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Nerys · 06-11-2009, 03:35 PM

I made the mistake of trying to test acetone when the switch to E10 was happening.

My MPG is now all over the place (in over 1 million miles of driving my mpg is pretty rock solid depending on what kind of driving I am doing) now I can never get an even remotely similar reading from week to week.

I think this is due to the ethanol. I got the kit on ebay to measure the ethanol percentage of the gas I buy. Accurate or not it will let me make relative comparisons of one gas station to the next.

Wawa seems pretty consistent %7 ethanol in PA 6% ethanol in NJ while the local no name gas station has over 9% ethanol. So I will avoid them from now on.

My mpg jumps from 14mpg to 20mpg (I used to get a solid 22+mpg every week for 10 years!!)

I tried the acetone and my mpg numbers DID go up (but never back to where they were PRE ethanol)

but I could never REPLICATE the results from week to week. Still massive fluctuations. I would STOP using the ethanol and my mpg would stay the same or GO UP and then it would go back down (I always ignore the tank after stopping since there is still some acetone mix left from the previous fill etc..)

So I gave up on ethanol until I can stabilize my fuel economy from week to week.

I was even looking into REMOVING the ethanol (it really really sucks I am losing 15-24% of my fuel economy) but that has some serious problems (water and lower octane once separated)

It seems like there is a thresh hold I am exceeding. low ethanol and I just get the small expected drop in fuel economy from the lower energy content of the ethanol. but at some point it seems something changes like its getting more ethanol than it can properly burn and the fuel economy plummets.

I have killed 3 fuel pumps and 2 O2 sensors since the E10 switch.

those fraking things are expensive and its really making me mad.

now that I can test the gas I hope to get "consistent" gas and if I can stabilize my mpg maybe I can test the acetone again.

and this effect ALL my vehicles from the 88 cherokee with 4900,00 miles to the 92 Clubwagon (hardest hit by the ethanol) with 180,000 miles to my 96 Voyager with 210,000 miles.

so its not just the older car or one car. My dad also saw a massive drop in mpg with his 98 windstar. 24mpg to 21mpg. (averaged)

06-11-2009, 03:35 PM	#29 (permalink)
Nerys Grrr :-) Join Date: May 2008 Location: Levittown PA Posts: 800 Cherokee - '88 Jeep Cherokee 90 day: 19.44 mpg (US) Ryo-Ohki - '94 Geo Metro Xfi 90 day: 50.15 mpg (US) Vger 2 - '00 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE Ninja - '89 Geo Tracker 90 day: 30.27 mpg (US) Thanks: 12 Thanked 31 Times in 25 Posts	I made the mistake of trying to test acetone when the switch to E10 was happening. My MPG is now all over the place (in over 1 million miles of driving my mpg is pretty rock solid depending on what kind of driving I am doing) now I can never get an even remotely similar reading from week to week. I think this is due to the ethanol. I got the kit on ebay to measure the ethanol percentage of the gas I buy. Accurate or not it will let me make relative comparisons of one gas station to the next. Wawa seems pretty consistent %7 ethanol in PA 6% ethanol in NJ while the local no name gas station has over 9% ethanol. So I will avoid them from now on. My mpg jumps from 14mpg to 20mpg (I used to get a solid 22+mpg every week for 10 years!!) I tried the acetone and my mpg numbers DID go up (but never back to where they were PRE ethanol) but I could never REPLICATE the results from week to week. Still massive fluctuations. I would STOP using the ethanol and my mpg would stay the same or GO UP and then it would go back down (I always ignore the tank after stopping since there is still some acetone mix left from the previous fill etc..) So I gave up on ethanol until I can stabilize my fuel economy from week to week. I was even looking into REMOVING the ethanol (it really really sucks I am losing 15-24% of my fuel economy) but that has some serious problems (water and lower octane once separated) It seems like there is a thresh hold I am exceeding. low ethanol and I just get the small expected drop in fuel economy from the lower energy content of the ethanol. but at some point it seems something changes like its getting more ethanol than it can properly burn and the fuel economy plummets. I have killed 3 fuel pumps and 2 O2 sensors since the E10 switch. those fraking things are expensive and its really making me mad. now that I can test the gas I hope to get "consistent" gas and if I can stabilize my mpg maybe I can test the acetone again. and this effect ALL my vehicles from the 88 cherokee with 4900,00 miles to the 92 Clubwagon (hardest hit by the ethanol) with 180,000 miles to my 96 Voyager with 210,000 miles. so its not just the older car or one car. My dad also saw a massive drop in mpg with his 98 windstar. 24mpg to 21mpg. (averaged)