test for alcohol in your gas By jct842 (Read 401 times)

[jct842]

The U. S. Department of Energy has an alternative fuels website to aid in locating E85 fuel in your area.
At a minimum, E85 should meet ASTM Specification D 5798. By definition, this means that fuel labeled "E85" will have an ethanol content between 70% and 85%.
To determine how much alcohol has been added by the oil company, you can do the following simple test. Be sure to use adequate ventilation, avoid sparks, heat and any other sources of ignition for liquid gasoline/alcohol AND their vapors!
This is known as "Water Extraction". A graduated glass cylinder, usually 1000 milliliters (ml), is used for this test. Put 250ml of the gasoline to be tested into the graduated flask.
Add 50ml of water to the flask containing the 250ml of sample gasoline.
Seal the top w/a stopper and thoroughly agitate the sample. Let this rest for a couple minutes.
If there's no alcohol in the sample, there will still be only 50ml of water that has separated into a layer at the bottom of the container.
If there IS alcohol present in the sample, the amount of water/alcohol at the bottom of the container will have increased by the amount of alcohol that's present in the 250ml sample.
Subtracting the original 50ml of water that was added at the start of the test from what is now there is the percentage of alky that has been added to the gasoline.
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My gas mileage on my chev malibu the last month has dropped way down and that got me thinking I should test. I have not tested yet but will using the above test. john

[Bashan]

Let us know how the test comes out when you do it John. Do you think they're trying to slip some alcohol into your gas and not tell you? By law they're supposed to put it on the pump if it's in there. Of course that doesn't mean they will. Rich

[bigkahuna427]

Sounds like a good test to me. What dry gas (alcohol) does is enable gas and water to mix so you can get it out of your tank. FYI to anyone reading better dry gas is nearly 100% alcohol and the cheaper stuff is cut with.... Water..

[jct842]

i did a test today. 18 oz jar, put in 2 oz water and marked level with a paint pen. put in 8 oz of gas from my 6 gal can i got 6 weeks ago. shook and let sit. the water line increased a 1/10 inch. will mark with an other color paint pen and then use use a hypo needle to measure the increase. i do not have pure gas in that can. i will use up that gas and fill the can at an other station that claims pure gas . john