ethanol vs clear 7.3 MPG

sroemmich

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I finished burning the tank of fuel that the dealership gave me, just for fun I decided to see how it ran on clear gas. Holy crap, 13.2 mpg running 87 octane e10, 16 mpg on Clear premium (I wish I could buy lower octane clear in Oregon the premium is expensive). All mixed driving. Cruising at 55 on the highway the truck was loafing along at 20mpg!!!

IMG_2180.jpg
 
does not surprise me that your mileage is better with the good stuff. Ethanol is dirty, has short shelf life and makes less performance.
 
I'm very surprised to see THAT big of a mpg jump, but some of it may be due to the increased octane of the "pure" gas over the 87e10 and the ECU allowing more timing. I normally see around a 30-35% increased fuel enrichment requirement on fuel tables when tuning a car on e85 vs 93 assuming timing tables stay the same.

My 1.4t cruze averages 33-34.5 in mixed driving on 87 and 37-38mpg on 89 as its so severely octane limited, but I'm excited to review logs once I get the truck in my possession.
 
does not surprise me that your mileage is better with the good stuff. Ethanol is dirty, has short shelf life and makes less performance.
We have one station in town that sells clear gas, need to figure out the dollars and cents, but it looks like I might be putting the good stuff in it.
 
I'm very surprised to see THAT big of a mpg jump, but some of it may be due to the increased octane of the "pure" gas over the 87e10 and the ECU allowing more timing. I normally see around a 30-35% increased fuel enrichment requirement on fuel tables when tuning a car on e85 vs 93 assuming timing tables stay the same.

My 1.4t cruze averages 33-34.5 in mixed driving on 87 and 37-38mpg on 89 as its so severely octane limited, but I'm excited to review logs once I get the truck in my possession.
I was very surprised as well, whatever I'll take it.
 
I run non-ethanol in my boat (outboard engines). I noticed that going from 87 non-ethanol to 89 or 91 made a big difference in the power for those engines.

With your Tremor, what octane was the "clean" or non-ethanol fuel? Wonder if higher octane alone makes that big a difference. For around town driving I'm running Costco 87 e10. For road trips and towing I'm searching for better fuels.
 
I run non-ethanol in my boat (outboard engines). I noticed that going from 87 non-ethanol to 89 or 91 made a big difference in the power for those engines.

With your Tremor, what octane was the "clean" or non-ethanol fuel? Wonder if higher octane alone makes that big a difference. For around town driving I'm running Costco 87 e10. For road trips and towing I'm searching for better fuels.

92 its all we can get where I live, no idea if its the octane or lack of ethanol.
 
Here is a website that you can check state by state for "ethanol free" gas
I found a few local places that sell this and have yet to try them...Murphy gas stations are the ones and a local barbeque store called Rudy's sell 87 octane ethanol free gasoline. I'll have to give it a go sometime.
 
Fleet Farm in the central to northern Wisconsin offers 91 and 87 ethanol free fuels but lately they are charging a premium for it :mad:
 
Here in Michigan, Holiday gas stations sell a 91 ethanol free fuel, unfortunately they charge a ton for it. I just checked and its going for about $3 a gallon, where as I can get 93 premium from Costco for $2.33.
 
I found a few local places that sell this and have yet to try them...Murphy gas stations are the ones and a local barbeque store called Rudy's sell 87 octane ethanol free gasoline. I'll have to give it a go sometime.
I like Rudy’s
Good eats
One of the advantages of Texas
 
I found a few local places that sell this and have yet to try them...Murphy gas stations are the ones and a local barbeque store called Rudy's sell 87 octane ethanol free gasoline. I'll have to give it a go sometime.
If you can, find a QT gas station. They are popping up all over the place around San Antonio. They carry 90 octane ethanol free. I run it in my F150 Eco Boost. It is about the same price ad 93 octane. I have my truck tuned for 91 octane, so I mix the 2. Truck runs great. Once I get my Tremor, I will get a 90 octane performance tune from 5 star and only run the ethanol free.
 
I like Rudy’s
Good eats
One of the advantages of Texas

I agree, too bad that I'm the only one who likes Rudy's in my family now... Breakfast tacos with Brisket, Jalapeno Sausage, egg and cheese with Rudy's sauce! Holy crap is it good! Been a while...I'll have to get a few soon.

If you can, find a QT gas station. They are popping up all over the place around San Antonio. They carry 90 octane ethanol free. I run it in my F150 Eco Boost. It is about the same price ad 93 octane. I have my truck tuned for 91 octane, so I mix the 2. Truck runs great. Once I get my Tremor, I will get a 90 octane performance tune from 5 star and only run the ethanol free.

Apparently there aren't any in Corpus Christi...Suck...Been using Sunoco 87 octane. One of these days I'll try out Murphy's ethanol free 87, or Rudy's, or even 93 octane and see if I get better mileage.
 
I agree, too bad that I'm the only one who likes Rudy's in my family now... Breakfast tacos with Brisket, Jalapeno Sausage, egg and cheese with Rudy's sauce! Holy crap is it good! Been a while...I'll have to get a few soon.



Apparently there aren't any in Corpus Christi...Suck...Been using Sunoco 87 octane. One of these days I'll try out Murphy's ethanol free 87, or Rudy's, or even 93 octane and see if I get better mileage.
Sorry man. I am from Kingsville. Maybe they will get there eventually. On my old F150 with the 5.4, I ran Murphy ethanol free 87 and saw improved performance and mileage.
 
I run non-ethanol in my boat (outboard engines). I noticed that going from 87 non-ethanol to 89 or 91 made a big difference in the power for those engines.

With your Tremor, what octane was the "clean" or non-ethanol fuel? Wonder if higher octane alone makes that big a difference. For around town driving I'm running Costco 87 e10. For road trips and towing I'm searching for better fuels.
I have ran 91 in mine(not ethanol free) and noticed no difference from the 87 with ethanol. I have not tried ethanol free 91 in it yet, might have to though for 3 miles to the gallon it would be worth it. I can get 19 20 if its flat and no wind going 55, but even a dip in the road drops it to 14 briefly lol, and there is only a couple 5 mile stretches like that here so its always short lived.
 
If you can, find a QT gas station. They are popping up all over the place around San Antonio. They carry 90 octane ethanol free. I run it in my F150 Eco Boost. It is about the same price ad 93 octane. I have my truck tuned for 91 octane, so I mix the 2. Truck runs great. Once I get my Tremor, I will get a 90 octane performance tune from 5 star and only run the ethanol free.
curious what kind of mileage you are getting in your 7.3 with the tune and ethanol free, trying to decide if a tuner is worth it.
 
curious what kind of mileage you are getting in your 7.3 with the tune and ethanol free, trying to decide if a tuner is worth it.
Just the performance increase with the tuner was worth it for me. I hated how the truck would drag from a stop. Now, it will pick up quite well. When I was running stock tires, I could easily get 14.5 on the lieometer. I was showing about 460 miles per tank of gas. I changed to wider mud tires and took at pretty big hit on the MPG. I can get 13-13.5 if I am not in city driving. City driving kills the MPG. I am happy that I got the tune. I am still running the ethanol free even though I am paying over $5 a gallon for it.
 
In central FL we have 89 ethanol free at Wawa. It is normally close to the price of premium, and my 7.3s love it performance wise and mpg wise. Definitely worth the extra cost to me.
 

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