An older golf cart with a carburetor that is not used much may benefit from ethanol-free fuel. I run ethanol-free fuel in my carbureted yard tools - sometimes they sit for awhile. Fuel injected golf carts, however, that are used regularly are fine with 10% ethanol fuel. You don't need ethanol-free fuel in your fuel injected car. Any increase in gas mileage with ethanol-free gas would be limited to 3% (the energy difference) - difficult to measure and certainly not worth the 30% higher cost. I have 20K miles on my fuel injected golf cart with 10% ethanol fuel with no issues and 50+ miles per gallon.
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Originally Posted by John_W
I bought a new Yamaha gas cart in 2011 and used regular ethanol gas until the Marathon Station on 466A opened in August 2014. I thought I would try the ethanol free gas one time to see if it improved performance.
That week I played 18 holes at Belle Glade which is about 4 miles from my home off St. Charles. I picked up my neighbor and we drove to the course, played a round and then as soon as we exited the parking lot the cart died. I could get the cart to go but only at about 4 mph if I held the choke out with one hand and drove the cart. We made it back in 60 minutes, it's normally about 20-25 minutes.
The next day I called Willie Wilcoxin who I've had service my cart since the beginning. He came out and said that ethanol builds up like crud in the carburetor and fuel lines and when you put in the clean gas all that crud loosens up. He flushed everything out and charged me $70.
Ever since then I've stayed with the Ethanol Free because this is going to be my last cart and I want to last as long as I can, and it has clean lines and a carburetor and I do get slightly better mileage. Also I only drive my cart when I play golf, so I use a 5 gallon can and that will normally last two months. So it's not that big an expense.
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