Just Learning

Has anybody used E-85 in there pre 90 truck, I put in 75% gas and 25% E 85 being my gas tank is only 15 gallons will this hurt my 86 toy,i undertsand that E 85 is corrosive but i dullitet it pretty good .gas is $4.25 and E85 is $3.65 all comments welcome

Ardent

I thought E-85 could only be used in vehicles that are "Flex Fuel." I could be wrong though.

I'm pretty sure you'll see a decrease in mileage. In the winter, they put extra ethanol in our gas (not sure if they do this everywhere) and it decreases my mpg's by 1-2.

eric-the-red

So your saving about $2.25 per tankful. Is it worth the chance of damaging some fuel lines or seals to save that little bit.

Al's Chop Shop

don't do it, you aren't saving money anyway. fuel economy drops with E85, so you break even if you run it full boat. then you're just helping drive up the cost of corn and other foods.

Al

toyota-erik

Im afraid that anyone that knows what they're talking about, will tell you the same thing. DONT DO IT!

We've all have seen in the movies, when some redneck puts some moonshine (ethenol is just denatured moonshine) in his car and it gives him that extra boost to get away from the cops. This is a myth. In fact just the opposite happens. This is why you loose mpg. Methenol on the other hand...
Todays Flexfuel vehicles have complex fuel, ignition and computer systems designed to get the most out of ethenol blended gas and even they loose mpg an power.
And yes is is very corrosive.

corax

think about all the rubber lines and parts that will get damaged from ethanol - fuel pump, hoses, injectors or carb . . . not worth it. If you want to be cheap, buy a Metro

scuba

lmao, Yesssss

SEAIRESCUE

I ran up to 40% E85 in a 87 RTE for about a year with no problems. Above 40% the O2 and computer could not put enough fuel in the engine and I started running lean with a check engine light. That was the limit test. Most of the time I ran around 30%. In cold weather you will have hard start and lean conditions until the engine warms. All of the OEM soft gaskets are other than natural rubber and are not affected by the E85. Any soft metal parts are a concern. The fuel line is steel. So, in the end, I had no problems and sold the truck with no known problems. There is no cost advantage to buying the less expensive ethanol but it will clean the engine internally really well.

My $0.02

FredTJ

Methanol on the other hand what ????

Ethanol isn't that corrosive. It can be run (as E85) in most EFI vehicles without a problem.
I've run it in several (as has a poster above) for several years with no problems at all.
You should replace the fuel filter after the first tank, as it will loosen and remove existing deposits in the fuel tank.




Fred

toyota-erik

Your right. Please continue to use it even though there is no advantage.

FredTJ

In some areas there IS a price advantage enough to make it worth while.


Fred

eric-the-red

Do not use any ethanol based fuels, it's causing an increase in grain prices, and they make beer from grain. Any slight savings on a tank of gas will not pay for the increased cost of your beer.

toyota-erik

O.K...do the math for us, and be honest.

FredTJ

Nah, y'all are big boys now, y'all do your own math

Here in Tucson, now, it's not cheaper, though it was a year and half to two years ago when I started running it in two of my vehicles that I had at the time.

The only way that anyone can tell if it's worth it is to see what it cost where they're at and if it's $0.60 or so a gallon less than gasoline, try a couple of tanks (at least to get a good average mpg figure) and see how the math comes out.
For me, with (at that time) a '98 TJ and a 97 Dodge Caravan, the break even point was $0.60 per gallon less than the cost of gasoline.
For a while E85 was well under a dollar a gallon less than gasoline here.

Now, I am NOT saying that E85 is the way to go to solve out problems.
E85 is because of our resident moron in office and the current administration who together make a government of, by and for the big companies and having nothing to do with the everyday people.
The E85 mandate was just one of many, many insanely stupid things that baby Bush and company have done while in office.




Fred

toyota-erik

Your right. We need to punish the big companys until they ALL go to Mexico.

Im confused. It sounds like you must have been in favor of E85 when you were saving $.60 a gallon. Did you think it was stupid then?

You Dems just blame Bush for everything blindly. You never look at the bigger pic. Now Im not defending Bush, in fact I think he is an idiot.
Congress isnt very popular right now either.

alliekay

This has been my experience as well. 15-25 % ethanol has not harmed my vehicles. Going up to about 40% will cause the check engine light to come on if I really get on the gas. But it resets itself if I avoid repeated full throttle starts. Ethanol will clean the fuel system up nicely but also will strip engine oil from the parts it contacts. From what I have read, vehicles running alcohol content in fuel should increase maintenance intervals and use a quality synthetic motor oil.
I talked to a guy in England that runs 60% ethanol in his Land Rover with no issues. He has over 200,000 kms on his truck running Ethanol mix for almost half of its life. This is what got me interested in experimenting with ethanol and why I want a new FFV that has a computer that is programmed to deal with varying alcohol content.

alliekay

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-112533-7723r/

It isn't just Bush or the Republicans. Democrats were pushing ethanol from corn as well.
Ethanol is a great idea. We just need to use non-food crops to make it. "Weeds" like the native to the US Jerusalem artichoke are ideally suited to ethanol production.

FredTJ

I've NEVER been "in favor" of E85. It's one of the stupidest ideas ever.
I ran it when it was less expensive to run than gasoline.
Now, here in Tucson, it isn't any more.
I'm not a Dem nor a Rep. I don't vote party lines or parties.

If Bush really wanted to push E85 he would drop the import tariffs on E85 from Brazil. Instead he's paying a few (in the back realm of things) farmers a lot of money.

This current administration has always put the "need of the few" in front of the "needs of the many"..

We don't need to "punish" any "big companies".
I have no idea where you pulled that from, assuming that your responding to something I posted.



Fred

FredTJ

Yes, Dems are pushing it also, but certainly to a lesser extent.
If the Dems are successful in storming the palace I suspect that we'll see some of the subsidies to a handful of farmers, removed.

E85 is a stupid idea.
You still need area to grow whatever you're going to use to make it.
Hell, even Castro got it right when he said that Bush is going to starve the people here to produce ethanol.

Electric power for auto's is the wave of the future and, luckily IMHO, we're seeing a strong move into that direction.



Fred

alliekay

Electric cars? They are typically plugged in and charged overnight. Only facilities that are on the grid overnight are hydro electric and coal powered plants. The electric car will be a big boost to coal since hydro power is not expanding.
We are not ready for full electric just yet.