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E85 fuel

J

JR.Frye

Member

Question about E85 fuel:

I hear a lot of people talking about the E85 fuel,
They are saying it can be used in any car or truck. I am not sure what to think.
What is your thoughts:
MANY THANKS:
JR.FRYE
 
E85 can only be used in a flex fuel vechicle. It will mess up or make a vehicle not made for it run bad. Most tell me the milage is bad and it doesn"t seem to make the engine perform as well as if it was running gas. I"m in Iowa and the stuff is for sale everywhere here.
 
It can be BUT, it has a tendency to soften up rubber fuel lines,and clean out any residual goo in the fuel system. Also your mileage will be less since it doesen't have the BTU's per gallon that gasoline does.In an older vehicle you may have to retard the timing as it has a tendency to cause pinging. It works OK in the newer flex fuel vehicles,with only a minor decrease in mileage.
 
I have a flex fuel Tahoe.

The milage does drop. But cost per mile is less with E85. Price on E85 is $1.87, E10 is $2.59.

Gary
 
I do believe you are mixing thoughts on 2 different types of fuel. E85 is a blend of 15% gas and 85% corn squeezings and only runs in flex-fuel vehicles. the new fuel being discussed that would replace super unleaded (the 10% blend) is a 15% blend and would probably run ok in all vehicles. the problem today is cross-contamination. unleaded fuel is contaminated with ethenol even when they try to keep it seperate. local GM dealership runs a fuel test on every customers vehicle that comes in complaining of somekind of fuel system problem and they claim they have yet to find pure unleaded, even in customer cars that swear on bibles that they have never used anything but unleaded.
 
i have used e 85 in all my machinery and it is fine. e10 or e15 usually works anywhere. e 85 will not work in a non-adjustable carb. works good in cop cars. Ethanol is a very important part of our future.
 
E85 is more caustic than regular gas. If you don't have a complete fuel system (pump, lines, filter, injection/ carburetor, etc.) designed for E85 fuel it will over time eat up the system's components and cause problems. Fuel economy also drops significantly, so it takes some math to figure how much less you need to pay per gallon in order to break even or even save money over and above regular gasoline.
 
We"ve had a flex-fuel Dodge for several years- MADE to run on regular gas OR E85. On E85, our mileage drops 11%, and if the E85 is 40 cents under regular, we are money ahead. Lately the E85 is running 60 cents under gasoline.
 
Quote"Ethanol is a very important part of our future." Unquote

Important yes. Ethanol being a positive or negative issue. Depends on where you stand.
It takes a lot of energy to grow corn and even more to distill the ethanol from the mash.
I suppose if you grow corn or work at an ethanol plant then ethanol is a benefit.
 
so Mr. Knowitall, How much energy does it take to run a tanker across the ocean or to fuel an army to fight in the middle east for oil?
 
Counting those things you mention, ethanol gains 1/3 more energy than it uses.

Not a oh my wow big gain, but there is positive energy increase with using it in the big picture.

Someday we'll come up with something different, but between then & now, it's what we got.

--->Paul
 
You use E85 in a non-Flex Fuel vehicle at your own risk. Given that at current gas prices, the cost per Btu is about the same with E85 and regular gas, why even consider it?
 
db, the problem with your logic is that no one has yet come up with a way to produce ethanol from grain without using petroleum. Everything from the diesel fuel to operate modern farm equipment to the plastics used throughout agriculture to fertilizer production requires crude oil. The jury is still out on whether ethanol production is energy-positive or negative.

Another aspect is whether or not it is sensible from a natural resources standpoint to produce grain for ethanol fuel. Much of our corn is produced in arid western states where water is in short supply and huge amounts of energy are consumed pumping water. Should we be further depleting our water to produce ethanol? Maybe the resources we put into ethanol production would be better spent on conservation and renewable energy.
 
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