Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
I think we can reasonably assume this bloke knows what he's talking about :
30% FE detriment in flexfuel engines because of the ethanol.
And that is in engines built or specially adapted to run on ethanol / E85.
The hit when running E10 will of course be lower as there is less ethanol and more regular fuel.
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Flexfuel means the engine is compromised to run on anything between 87 octane regular unleaded and E85. There are no mechanical differences between a flex fuel engine and a gasoline engine. They both run the same low compression ratio and conservative spark timing to protect the engine when its burning on low octane gasoline. An engine mechanically adapted around E85 will be much more efficient as the video demonstrates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
But on an old engine that was never intended to run on ethanol-mixtures, built without the modern electronic wizardry that controls combustion, the hit could well be larger than the expected 30% x 10 / 85 .
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Any engine sold in the US in the last 25 year will definitely have an O2 sensor and probably a knock sensor. Even my old 92 mercedes says in the owner's manual that it is adapted to run on anything up to E10. I've driven in and out of states that require E10 for years and the biggest FE difference that I could measure was maybe 3% at most. If the difference is any bigger chances are the O2 sensor is fried or the owner has been ignoring regular maintenance.
EDIT:
Here's the EPA's proposed E15 warning label for prevent any confusion.
I would like to see the octane rating on this stuff.