ethanol question

Typically a gas station has 3 octane levels of gas around here. Do they all contain ethanol. Our regular grade of gas has 10%.

In my area the highest prices gas has no alcohol in it but it is also about 50 cents higher if not more

(quoted from post at 14:52:09 02/24/12) Typically a gas station has 3 octane levels of gas around here. Do they all contain ethanol. Our regular grade of gas has 10%.

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Ethanol is an oxygenator, and oxygenated fuel is required in some cities for winter use because it does reduce pollution, so depending on where you live, yes, all 3 grades MIGHT contain a certain percentage of ethanol.

As far as i know all gas now has percentage lf ethanol it. If you read the fine print at the pump it may tell you the amount. I believe it is added mostly as an octane booster. Hope this helped. Aaron

I now always use premium, no ethonal, pure gas. Yes it costs more, but for better performance, & stop leakin gaskets, stay away from the alcohol based gas. The only alcohol to use is amber & in a 12oz. can! Had leaking sediment bowl on Farmall H until I went back to straight gas.

(quoted from post at 15:32:37 02/24/12) I now always use premium, no ethonal, pure gas. Yes it costs more, but for better performance, & stop leakin gaskets, stay away from the alcohol based gas. The only alcohol to use is amber & in a 12oz. can! Had leaking sediment bowl on Farmall H until I went back to straight gas.

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I used E85 in my H all last summer. Probably went through 30 to 40 gallons of the stuff. Sediment bowl never leaked. Not even a drop.

(quoted from post at 18:32:37 02/24/12) I now always use premium, [u:4d4a6a990a]no ethonal, pure gas[/u:4d4a6a990a]. Yes it costs more, but for better performance, & stop leakin gaskets, stay away from the alcohol based gas. The only alcohol to use is amber & in a 12oz. can! Had leaking sediment bowl on Farmall H until I went back to straight gas.

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If ethanol is in the lower grade then it is in the premium, too. If it is mandated it goes in all grades.

question is what are they using instead of ethanol for additives,have any of you all noticed the rust eating away at the metal filler necks and tank caps sense low sulfur diesel started being used,also seen an article about northern areas having to add sulfur to the land, wasn't a problem according to the article until after sulfur emissions were reduced

Here gas with ethanol has to say on the pump what percentage it is. Most pumps just have ethanol in regular and most stations only have regular with ethanol--no straight unleaded.

Up here BP was advertising ethanol/alcohol free fuel in Premium gas, several of the Shell stations now advertise ethanol free fuel. Was buying diesel for the generator at work while we were waiting for the 500 gallons to pump in I was talking to the truck driver, they sell regular unleaded with no ethanol for about $.07 a gallon more and he claimed they sold a lot of it.

There is a line of states, several states wide, from ND to Texas, where air quality is good enough so Ethanol is not mandated. Most stations in that north / south band sell atleast one grade of gasoline without ethanol.

If you want to test your fuel, Briggs & Stratton sells a simple l;ittle Ethanol tester for about $7. I have one and it works very well. It not only tells you that the fuel has Ethanol, but will tell you what % Ethanol is in the gas. It has marks for I believe E10, E20 and E85.

Click on the link below to see the little B&S test kit sold by most small engine shops that sell B&S parts.


If you want to build your own fuel tester, all you really need is a small but tall clear glass bottle with a cap.
Put a paint pen line on the outside of the bottle about 1/4 from the bottom.
Fill this bottle EXACTLY to that line with water, then fill the rest with the gasoline you want to test.

Screw on the cap, shake the mix and let it set for a few minutes.
That much water (25%)will cause any Ethanol in the fuel to mix with the water and seperate from the gasoline. You will now have gasoline floating above a mixture of Ethanol and water.

The mixture of water and ethanol takes up more space than the original water, so the water level will now be above the original water line on the bottle.
The more the water level rises, the more Ethanol is in the fuel.
A very simple and easy to use test system
Briggs & Stratton Ethanol test kit.

here in Colorado, if you are along the mountains, especially in the Denver, metro area front range,, they put 10% in gas, the further away from mtns, heading east, you can get pure gas..

Here in mid Tn, it is about 10 cents more. This web site may? be helpful. "www.buyrealgas.com" to find sellers. I didn't think you had received much help so far.