Ethanol in the gasoline

There's a lot of issues with ethanol some good and more bad. We ask our engineers why does ethanol run so bad. They told us a long confusing answer but it boils down to ethanol does not burn the same as gasoline and produces less energy when burnt. There's other reasons why you car may run differently during winter and summer plus area to area. When the ethanol blend is the same then the reason would be vapor pressure for the spec. or a different blend all together. All your problems start when you live in an area that has bad air. If that area does not meet the clean air act then after so much time they are mandated to run ethanol. Gasoline is not the same as people like to think. Sure it's the same for the area but different places might have a different types of blends. You could never sell NV gasoline in Los Angeles or Los Angeles gas in San Diego, it's all blended to meet the areas requirement.

All the ethanol does is oxygenate the gasoline. Leaded gasoline was stopped back in the early 70's but it took along time to stop all together. There was a few years that went by that gasoline had very little lead in it and then the reformulated gasoline came out. To help that blend with the clean air the companies came out with MTBE. The gasoline companies loved MTBE because they made it. But only after 6 months hitting the market the Ecopeople found that MTBE had some real problems migrating into the groundwater. It cleaned the air the best but had other problems just as serious if not more. They did start running ethanol at the same time but it wasn't mandated and the oil companies could use the tax break if they wanted.

The lastest trick I know of is the oil companies using subgrade gasoline in the winter. For their regular and super they would produce gasoline a couple of octanes lower then use the ethanol to bring it into spec. Before the sub-grade the companies were giving away octane and we all know they do not like to give anything away. So for awhile when the ethanol was added you did sometimes feel a difference or no difference at all. But now that they reduced the octane you can feel it.

If you want to know what's in your gasoline there's two ways you can do it. The best is to ask the dealer for the MSDS, they must have one. Or you can just look on the side of the pump. They are required to list if ethanol is blended on the side or front of the pump but sometimes they miss that. You can smell it when the truck is at the station unloading but that's not reliable. It's going to be around for a long time even tho the oil companies hate it. It cost them more than they can make from it.