Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hey guys, got a question for you.... we keep hearing soooo much about the harmful effects of ethanol in our gas ( especially the way it effect marine products ). Still around this area E-10 is about the only thing you can buy... as such I've always used either stabil marine or startron to both treat the ethanol and stabilize the fuel, especially during storage... however the other night I checked out www.pure-gas.org and found there is a Citgo station that reportedly sells ethanol free fuel, however from what I can find out it's only in thier 93 octane fuel... and I read somewhere that you shouldn't burn 93 in an outboard.... actually I read 89 was good but nothing less than 86.... so my question to you is, if you could only get ethanol free fuel in the premium 93 octane formula, would you do that or stick with a e-10 and then treat it... also, how do you guys feel about Citgo... checked the "upper fuel tier " site last night, and Citgo is not listed as one of them.... what's a boat owner to do?

I believe Citco is owned by Hugo Chavez. As far as paying the price for 93 I would continue to use and treat E10

Been thru your area a few times and have noticed that there will be two different regulars. Like an 86 and an 89 octane. One with E-10 and one without. Usually the same price. Most people will get the 89 because of the highter octane but it is also the one with ethanol. I don't believe that Citgo could sell real gas at any price if the law did not allow it.

In the Chicago area and it's beloved 5 collar counties, non ethanol fuel does not exist, no way, no how. But, move across the county line and real fuel is available everywhere. SO. In my humble opinion, there is more than one station selling real gas in that area. And I agree, don't buy the prem fuel just to stay away from E-10 and yep, Hugo owns Citgo....

Think I would check just to make sure if you are in the area. I went on one of those sites that's suppose to list ethanol free gas stations an seems like the first listed was a Citgo. Anyway I went to three they listed as ethanol free an all the pumps stickers said 10 percent ethanol. Didn't go inside to verify, just went by what was on the pumps. Have not done a break down to see what it cost me to treat say a gallon, but usually go a little over on what is recommended to treat a given volume. Ethanol only got me once but at a little shy of 300 bucks don't want it to happen again.
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I can still buy it from a fuel company or at the marina and in my case its easier to get it at the marina.

Running higher octane rated gasoline (than what the engine requires) will not harm your engine. To a point. If you start running 100LL avgas (which is really rated as 130 automotive-wise) you will get lead deposits on your heads & pistons. 93 octane rated automotive gas won't do this. It won't harm your engine, but it really won't get you any more power unless the gas isn't diluted with ethanol. (Ethanol has less BTU's/gal than does straight gasoline. Pure gasoline gives more power than will gas diluted with ethanol.)

I believe Citco is owned by Hugo Chavez

This has been diosproved severl tiems.

The only stations I see with ethanol free are only offering it in 93 octane. It would seem if gas is going to sit for awhile, having a little more octance could be benificial.

STEVEBRENDA wrote:

I believe Citco is owned by Hugo Chavez

This has been diosproved severl tiems.

The only stations I see with ethanol free are only offering it in 93 octane. It would seem if gas is going to sit for awhile, having a little more octance could be benificial.

Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo) is a United States–incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products, according to Wikipedia. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of Venezuela.
While Senor Chavez does not directly OWN Citgo, he controls it and likely skims off as much as he can. Supporting Citgo supports Chavez - "nuff said.

Chavez subsidizes gasoline price in Venezuela that is why he is popular with poor people. Regular gas is 18 cents a gallon and diesel is twelve cents a gallon. I wish it was that way here.

Here in the Show Me state, many stations on land sell 91 octane that is listed ethanol free.
Also, here at LOTO we're lucky in that all the marinas sell ethanol free fuel (most of it is 87 octane, but there are few places that sell 93 for the high performance boats).
I fill my gas cans with 87 octane and add Mercury QwicKare ethanol treatment and then when I put the boats up for the season I add SeaFoam for long term treatment. I've been doing this on my Merc 200 hp Optimax since 2006 with absolutely no issues. I also do the same thing on the Yammi on the back of my pontoon, which the dealer highly recommended. No fogging, just make sure the SeaFoam gets thoroughly circulated in the system.

Running premium in an engine that doesn't require it just costs more $ but won't harm anything. In my experience premium gas gives less trouble in small engines & those that don't see frequent use. At one point I was cleaning out the carb on a little 150cc 4-stroke almost every time I started it but after switching to premium I had no more problems with gumming or deposits.

Don't remember where I read it, but I could swear that I read that running 93 octane in an outboard was a bad idea... the reason given was that because 93 octane burned hotter, it was much more likely to cause carbon deposits.... but it seems the concensus here is other than costing a bit more, it won't hurt the motor.... good to know... Thanks.

Premium doesn't burn hotter but is often used in engines that do. High compression ratios usually mean running on premium. The high CR causes lower octane gas to pre-ignite from the cylinder heat + high pressure, causing engine knocking. The extra octane lowers volatility so the fuel burns when it's supposed to. In other words a gallon of 87 has the same energy as a gallon of 93--but the engine that's designed to run on 93 will produce more power due to the high CR.