Benefits from non-ethanol in our 360"s?

Ferraris require premium. Ethanol is not a problem unless the car sits for long periods of time. When that happens it separates out and the high concentration of alcohol attacks rubber components in the fuel system like the fuel pump. I don't think Ferrari uses materials in the fuel system any different than other manufacturers, but Ferraris are rarely purchased as a daily driver, so they can often sit for long periods of time between drives. Sometimes for months. That is when problems arise.

Best solution? Drive the car at least a couple times a month to prevent fuel separation. If that is not possible, then find ethanol free gas: https://www.pure-gas.org/

 

I avoid ethanol as much as possible. All negatives no positives.
For the little I drive this car, I prefer to splurge on gas. It adds up to just a few bucks over the year.
I'lll cheap out somewhere else

 

Was just reading a tech column in the BMW club magazine Roundel just a few minutes ago...the tech Mike Miller also dislikes gas with ethanol, but says most of the ethanol free gas is sold by independent stations which brings to question the detergent additives. Thus most ethanol free gasoline is also not meeting the latest "Top Tier" standards either....so he says he is split in which way to go. He said he did have a BMW that sat in storage (didn't say exactly how long) and the fuel pump seized from the ethanol.

He said if he was to hedge his bets, he would use ethanol free gas in a car that wasn't regularly driven, and use a quality fuel injection additive every 5000 miles. He likes Chevron Techron which is endorsed by BMW

 

Speaking of Sta-bil, they make an additive specific for ethanol gasolines.
https://www.goldeagle.com/product/sta-bil-360-performance

What is not clear, is will this keep the ethanol in suspension, preventing it from separating? If it doesn't then it isn't really preventing the biggest concern. (If you hang around here long enough, you will see the damaged fuel pumps, from 550s, 355s, 348s from ethanol...haven't seen one from a 360 or 430 yet....but it may be just they aren't old enough.

 

The referenced Autoweek article. Jay Leno hates ethanol | Autoweek

Stabilizer and drive it. It will thank you.

 

Funny how nobody s mentioning the shocking increase in performance realized immediately with ethanol free gas - try it folks - it's not a subtle difference.

 

There's an ethanol free gas station around the corner. Mine never sits more than 5-6 days but I often wonder what the additive (pun intended) effects are on the components, especially in colder weather. Northern drivers don't have the option.

I'm of the mind that if it doesn't sit, you don't need the additives and ethanol free gas becomes less an issue.

 

It is true, ethanol releases less energy however when 30-40% of the fuel is waste is the pure gas blend going to impact performance? Not by anything you can feel. Ethanol has an octane or AKI of 113-115 in its pure form, you're going to burn slightly less fuel to hit the enrichment target and more likely to have timing pulled if you don't get a good tank of ethanol free fuel.

It keeps well, smells a tad different, and gives you a tenth of an MPG perhaps, but is it worth the hassle? If it makes you drive more to get to the station, that is really the best impact to your cars performance.

 

I have one a quarter mile away (76 station), but they only offer 89 octane (too low). I'm of the same opinion, my 430 Scuderia never sits more than one or two weeks, even in winter, so not an issue for me.

 

For those who don't really know, ethanol blows. It has the potential for higher octane (e85) but the octane in the garbage at the pump (e10) actually about 15% ethanol is the same octane. There are absolutely no performance advantages gained from 91 or 93 octane e10 and higher octane ethanol is only beneficial to a higher compression engine or a forced induction application. In the 360 manual it states ethanol free gas only. Ethanol is very corrosive to a system that has not been designed to handle it. Also note that ethanol has way less energy than gasoline by volume which means it takes more to achieve the same effect in the combustion chamber (like alcohol).

 

Ethanol does have a side effect of lowering greenhouse gas emissions and one of the primary reasons they have been slowly adding it to gasoline. My race car runs on ethanol and I wouldn't have it any other way. And so much less expensive than race gasoline and more widely available (regional differences aside).