Miata Mailing List: August 1993, Message #144
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   From: steve@laforge.ksc.nasa.gov (Steve Davis)
Subject: Re:  Gasahol  (was: Rough (very) Miata FAQ)
   Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1993 13:47:12 -0400




>From Brian's draft FAQ list:
>) What type of gasoline should I use in my Miata?
>
>A) See your owners manual.  In general, 87 octane unleaded fuel is
>fine.  Oxygenated fuels and gasahol may cause trouble.  [elaborate
>if this isn't in all owners manuals.]

>From Tom Tkacik:
>I believe that fuels with ethonal or methonal should be avoided.
>There are other oxigenated fuels that do not have those.
>They should be ok.

For reference, does anyone know of a list of gasoline brands and
grades that shows their ethanol and/or methanol content?  What would
be most useful, of course, is a list of brands that use _no_ alcohol.
Does the BMW recommended fuel list take this into account?  Does
anyone have the latest version of this list?

One useful thing I learned from my first job (junior grunt at a
Shell station) was an easy test for alcohol content in gasoline.
Fill a 100 ml graduated cylinder with 10 ml of tap water and 90 ml of
the gasoline that you're testing.  Cover the top with a stopper and
shake to mix the two thoroughly.  When everything settles out, the
water will be at the bottom of the cylinder.  If there was any
alcohol in the gasoline, much of it will be combined with the water,
and the apparent water/gasoline dividing line will be higher than the
10 ml mark.

Regards,

Steve