gas mileage

[Larry Fine]

All gasoline sold in PA must have a minimum of 10% ethanol per state law.

All gas, or all gas with ethanol? There are a lot of stations listed under PA in the link in post #3.

[Larry Fine]

All of the CA pump gas has at least 10% ethanol including premium.

Recreation gas for marinas is only available in certain areas. I live 5 miles from a lake but their marina sells ethanol gas. It is a 4 hour drive from where I live to a marina that sells rec gas.

Did you check out CA in the link in post #3?

[Bob H]

I did check pure-gas and have checked it several times over the last few years.
The "VP Racing" in Paso Robles is somewhat in my area, but when I called them they said ALL of their pump gas has ethanol. VP does sell cans of race fuel (very expensive unless just getting a can for chain saw or something).

There are 19 stations listed on that site for California, some are Airports (won't sell to me unless I lie and say it is for a plane and fill up cans - no way they let you pump it into a street legal vehicle anymore in California).

Some marinas do have recreational fuel, 4 hours away - not sure if they would let you pump it in a car. California has that mandate about "oxygenated" and with MTBE outlawed it is pretty certain to be ethanol.

I my little town I have run into several gas stations where they don't have a clue if it has ethanol or not, I did a deep dive on that when I had to rebuild my carbs again. You go up the chain to managers, then they don't know - agree to find out. Follow up, they call supplier and learn that their gas does have ethanol. Most of them are labeled "contains 10% ethanol" but some aren't, and I have had those stations workers tell me "no it doesn't have ethanol" but upon confirmation you find that it does.

I came to the conclusion that some of the pure-gas stations listed in my state as no ethanol was the result of gas station workers saying "no ethanol" and they really don't know. I wish the marina near me sold recreational gas and would let me pump it in a vehicle for the street.

We do have a large gas distribution center for the trucking industry near me, and they were listed on VP Racing site as having no ethanol. I talked through a few layers of mgmt there, and nothing they have to pump into vehicles for street is ethanol free, they only had 5 gallon cans of VP Race fuel for over $100 a can.  Turns out they were the place that my local marina gets gas from, so the guy confirmed what the marina told me - that it has ethanol in that marina fuel - they know cuz they deliver it.

At the end of the day, I just decided not to let my bike sit and ride in all seasons.

[Pete in PA]

All pumps here in PA are well marked as to ethanol content.

I have 2 no Ethanol locations within 10 miles of me. One is a Rutters. The other is a Sunoco that has a seperate pump off to the side.

For a lot of last summer I ran E0. Then I filled with 87 E10  and got more power!  So jetkits.com must jet to 10% ethanol. Makes sense.

I tried a splash of E15 Into a tank of mostly E10 and power went down.

So it's E10 87 from now on.

[mollusc]

All gasoline sold in PA must have a minimum of 10% ethanol per state law.

All gas, or all gas with ethanol? There are a lot of stations listed under PA in the link in post #3.

The state law does have some loopholes that allow exceptions I think.  But in general, the PA law says that "...all gasoline sold or offered for sale to ultimate consumers in this Commonwealth must contain at least 10% cellulosic ethanol by volume..." (PA Statue 1650.4; enacted 2008 and amended 2010).

[Bob H]

All pumps here in PA are well marked as to ethanol content.

In California "some" pumps are well marked, usually the huge top-tier names (Shell, Chevron, etc.)

When I see a pump that is not marked in California, I have learned to not assume that it has no ethanol. It may just be a mom and pop gas station that does not enforce the consumer alert of ethanol content.

This is an interesting article on Recreational Gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REC-90

They show an example of a Sunoco station with ethanol free gas pump. And one is listed in Uniontown, PA
No listings in California.

If someone has an older carbureted boat, you don't want ethanol turning to gel when it is in storage. Thus the "recreational gas" designation, not intended for street use.

[Pete in PA]

I have never seen or heard of it called Recreational 90, Rec 90, etc. till now.

It's just called no ethanol. It is usually 90 octane.  But I know of 1 or 2 near me that are E0 and 87 octane.

[Steppin Razor]

Shell is my top choice in gas. Runs best in bikes and cars.

Sunoco 2nd, then any other Top Tier gas.

Won't touch Sheetz or any lower brand unless I have to. I will notice a drop in throttle response, power, etc.

Funny, Shell is the one place I avoid.  Whatever additive is in it, it wreaks havoc on my carburetted truck.  I bought a CB360 from a local vintage Honda parts supplier, he told me to avoid Shell and I said, 'ahead of you on that one'.  Maybe they've got different additives for different regions, but it even adversely affected my old EFI prelude (2000), though not nearly as bad as my truck.  Have not had to fill my bike at a Shell and won't unless it's an emergency and don't have a choice.


The two biggest problems with ethanol are water separation when sitting, and ethanol/water corrodes bare aluminum and brass (carburetors).  Not letting it sit would be wise.