PRIrish

What do ZZ4 engine owners think about ethanol free gasoline? I believe 92 octane gasoline is recommended for ZZ4 engines. Since pure gasoline has higher content and burns more efficiently, would 90 octane ethanol free gasoline work as well as 92 or 93 octane ethanol mix gasoline? I would appreciate any and all comments/suggestions.

Edward Ackley

do a search for pure gas in your area lists sta that sell it

cv67

Ethanol free would be my choice, but running eth wont hurt your engine.

ConnecticutJunkman

The octane rating is the octane rating.
Your question is like which weighs more. A ton of feathers or a ton of lead weight. Both things are made up of different things but the weight is the same.
92 Octane E10 has the same octane rating as 92 octane E0 "pure" gas.... 92
Look for 92 octane pure gas.

L-46man

While ethanol has less specific 'power' per gallon it has a much higher octane number than gasoline...something like 128 Octane.
So you could put a tidge more alky in it to raise it to 92.

Otherwise the only fuel that I know of is AVGAS that has no ethanol in it.

PRIrish

I understand that 92 octane means the same regardless if it is pure or an ethanol mix. A local Buc-Ee's sells 90 Octane pure gas. The question is, since pure gas burns more efficiently than an ethanol mix, would the 90 octane pure be as effective as a 92 octane ethanol mix gas?

ConnecticutJunkman

Octane is the measure of a fuel's ability to resist detonation.
So your 90 octane fuel has a higher chance of "pinging" then the 92 octane one.
If your motor needs 92 octane to not ping then your only option here is the 92 octane E10. Or 92 octane "pure" gas. Or 92 octane leaded.
The 90 octane "pure" gas does not fit their recommendation.
Besides, the ZZ4 came out long before E10 gas was common. That 92 octane recommendation came about when _ALL_ gas was "pure" gas.

74Ken

Are you running a carb or Fuel injection.
If you are running a carb, do not put ethanol in your car
or your lawn mower, snow blower, weed whacker, etc

PRIrish

I didn't know ethanol had a higher octane rating than pure gasoline, so thanks for the information. I guess this is a counterbalance to ethanol not producing as much energy as gasoline.

PRIrish

I want to thank you for the information you have provided as it is very helpful. It looks like I will need to stick with the 93 octane E10 as there are no local stations that sell 92 octane pure gasoline.

mirage2991

been running E10 for 25 years, in just about everything omit 2 stroke equipment (I get the pre mixed from lowe's, for ease of use) and I have never had one problem ever with it. Probably because manufacturers have been using E10 compatible parts for a couple decades now.
E10 in my Race demon 1000cfm for 10 years, 0 issues
E10 in my troybilt lawn more since 2002, 0 issues

The ONLY time you could have a problem is if you are running a never restored classic which still has original fuel system parts in it, otherwise, most if not all mnfg of fuel components have switched to E10 compatible stuff years ago.
Now the QUALITY of the gas you put it varies from station to station and I have had more problems with that than it being E10 (quality meaning sediments, freshness of gas etc)

derekderek

the problrm with ethanol in 2-stroke stuff is the chinese deliberately use rubber that ethanol destroys. they put lead paint in kid's toys fer crissakes. i bet no lead paint in toys that don't get sent here.

Edward Ackley

the question was should he use ethanol or not and where to get it? in my opinion a lot of us do not use are vettes as daily drivers, that being said, if ethanl sets in your lawn mower, car, boat gas tank and what ever it seperates in 30 days, there fore it can and will damage your engine, I,am a strong believer that ethanol should be baned, had a friend who owned a marina in wisconsin who told me since ethanol got put into gas his repair business increased over 5 times. ethanol has been proven to reck havock on rubber hoses ect.

mirage2991

I simply have never experienced this 30 day thing you're talking about...idk if it is because I take care of things better than others or if because when I know a car will sit (or my boat) I use treatment, but, I can tell you I've run gas older than 30 days and it has never damaged anything let alone "damaged an engine"

one car of mine typically takes much longer than 30 days to go thru a tank (or simply getting low enough to go add some) is my c6ZR1. It has 0 issues with 45 day gas, or even 60 day gas. Again, I don't wale on it with old gas, and I have a dashlogic so I can monitor things. Drives perfectly fine "normal driving"

2018 boat sat all winter with 1/2 tank of E10 (and some fuel treatment), started this season with 0 issues and ran fine (granted I put fresh 93 in it for safe measure)

2002 boat with a merc V6 injected, owned it for 7 years, same thing E10, treatment, year after year never had an issue

In the past, I've had my stroker BBC camaro sat for 60+ days with the same gas, no issues. That one was pickier than other, and any gas (even none E10) that sat in the tank for a little while (as in even 30 days) it made it run just ok..

Never had any lines, any seals degrade out of thin air because of E10....I've had old old line going bad simply because of age, and they were going to go no matter what.

Only exception I can say are the two stroke lawn equipment. It seems that the fuel lines in those are crap but I have had two break down very early (perhaps from E10). I solved it using fuel line for RC nitro cars....but that was the only thing E10 took out in those...carbs were fine, ran great. On those I use the premade stuff from the store, mostly because it's simpler than having to pre mix and my two stroke stuff each have diff oil ratios anyway.


Please understand I'm not saying you are incorrect on some of those side effects of E10, but as a user of E10, that is not what I have seen.

Also, if we were talking about E85, that would be a different thing...I simply believe from my experience that E10 has not enough E in it to do anything much...and bare in mind the max would be 10%, I can guarantee you it's not...just like E85 is often less than that at the pump.

Jstan2014

CheezMoe