non-ethanol fuel?

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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Fiatlanta
Posts: 184
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:00 am
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 124

non-ethanol fuel?

Post by Fiatlanta »

Noticed a few stations in my area are carrying non-ethanol fuel for around $3/gallon. Premium is around $2.80, which is what I've been using...if there is some benefit, I wouldn't mind the extra .20/gallon. I think I read somewhere that 91+ octane is preferable, but the non-ethanol is 90, compared to 93 for premium. I've been getting 18-20 mpg in mostly surface street driving, fwiw.

Thoughts?
klweimer
Posts: 550
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:45 am
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Arvada, Colorado

Re: non-ethanol fuel?

Post by klweimer »

I'd go for the non-ethanol if you can get it. Especially if you don't drive the car a lot. The ethanol can be corrosive to a variety of fuel system components. I think this is less of an issue if you keep fuel going through the system, but if you don't turn over the fuel often, you may have more issues.
Kirk
Fiatlanta
Posts: 184
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:00 am
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 124

Re: non-ethanol fuel?

Post by Fiatlanta »

Thanks for the info. It's my every day driver currently, so I guess it's not as big an issue.
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Dawgme85
Posts: 148
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 8:15 pm
Your car is a: 1977 124 Spider - Shelob
Location: Sammamish, WA

Re: non-ethanol fuel?

Post by Dawgme85 »

If your engine is stock, it doesn't need Premium fuel. I run 89 octane in mine with no pinging issues, though I could probably get by with 87. Higher compression engines need higher octane, but the later models only had about 8:1 CR. If I had >9:1 I would probably run 92 octane, which is what Premium is around here.
I also run non-ethanol gas from the local Grange station and the engine runs noticeably better than when I (occasionally) have to fill up with "good quality" (Chevron, Shell, 76, etc) oxygenated gas. Try a few tanks and judge for yourself.
LeRoy
1977 Spider 1800 (SHELOB - driver)
1970 124 Sport Spider (99% complete barn find, now in my garage, awaiting restoration)
Fiatlanta
Posts: 184
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:00 am
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 124

Re: non-ethanol fuel?

Post by Fiatlanta »

Cool, yeah, it's stock. Guess I'll give it a shot.

Thanks.
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