Questins About Using E85 in a FVV

[Dalmus]

I've had several "knowledgeable" people tell me that if I've never put E85 in my system, I shouldn't start now (I have 127K miles).

Is this true? Currently E85 is $.85 - $1.00 cheaper than regular gas, and its at the point where despite the anticipated loss in MPG, I'll be saving some money each time a fill up.

I don't want to "shock" the system though (as one guy put it) and end up ruining something.

Do the Flex models need to have the computer re-tuned if I'm going to use E85 regularly in order to get the best efficiency?

 

[2TimingTom]

FFV vehilces are suppose to go between regular gas and E85 without doing anything to the ECU. Just pump and drive.

 

[Ronin8002]

As far as I know there is no retune needed if it is a FFV. It will sense what changes need to be made automatically. If you did get a performance tune you could benefit from the 100+ octane of E85 though.

No idea if it will "shock the system". I did it for the first time at about 45k and had no issues.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[stuartr]

I thought E85 would be less octane due to the extra ethanol. BTW what would E85 do to a non-flex fuel Mounty.

STU

 

[Ronin8002]

Ethanol has higher octane. E-85 runs from 100-105 octane, I believe.

I think if you tried to use E-85 in a non-FFV I don't think it would run well...plus I hear it tends to be hard on the rubber fuel components that are present in a non-FFV.

I don't at all recommend using it on a non-FFV but if you really wanted to try it I guess you could put a gallon or two into a nearly empty tank and see how it runs....then you could fill it up the rest of the way with regular gas if it didn't work well.

 

[blazin8556]

i saw a car run very bad on e85 and it was not designed for it. it would run down the road fine but idling was a struggle and it would die regularly.. i do not recommend trying this with a vehicle not designed for it. you can however do a little research and you can make any car able to accept it. irc it has to be a higher fuel system pressure. i looked it all up once a while back. but the nearest ethanol station to me is 3 hours away that i know of.

 

[tektoo2]

I switched today and my x is actually running smoother/cleaner than it did on gasoline... due to my fuel gauge problem i have not been able to watch my MPG but i think i will get e85 when i can [near an e85 station which are far and few in NJ]...

 

[Ronin8002]

You can bet on losing 2-3 MPG. It's not worth switching for fuel cost savings unless the E85 in your area is very very inexepensive.

 

[stuartr]

Thanks guys I was just wondering. I don't know where you can get E85 within 1hr of here. So it would be hard for me to use it anyway. Around here you can still find 100% gas my mounty gets about 2-3 miles better on it than the 10% Ethanol stuff and seems to fun a bit smoother too.

STU

 

[waskly]

if you run e85 just a few tips, monthly fill up on regular gas.

cold weather use a block heater.

e85 hates cold, and while a flex fuel vehicle can run on e85 its not for 24/7 you need to run a gas of tank through it.

btw, while e85 is higher octane, its lower btu. so you should get less mpg then regular gas.

 

[patrick112390]

drain tank. fill with e85. unhook battery to reset kam. drive.

 

[Dalmus]

I tried the lazy way first... Let's see if I'm thinking right.

My first tank was 3/4 of E85 and 1/4 E10.

I went from 17.2mpg down to 15.6. Roughly a 1.5mpg drop. I drove until the low fuel light came on this time, so I put in a full tank of E85, which should give me a more accurate measurement.

Assuming a "pure" tank of E85 will drop me down to 15.0mpg:

E10 - 300 miles in 17.45 gallons @ $4.039 = $70.48 or $.235/mile
E85 - 300 miles in 20.00 gallons @ $3.379 = $67.58 or $.225/mile

Net savings of $2.90, or about $.01 per mile...

I'm thinking at this point, it probably isn't really worth the hassle of driving 6 miles round trip to get to an E85 station...

 

[Ronin8002]

here are some other tools to help you in your calculations:


http://e85prices.com/milesperdollar.htm

 

[Dalmus]

here are some other tools to help you in your calculations:


http://e85prices.com/milesperdollar.htm

Interesting... I may have to do some more testing. If E20 or E30 REALLY gets equivalent mpg to straight gas, that would actually jump my savings to $4ish per tank.

I wonder if anyone here as actually taken the time to test this before...

 

[Dalmus]

Well, that was ridiculous. On pure E85, fuel economy dropped down to 14mpg.

I ran down to 1/4 tank, and then filled up with E10... so effectively I'll have E27. We'll see what happens.

 

[Ronin8002]

very interested in seeing the E27 results

 

[Dalmus]

very interested in seeing the E27 results

Ran out my tank of E27(ish). Brought the fuel economy up to 16mpg.

That's 1-2mpg less than with normal E10. If I can stay consistently in that range, it might actually save me money... possibly.

With the higher ethanol blends, I noticed slight drop in power, especially under a load.

 

[Ronin8002]

Very interesting...thanks for the info!

Guess there's no "free lunch" when it comes to e85 blends.

 

[chitown1211]

I don't use e85 myself and I am not a tree hugger by any stretch, but you could also factor in the satisfaction of not putting foreign oil in your gas tank.


That would be my only reason to use it. Not sure what $ figure you put on that? Guess it depends on your level of "patriotism".

 

[Dalmus]

I don't use e85 myself and I am not a tree hugger by any stretch, but you could also factor in the satisfaction of not putting foreign oil in your gas tank.


That would be my only reason to use it. Not sure what $ figure you put on that? Guess it depends on your level of "patriotism".

I didn't try it for tree hugger reasons or political reasons... I tried it because it was about $.80 cheaper per gallon. The loss of performance AND mileage wasn't really worth the extra effort to me.

If only the acetone "trick" really worked!