Ethanol E85

[gamikzone]

Hello, i noticed when i purchased my sport trac last week it is FFV and i live in ohio, so there is a great amount of E85, its cheaper but i know it burns quicker. but my question is how is the mpg compared to normal gasoline? and is e85 bad for your engine and any other components?

 

[05dakotatrac]

the only time i checked milage between E85 and regular 87 pump gas was on a trip from base to home approximately 850 miles. i used two tanks of each and averaged my average on 87 pump was 19.75MPG and on E85 i got 14.5MPG

that means the percentage of difference is 30.65%

E85 is on average anywhere up 40% less efficient than regular pump gas.

as for what it does to the truck well thats hard to say. i have had no problems with mine on either. some say the changing between the two messes with seals as the E85 is more deteirerating on the seals i have had no problem i have also heard of timing issues (truck lobes or idles rough) on the very first FFV's this may be true but my trac never skipped a beat

 

[429CJ-3X2]

the only time i checked milage between E85 and regular 87 pump gas was on a trip from base to home approximately 850 miles. i used two tanks of each and averaged my average on 87 pump was 19.75MPG and on E85 i got 14.5MPG

Just curious - did you run the 2 tanks of E85 back to back? I've wondered if it takes a little time for the vehicle to make the adjustments when switching from one fuel to the other. Your mpg difference sounds about right, but I've wondered if people experience such an mpg difference with the 1st tank that they swear off E85 without really giving it a proper test. (I not implying you didn't, it's just a general question I've had.) Would one get better mileage if they used E85 exclusively for a period of time compared to switching back and forth?

I don't have a FFV, but living in Iowa, which is probably the ethanol capital of the US, I've heard stories on both sides of the issue. It seems everyone the media interviews on the E85 subject is completely biased one way or the other, and shouldn't be trusted to be the final word. I do believe the pro-ethanol people have a point when they say the manufacturers would not approve the fuel for use in their engines if it caused real problems. I think the real question is - is the price differential worth the performance/mpg difference? The best way to determine that is to ask those who've tried E85 in the real world, just as gamikzone has.

 

[Limited02]

My wife's car is FF capable and we lose about 3 mpg when running E85. The car does run stronger and cleaner, but the lost in MPG actually cost more in the end than just getting regular gas. I run E85 every few months to "clean" the tank and engine out.

My understanding is the E85 does everything better than regular gas with the only negative being a decrease in MPG.

 

[swshawaii]

that means the percentage of difference is 30.65%

FFVs typically get about 25-30% fewer miles per gallon when fueled with E85

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/flextech.shtml

 

[05dakotatrac]

just going on my info hawaii the ford dealer told me those specs in regaurds to the early 2000's FFV's. i.e. taurus, sport trac, expo, etc. i didnt really believe them and tested the theory myself with back to back tanks 2 tanks of E85 then two tanks of 87 octane. the numbers above are my results. my truck and my driving habits make that difference.

i did the test simply to find the best fuel per cost. i calculated the percentage so i could look at the price boards and if E85 is cheaper by more than 30% i get E85. honestly i dont notice a huge difference between the two in performance. only noticeable difference is the miles on the trip odometer.

 

[gamikzone]

i thought all sport tracs were FFV? atleast 1st generation, well im still learning i had only had mine for a week , i had a ranger before this, but yea i hear so many different things about e85 but i can't help but ask since there is an e85 station not too far away from my house. around 2.50 a gallon. but yea i have heard ethanol runs cleaner and is better for the engine, then i heard ethanol puts more wear n tear on the engine, so i thought it would be better to hear from different perspectives, honestly i think e85 is a good alternative but not good enough to the point where everyone abandons gasoline and switches to e85 but i like the idea of domestically grown instead of being depended on foreign oil to fuel our american vehicles.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

Brazil has been using a high % alcohol fuel since at least the early 1970s so it can't be as bad as some want to make it sound. I've used the 10% ethanol blend since it first came out here in the late '70s/early '80s in everything from my performance built 460 to daily drivers with no problems. My dad swore his cars lost 3-4 mpg on E10, but I never saw any difference.
And no, not all Sport Tracs are flex fuel. My '02 isn't. Flex fuel was one of the selling points for the Escapes, but I don't think they're all FFVs either.

 

[OffTrac]

We'd need to plant every acre of the world to produce enough ethanol to fuel America's vehicles. That alone makes ethanol irrelevant outside subsidies propping it up. It's a short term bandaid but not a long term solution.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

We'd need to plant every acre of the world to produce enough ethanol to fuel America's vehicles. That alone makes ethanol irrelevant outside subsidies propping it up. It's a short term bandaid but not a long term solution.

Ethanol is no longer subsidized. The industry itself recommended that the subsidies end a couple of years ago. And just for the record, it was the ethanol processors, not the farmers, who were getting the subsidies. (I am neither, nor do I have any stake in the ethanol industry. Just an observer in the middle of corn country.)

They are developing ways to produce ethanol from a wide variety of substances now that weren't possible a few years ago. It's not just the kernels of corn. That's not the same corn people would eat so your cornflakes don't cost more because the corn went to make ethanol despite what some want to claim. And what's left over after the ethanol is produced is sold as livestock feed, and it has more concentrated feed energy content than the whole grain has. Besides, the farmers are getting twice the # of bushels of corn per acre as they were back when I was in school in the early 1970s.

Ethanol won't completely replace gasoline, but every bit helps.

 

[OffTrac]

Ethanol is no longer subsidized.

Rural Energy for America Program, Biomass Crop Assistance Program, Biorefinery Assistance Program...

Just a few subsidies a cursory look into the 2013 Farm Bill (failed) turned up. Didn't even have to dig far.

 

[OffTrac]

Btw, I don't have a problem running it in our '09 Edge and haven't noticed any difference other than loss of mileage. My truck on the other hand, an '01 Job1, does not run as well as on 100% gasoline and the mileage suffers much more noticeably. I'll keep running E0 in my truck (and definitely in my '69 Cougar) but will fill up with E10 in the Edge when we get $1/gal off at Kroger. At least as long as it's available that is. Obviously the market is going to demand high ethanol fuel and the government has no hand in that.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I stand corrected. It stands to reason the subsidies are still in place as they are still operating under the old farm bill. As you noted, the 2013 farm bill has not passed. The ethanol industry has taken the unheard of position of recommending the subsidies be ended, but some in Congress still think there are votes to be gained by keeping the subsidies going.

Actually the gov't does have a huge hand in the increased use of ethanol. The additive that was being used in gasoline in most states (can't remember if it was to raise the octane or make gasoline burn cleaner) was found to cause cancer or other health problems and was banned in favor of ethanol. I recently heard that the amount of ethanol use the gov't currently mandates as a means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil far exceeds what can possibly be used at our current and projected gasoline consumption rates. We are not driving as many miles as we used to, and vehicles get better mpg (another gov't mandate.)