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TR2/3/3A Fuel question

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M

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For a long time, our local Farmers Coop sold all Ethanol free gas in all grades. Now, however, they only sell it in 89. I've always been told that a TR3 requires (or does best) with high test (93), so I've been using Ethanol 93. Has anyone had any experience with TR3 using just 89 but Ethanol-free?
 
LexTR3 said:
For a long time, our local Farmers Coop sold all Ethanol free gas in all grades...
Click to expand...

I can only conclude that farmers (who I think are the reason we're using this stuff) know that it is crap.

In any case, where I live we can only get gas with 'up to 10% ethanol'. I believe studies have shown that many suppliers actually use 11% because of there is a 10% tolerance they can use to their advantage.

What I use depends on the car -- the TR4 runs best on either premium (which I think is 91 around here) or perhaps Shell regular. The TR3A seems fine with anything.

Most likely it depends on the engine (age & what mods) and the state of tune (esp timing).

My main concern (once I accept that it must contain ethanol) is that the engine does not excessively ping -- and to avoid that takes some combination of gas selection and timing.
 
In Ala most of the premium is ethanol free, all my TR's do run better on it and its better for storage but when driving one regularly the 83 ethanol gas does fine. When Dad farmed he bought a #2 gas ( cheaper) for the tractors. Never did hear what octane it was.

Marv
 
My experience is that my car is harder to start with premium gas. The only benefit I have found from using high octane fuel is that I get to support the life styles of the rich and famous :greedy_dollars: . So I use plain old low-test corn pee and the car is happy as a clam. Of course, I might be singing a different tune once my rubber fuel lines turn to goo.
 
Thanks George and Marvin.

George: I think you are right about what famers think "here is being sold at the regular gas pump for regular cars (non-farm), whereas in some states it is not for "road use.

ĂŹ believe I am going to switch from the 93 Ethanol to 89 octane Ethanol-free (especially for storage). And I'll keep my ears open for pings, etc.

I'll be in Tucson on 15, 16, 17 April, but tied up with family. Wish I had time to visit with your car group again.
 
Hi, JFS,

Unfortunately, the information is now out of date. They have switched to Ethanol at that sation.

Joe,

Very interesting. I've never had a problem starting my car with premium -- even after letting it sit for a month -- but there's always a first.
 
Yeah, I just can't bring myself to pay the extra 50 cents per gallon for ethanol free gas so I use corn squeezings. It could be put to better use in the production of sipping whiskey, but that's just my opinion.

I went to a tech session last weekend at a restoration shop. The owner said that he replaces all the old rubber hoses in the fuel lines with fuel injection hose....reason being, the synthetic compound is formulated to tolerate ethanol. Next time I climb under the car, I think I'll do that.
 
trglory said:
Yeah, I just can't bring myself to pay the extra 50 cents per gallon for ethanol free gas so I use corn squeezings. It could be put to better use in the production of sipping whiskey, but that's just my opinion.

I went to a tech session last weekend at a restoration shop. The owner said that he replaces all the old rubber hoses in the fuel lines with fuel injection hose....reason being, the synthetic compound is formulated to tolerate ethanol. Next time I climb under the car, I think I'll do that.
Click to expand...

This totally figures...

First they charged more for the gasohol...and now they charge more for the plain. It just shows they are very good at "charging more"!
 
I've been told by a very reliable source (an oil co delivery driver) that there are only two grades (87 & 93) in the in-ground tanks, and the pump mixes the two grades to deliver the mid-grade. If that's the case the mid-grade could not be ethanoll free. The local co-op station operator told me it is illegal to sell fuel w/o ethanol. That could be a local law or an excuse.
 
Crankshaft,

Apparently it is legal to sell fuel w/o ethanol in Virginia because a fair number of stations advertise that they are doing it. The fuel comes out of standard fuel pumps in the car bays. But, mystery of mystery, farmers coops also have pumps not located in the car bays that have some other form of ethanol-free fuel specifically for farmers tractors, etc., and it is illegal use it for common road driving (Go figure!).

A fellow at our coop said that they only reason they sell only 89 octane ethanol-free fuel, and out of only one of their several pumps, is that people don't want to pay the extra money for it. Until last summer, they sold ethanol-free fuel in all three grades.

As for 89 octane being simply a mixture of 87 and 93, I don't know about that. If it is truly ethanol-free, then the mixture is done at the distributor and pumped into a dedicated tank, or so one would guess.
 
LexTR3 said:
...But, mystery of mystery, farmers coops also have pumps not located in the car bays that have some other form of ethanol-free fuel specifically for farmers tractors, etc., and it is illegal use it for common road driving...
Click to expand...

Possibly because the price of that fuel does not include road tax.
 
Hi Folks,

Here in NW SC; Non Ethanol "87" is pretty much avail. at most of the larger stations. Avg. cost as of yesterday is approx. $3.50 gal. The stations also have seperate pumps (Buttons to Push) for this grade only.

I`ve been running nothing but the Non-Ethanol for the most part & really don`t see, feel or hear any significant changes in performance on my TR3. My Brit Car Mech. Guru; Suggests using the Non-Ethanol wherever, whenever possible where Rubber feul lines come into play. The 10% Ethanol apparently eats the rubber from the "Inside Out" & You won`t know it till its too late.

My $0.2

Russ
 
I didn't realize that there was some variation in octanes available around the U.S. Here in Virgnia we have 87, 89, and 93 -- almost all with Ethanol. As I mentioned, our local Farmers Coop sells 89 octane Ethanol-free fuel, in addition to the other three with Ethanol.

from what I have been reading, I should be OK to run 89 Ethanol-free fuel in my TR3 instead of 93 Ethanol (listening, of course, for any pinging, etc.). That was my question, and I appreciate all the input. Although all my hoses have been swapped out for Ethanol-resistant hoses, I think I'll go ahead and use the 89 Ethanol-free. A better fuel... although at higher price.

A timely discussion because I think Spring has finally arrived here in western Virginia -- we had our last snow (we hope) yesterday, so it is time to hit the road.
 
Crankshaft said:
The local co-op station operator told me it is illegal to sell fuel w/o ethanol. That could be a local law or an excuse.
Click to expand...
Or it could be an interpretation of the federal law. As I understand it, the retailers are required to sell at least 10% ethanol. That means that, in order to sell E0 (non-alcoholic) gasoline, they have to sell an equivalent amount of either E15 or E85. If they aren't selling enough of those blends, then they have to quit selling E0.

But from my point of view, it's a tempest in a tea pot. Here in the PRK, we've been using "oxygenate" for a long time. (25 years? I forget) It's not so hard to deal with; and those old rubber lines never did last forever even without ethanol. I was changing belts & hoses every 10 years before the US even thought of putting ethanol in gasoline. And the old TR runs just fine on it. Granted, it might run a bit better on E0, but only a bit. And I would likely be running the lead substitute even if I was burning E0.

It doesn't take much looking around to see that the USA is more friendly to old cars than practically any other first world country. Just for example, in the UK, they are paying over $8 per gallon; and the car must pass a strict government safety inspection every year or lose its registration. In Japan, the yearly taxes actually go up as the car gets older. Count your blessings while you can, for sure they won't last forever.
 
In Alabama, not known for being overly federalized, you can buy ethanol-free fuel all over the state except in the four metro areas. Most of that fuel is available close to lakes and rivers as the boating crowd likes pure gas. We had some rubber hoses in our TR6 turn soft and porous due to the ethanol, solution was to upgrade the rubber fuel hoses to modern hoses designed for fuel injection applications. There is a station close to me that is owned by a logging company that sells all three grades, non-ethanol, - generally about $.30 more a gallon.
Try this link for ethanol free gas close to you: https://pure-gas.org/.
 
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