Fuel/Gasoline choices

[Click_It]

I noticed when discussing fuel in another thread recently a few people pointed out to me that using anything higher than 88 octane provided little to no benefit to a B3 Festiva. My response was that I don't run the cheap stuff because of "E10" but talking to my American flatmate the other day he told me American's probably don't know what E10 is because it's not common there. E10 = 10% Ethanol, like E85 is 85% Ethanol.

So my question is, are ethanol-free fuels still common place over there? Here in Australia just about everywhere selling 88 (we use a different rating system but I won't go into that now) has 10% ethanol added. To avoid ethanol one has to use 91 octane which is still ethanol free in 90% of places.

So I use an overkill octane fuel to avoid the ethanol first and foremost rather than expecting any performance/mileage improvements - hell looking at my fuel economy shows I'm still a long way behind some of you guys anyway :/

[Pu241]

Nearly our entire fuel supply has been contaminated with ethanol.
Due to government mandated stupidity.
Now, again see previously mentioned government stupidity, they want to up the ethanol content to 15% across the board.
Against, the automotive manufacturers recommendations I might add.

[Larry Hampton]

In Oklahoma, you have to have a sticker on the pumps stating ethanol percentage. E10 is common, but many stations have ethanol free gas. Only in a few places can you get E85. Since E10 is only about $0.10 less than 100% it doesn't make sense to use it to get 13% less miles per gallon. It would need to be 13% less at the pump to break even. I only run 100% in everything down to my lawn mower and chainsaw.

[FestYboy]

E5 has been in the pumps for 20+ years, they've just recently upped it to E10 about 4 years ago and the number of fuelpump failures we've seen has jumped considerably since the change.

[blkfordsedan]

How long has it been since your flatmate has been in the states? We have had E10 since the late 1970's. Even E85 has been around for 10 years, but mostly in the corn producing states of the midwest. It's availability has started to expand over the last several years due to the increasing availability of "Flex-Fuel" vehicles. Our common "regular" unleaded is 87 Octane and does not contain Ethanol. The "super unleaded" is E10 and rated at 89 Octane. "Premium" fuels are 91, 92 or 93 Octane - depending on the brand. Until a few years ago, the Premium fuels did not typically contain Ethanol, but lately I have seen more of them being blended with 10% Ethanol. I have never personally seen a gas station that didn't offer both regular 87 and super 89 (E10). At least not here in the greater mid-west.

[boydg1]

.... There are those that will disagree with me. When I started using Hi-Test gas I ended up with burned valves in two vehicles, the Festiva and the KIA. Wasn't long after I started using the higher octane it show up.
.

[Pu241]

.... There are those that will disagree with me. When I started using Hi-Test gas I ended up with burned valves in two vehicles, the Festiva and the KIA. Wasn't long after I started using the higher octane it show up.
.

Yes we do and in the original post below it was explained why as well!

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31819

Just because you say it often, it still doesn't make it true!

[Pu241]

E5 has been in the pumps for 20+ years, they've just recently upped it to E10 about 4 years ago and the number of fuelpump failures we've seen has jumped considerably since the change.

E-10 was available 25 yrs ago, but only in isolated areas of VA is my experience, then it was at a discount to real gas!

[Larry Hampton]

We've only had E10 in the last 4-5 years. Being oil & gas state, it hasn't gone over too well.

[Click_It]

How long has it been since your flatmate has been in the states? We have had E10 since the late 1970's. Even E85 has been around for 10 years...

He's only been here 12 months (from Vegas) so I guess he's out of the loop big time when it comes to this then. We've had it in Australia for a few years but nowhere near as long as the 70's. And E85 is still rare, I've never seen an E85 pump yet but apparently there are a few in the major cities.

I think something you certainly don't have in USA (I might be wrong) is LPG, we have cars that run on that. Our regular fuels are $4-5/gallon but LPG is more like $1.50-2/gallon and it used to be much cheaper a few years back.

[Pu241]

Fleet vehicles here use LPG.
Like some city buses, delivery vehicles, and fork lifts.
There have been some car conversions but the conversion price and availability of the fuel for the vehicle segment has stunted it use here.
What is interesting is using LPG to fed a diesel engine while it is running on diesel.
I believe that is actually illegal in AUS.

[link5186]

Yeah, E10 is almost the only gas available around Indiana. Most stations place stickers on the pumps that say something to the effect of "Enriched with up to 10% ethanol," however this is not required. If I'm not mistaken there is no requirement to label unless the ethanol content exceeds 15%. I actually have seen some stations post signs about their gas not containing any ethanol, but they are few and far between.

Countrymark (formerly Co-op) gas didn't used to contain any ethanol. Now they post notification if it does, but once again there is no law requiring it. Your flatmate could very well have been burning E10 his entire time here without knowing it.

[hrbballman]

So should I be putting premium(91-93 Octane) into my festy. I've looked at all the other threads and I have yet to find a definitive answer. some say yes. one guy says it blows valves. what is it? yes or no to premium?