Well I'm going to be switching over to e-85 for the summer again and I was wondering where are you guys getting your E-85 from? I was getting from Gas City last year... but now all of them are shut down by me (south burbs of Chicago). I'm thinking Shell... but there are only two shell stations by me that even carry the stuff. Anybody have any good/bad experiences with E-85 from particular stations?

 

A couple of Gas City near me were bought out by Speedway and will not be carrying E85 anymore, at least that's what the clerk told me. The nearest one to me is 8 miles now. Good thing it's on my way to work.

 

Me too! Except some of the gas cities by me were bought by shell... I asked them if they were gonna still carry e85 and they said yes. I just don't wanna switch over and have nowhere to fill up or have Shell stop carrying the stuff. Do you stick to one station or fill up at different stations/brands? I am asking because AMS advised me to try to stick to one station so the blends don't vary as much.

 

I've been sticking to the same station so far. Now, I have no choice really.

From state to state, they tend to vary a little but city to city they should be very close. If you want to know for sure, you can always test it.

 

The few Gas City's I've seen in the burbs were now Shell.

The best thing we've seen implemented for that is the fact that Shell gas stations will be installing E85 pumps at 90% of there locations by the summer of next year (all the corporate ones at least) and that is a REALLY good thing.

We did a test of the shell fuels recently and they were past 85%...by quite the margin, 90-92% in fact. There is a very simple explanation for this as well.

Shell said "hmm, oil is still going up, so let's just use more ethanol" Not the best thing for the 93 users but because of the additive package they are using from the suppliers (one of the best in the country), the 93 is still 90+% consistent compared to when the E85 value was lesser. For the E85 users, well, that means that you will have even more power capabilities from the pump which is awesome.

There will be a down fall, it'll make the summer blend tunes that much worse int eh winter, and the cold starts will be that much harder. Well...we found a nice, simple, clean fix for that too...93 winter map. Simple as that. We have a couple customers who do that already and it's never an issue, they come in around November, we hook up out netbook and there you. There is a need for 2 tunes is all.

-Mark

 

I also have two maps ...makes things a whole lot easier if you ever run into trouble.

I just drove by a Gas City in Willow Springs this evening, and they too will be changing over. All the E85 pumps now have a plastic bag over them. According to my trip mileage, I have about 2 gallons to the next E85 station.

 

That's good news about Shell installing E85 pumps. I've been waiting on that forever.

 

This is awesome! I have two tunes as well one e85 tune and one 93oct tune. Im just happy that shell will be offering e85 at 90% of their stations!

 

I think that everyone will be glad with that, it'll be a good outcome when it happens. We have a station right next to us but that they are not corporate...they won't have the E85 but it's all good, we'll let the customer just bring the fuel like they do now.

-Mark

 

There is e85 at the gas city by me on 72 by streets of Woodfield. There is also a shell about 2 miles down the street so I don't think that that gas city will change over to shell. Maybe that shell will carry e85 in the near future though.

 

Well I just drove by the Gas city by Streets of Woodfield and to my surprise it is now a Shell station. So Im just curious why they would put 2 Shells so close together. Its actually only about 1 mile apart from the other one. Its cool with me though because Gas city now Shell is now even closer to me

 

Yea when the hell did Shell buy out gas city haha

 

I just filled up at the Shell (old Gas City) off Plum Grove and Higgins yesterday and tested the blend before filling up. It is right around 90% ethanol content which is awesome. The previous batch I pumped from a Marathon in Elgin was right around 75% ethanol. Needless to say I had to richen things up a bit on the good stuff

 

Glad 2 hear shells will start all carrying e85, the gas cities were super convenient

 

curious to know how you are testing?

fwiw, Thorntons (on Ogden in Aurora) and Woodmans (in Aurora and elsewhere) are by far the cheapest places to get E85 in the chicago metro area