What is 88 octane regular?

[Doug M.]

I am not aware of dyed red gasoline, just diesel.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Back in the Olden Days, most farm tractors were Gasoline.
So the qualifying farmer got Gas delivered by the local Jobber who added the Red Dye. The tanks were required to be marked, usually saying Refund Gas.
Here are some classic Gasoline Popping Johnies.
John Deere made a bunch of these 2 Cylinder Gasoline Tractors.

 

[Geronimo Jim]

Just another big government rip of of the common man.

 

[Narragansett]

10% ethanol has a lousy shelf life. Wonder how many days 15% will last in your gas tanks?

Nothing I would use.

Just my .02

 

[johngalt]

In Milwaukee quite a few years ago, there was a gas station (or probably more accurately, their supplier) which was cheating and supplying gas with closer to 20% ethanol. The investigation traced it back to them after a large number of fuel injector failures.

 

[GypsmJim]

10% ethanol has a lousy shelf life. Wonder how many days 15% will last in your gas tanks?

Nothing I would use.

Just my .02

I have 4 boats and an antique classic car. One of the boats is 70 years old and only gets used twice a year. The car gets about 100 miles per year. All use E10.

I stabilize the gas after it is put in the tank. I only add maybe 5 gallons per year. I would guess the gas it 3+ years old.

They all run like a top. No problems at all.

Must be more to it all than what some people believe.

PS - my wife's garden requires tilling each Spring. Only takes about 15 minutes. My rototiller has gas in that must be 5 years old and it still starts on the second pull.

 

[robvious]

I just drained the gas tank in my 67 Mustang that sat for 20 years... looked like apple cider, just didn't smell that good... so I know 20 years is way to long to just let it sit..
I also know the E85 can make a tremendous amount of power in a modern motor that has been "adjusted" to work with it and run much cooler as well... but the mileage does suffer... drops from 20mpg to 12.. but a very fast 12mpg

 

[BC38]

I am not aware of dyed red gasoline, just diesel.

LOL, when I was a kid I thought ALL gasoline was red (actually more orange) - 'cause all the gas I had ever personally pumped or seen had come out of my grandpa's farm tank. We used to burn it in our dirtbikes.

 

[Racer X]

Yep. Corn belongs in my bourbon, not my gasoline.

E10 is a 3% fuel economy hit from 100% gasoline. E85 is I think 28% fuel economy hit.

 

[johngalt]

I also know the E85 can make a tremendous amount of power in a modern motor that has been "adjusted" to work with it and run much cooler as well... but the mileage does suffer... drops from 20mpg to 12.. but a very fast 12mpg

Sort of. It is > 100 octane, which allows much higher compression (and therefor more power). The E85 itself doesn't produce more power, it produces less. As mentioned before, it has much less energy then gasoline.

You also need higher capacity fuel injectors and fuel pump to deliver the fuel, because so much more is needed to produce the equivalent energy.

Some racers like it because it is cheaper than racing fuel, and they don't care about the long term corrosive effects.

 

[Retired W4]

I'm sure there are people out there who would pay a premium for organically grown corn for their ethanol. I do like watching alcohol funny cars run, but they only have to go a quarter mile at a time. My 69 Torino Cobra loved 100 LL AVGAS when I could sneak it off the airport and pushed up the timing. Oh, the humanity! Shame on me.

 

[yaktamer]

Don't recall ever seeing such a variety of octane ratings/blends as I did in Idaho. Half expected to see a pump dispensing 100% russet potato juice.

 

[Retired W4]

Don't recall ever seeing such a variety of octane ratings/blends as I did in Idaho. Half expected to see a pump dispensing 100% russet potato juice.

That might be a better ethanol yield than corn.

 

[BC38]

Alcohol as fuel isn't in and of itself bad. Engines can be optimized to run well on it - higher compression, faster timing, fuel metering adjusted for it. But making fuel alcohol from food grain is STUPID. Converting FOOD to FUEL? Raises the cost of both food AND fuel.

Unfortunately all of our alcohol distillation capacity is geared toward making it out of corn. We need to do what Brazil is doing. They make their fuel alcohol out of sugar cane waste and other agricultural waste biomass. It is cheaper, doesn't use up grain that would be better used for food, and actually makes good use of agricultural wastes.

But that would require investing in and building new production infrastructure (aka production plants) and there are too many people opposed to that. Not to mention that there are too many big distillers who make huge profits from the subsidies for producing fuel from corn - and big agribusinesses which get huge subsidies for growing the corn.

 

[steelslaver]

An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels.

That does not include the energy necessary to convert the 7,110# of corn into alcohol. Nor does it include fertilizer and pesticide costs. I probably works out to about 2 gallons output for 1 input.

We have plenty of fossil fuels available in the US if we actually produce them.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Was just down at Murphy's .
They are the local lowball gas station, at least in this part of town.
They have several kinds of gas!
That's me pumping Unleaded at $4.429.

 

[quikdraw67]

I use either Exxon, Mobil, or Sunoco 87 regular in my 2018 Tiguan. No issues.

I use the non-ethanol gas in my riding mower and lawn mower. Again, no issues.

 

[Golphin]

I will not put it in my car or truck. And for sure not in anything else. Unless you are looking to kill your outboard motor keep it away from your boat.

 

[Oldengineer]

I'm a retired Ford powertrain engineer. Short story; ethanol is very corrosive. Steps are taken to choose fuel system component design materials that are resistant to the corrosive activity. The components and vehicle is designed verified (DV) to be sure everything remains functional with ethanol at some treat rate. If it was tested (DV'd) with 10 % ethanol, that's what is acceptable to use. Since 15% was not tested, it remains unknown how well the hardware will last. So, the manufacturer recommended fuel is the prudent choice if you want to stay in known territory. I won't go into octane and normal/abnormal combustion. It's a lengthy discussion. Tom

 

[joe44va]

Outboard motor manufacturers are firmly against using this stuff in their engines.