Is a fuel with a lower ethanol available in Texas? I cannot find any in the Dallas area. Any ideas on how to find it? I am getting about 19 mpg calculated from fill-up.

I called the Chevy dealer and was told to try Sea Foam spray or Berryman's Chemtool to clean the throttle body and injectors. Anyone tried this? Incidentally, I found a 10% Ethanol on the other side of town.

 

Try checking on GasBuddy, just input your zipcode and it'll list the closest stations and their available fuel grades.

GasBuddy.com - Find Low Gas Prices in the USA and Canada

The main disadvantage of Ethanol blended gasoline, especially E-85, is lower fuel economy due to the lower energy density of alcohol compared to gas or diesel fuels. Your engine produces more power on Ethanol, but you give up mileage as the trade-off.

P.S. to the forum!

 

However, 19MPG would have to include A/C and a lot of idling. I suspect other culprits.

I can barely tell the difference between zero and 10. Even on days I drive 90 miles in 6 hours with 90 stops, engine always on; I get about 21 MPG.

 

I get 24/25 in city driving with E-10. I can get 33 hwy on E-10. We've been on E-10 here for more years now than I can remember.

Either there is something wrong, like a clogged catalytic convertor or bad O2 sensor, or you are simply really hard on the pedal and don't realize it. Driving style is more than half the battle on getting good mileage. I get 15 in the city with my '08 GMC Sierra where's a lot of people complain they only get 12. And I don't baby the peddle on acceleration either. I'm moderate, not a hypermiller.

 

A while back my daughter borrowed my HHR. In an attempt to save some money she put E85 in the tank. As most of you know E85 is 85% alcohol. While it didn't seem to hurt the car any she got crap for mileage with the stuff.

Our '06 does not say flex fuel on it anywhere, she just saw the lower price on the pump and went with it.

She told me how just doing her normal driving she was out of gas in record time. I told her to not buy E85 anymore since there really was no saving in the long run. She used nearly three tanks of gas and only covered the distance she would have been able to go with one tank of the regular 10% alcohol gas I normally buy.

I suppose having run the high alcohol fuel might have cleaned the injectors and the rest of the fuel system a bit though so it might have been a good thing.

 

Except that E85 rots non-stainless fittings and rubber, in the long term. And FlexFuel vehicles do use a different AlGoreithm depending on the percentage of alcohol. That's why the fuel pump costs more for FlexFuel, it's got a specific gravity reader thing-a-ma-jig in it.

 

Could be a number of things causing bad mileage. How many miles are on your HHR? O2 sensors can come into play, plugs, air filter, etc.

 

Tire pressure is another easy-to-fix one that can cut your MPG a bunch. I would think if you are at 19, though, there is something else going on. You are either idling a lot, heavy-footed (like my wife...), or something like that. I run E10 here, and never get below 21 in an SS (where I also hit boost more than I maybe should...).

 

Stop by a parts house and see if any codes are stored! Then go from there unless you want to throw money at a fix, but never find it! Just saying!

 

I THINK the poster is saying (without directly saying) he has been using E85 in his car. That probably accounts for the poorer/less mileage.

As far as a, "......lower ethanol available....", I just spent 3 days in Dallas and I didn't have any problems finding regular unleaded, E10. Seemed like all the stations had it (so I don't understand the other side of town statement).

So, I'm questioning exactly what you are seeking as far as information and help. You are NOT EXPRESSING yourself clearly enough to get accurate reliable assistance.

And he has returned to the forum a couple of times and not responded to the answers.