Is there a limit on the ethanol/petrol ratio that we can put in our car? I never really thought about it until today when I was at the gas station filling up my uncle's car and there was a sign on the pump that said "10% ethanol". I know there is a certain amount in almost all fuel in the US now but I know some states/gas stations that use more than others. Does anyone know if the higher amounts of ethanol hurt our engine or decrease the performance?

 

good question, anyone have some quality input?

 

I think in the manual it lists the max amount of ethanol that can be in the fuel, but I dont have a manual to look at. I also believe that there was a thread in the Car Talk forum that has opinions on ethanol there.

 

10%'s the upper limit on a vehicle that's not built specifically for ethanol. If you go much higher on a normal unprepped car, you start melting some of the fuel system. More and more new car's are prepped for higher quantities and flex-fuel cars can run up to 85% ethanol. From the factory it's supposed to be relatively inexpensive to make a car survive higher E percentages but, I've been hearing 2-3K to retrofit a fuel system (don't quote me).

I've been hearing that the new mandated ethanol fuels here in the US both reduce fuel economy and in some causes cause problems like stuck valves and clogged fuel filters. I haven't had any problems with it yet.


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Thats the limit for the S2K, as noted by Honda.