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Running your vehicle on a mixture of different fuels such as petrol and diesel can cause many problems. Fortunately, there’s not much to worry about if you accidentally put ethanol gas in your gas car when there’s still non-ethanol gas in the tank.
Most modern gasoline engines can burn gas mixtures containing up to 15% ethanol without problems. If you drive a flex fuel vehicle, it can handle up to 83% ethanol-blended gas. And given the advantages of ethanol gas, you might even get more mileage compared to using non-ethanol blended gas.
While your car can handle the occasional bug, avoid mixing ethanol and non-ethanol gas. Follow the manufacturer’s recommended fuel mixture that the engine can burn.
What is ethanol gas?
Ethanol blended gas is gasoline with the addition of ethanol. Also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, ethanol is responsible for the intoxicating effect of alcoholic beverages.
Ethanol is a renewable biofuel made from biomass, such as corn kernels. It can be used as a fuel by itself, but often serves as an additive to gasoline.
Compared to gasoline, ethanol stores less energy. You will need to consume more ethanol to match the energy output produced by burning gasoline.
However, ethanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline. It requires higher pressures before it can burn, so it is less likely to vaporize or burn outside the pressurized confines of the engine’s cylinders.
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Why is ethanol mixed with gas?
Ethanol-blended gas improves the stability of pure gasoline by increasing its octane number. The lowest octane rating for fuel is 87, and ethanol-free gas has a hard time reaching that rating. The addition of ethanol increases the octane of the resulting fuel mixture. It also prevents knocking, the uneven combustion of gasoline that makes a distinctly loud sound and can damage the engine.
In addition, ethanol improves the oxygen content of gasoline. More oxygen increases the efficiency of the engine to burn the air-fuel mixture. Ethanol also lowers your vehicle’s emissions by reducing unburned and incompletely burned gas.
There are several ethanol gas blends available. E10 is the most common blend and has an ethanol content of 10%. If you accidentally put ethanol-blended gas in your car, it’s likely to be E10, which minimizes the risk to your engine.
Another blend available is E15, which has an ethanol content ranging from 10.5% to 15%. It is compatible with light vehicles manufactured in 2001 and later. Newer flex fuel vehicles (FFVs) can also burn E15 fuel.
Then there is the E85 ethanol gas mixture. Also called flexible fuel or flexible fuel, it can contain up to 83% ethanol. Most gasoline cars cannot run properly on E85 because it generates less energy than lighter ethanol-blended fuels. FFVs are the only ones that can use this type of fuel safely.
The post Can you mix ethanol and ethanol-free gas in your car? appeared first on In The Garage with CarParts.com.
