Not starting well - ethanol in fuel?

[speedracer33]

I'm relaying this message for my father.....

His '92 has not been starting well recently. It tends to sputter and try to stall on him. Once the car has temp (after only about 30 seconds after start up), it runs perfectly. He has a theory that it could possibly be caused by the fact that he is using Gulf fuel in it, which contains 10% ethanol.

Has anybody experienced similar start up problems, or does anybody here use Gulf fuel without issues? Either one would help to diagnose the problem...

Thanks!

Matt

 

[Briank]

It's unlikely the problem is caused by the 10% ethanol blend. Many NSX owners including myself use 10% fuel with no problems. The first thing I would recommend would be to pull the clock fuse to reset the ECU and see what happens.

 

[nsxtasy]

Definitely not the fuel. About one quarter of the U.S. population lives in areas where RFG (reformulated gasoline, i.e. oxygenated fuel) containing 10 percent ethanol (a slightly lower percentage in the winter, about 7 percent) is mandated by the federal government under the Clean Air Act of 1990. The areas where RFG is required includes most of New Jersey (18 out of 21 counties, the other 3 sell it even though it's not required) and Eastern Pennsylvania (5 counties) (listed here), so all brands in your area are probably selling it, not just Gulf.

There are no problems using fuel with 10 percent ethanol in the NSX.