idle a hell of a lot better, don't believe it, grab an outboard motor, and run it on both high and "regular" "octane" and tell me it does it not only not move but sounds better and better mileage, can't wait to get an rx8 for myself, cause i find it very hard to believe a lower octane fuel would run better and longer than a higher octane, as stated on another thread, but as matt said a bit further up, people's experiences will differ, especially when they lie and have never really run the two in comparison, hmmm? hmmmm? Jokes, peeps jokes. :p

Anyway, higher octane burns cleaner so i really doubt an 87 is runnning better than a 93 is it? Australian, over here it's either regular or premium, so maybe our regular is watered down/contaminated (whatever you want to call it), can never tell, especially out here in the outback.

Peace out.

EDIT

reread the posts above about cleaner burning, etc, interesting, i needs to do more research, and buy that silver rx8 LOL :D