E85 Fuel

[number two]

I've run good old mountain regular-85 octane- many times traveling in the west.
Works just fine!
Normally it's not sold within a tankful of lower altitude areas.

 

[Yamezz]

Aussie Supercars do 300km/h corners on E85

 

[bdhsfz6]

Seems hardly anyone carries it. One downside to my Flex Fuel F250 is it states in the owners manual to not run below 87 octane. This becomes a problem in western states at higher altitudes that have their lowest grade 85. Often the next step is mid-grade 88 which is way higher in cost. From the owners manual:
We recommend regular unleaded gasoline
with a pump (R+M)/2 octane rating of 87.
Some stations offer fuels posted as regular
with an octane rating below 87, particularly
in high altitude areas. We do not
recommend fuels with an octane rating
below 87.

Keep in mind the 85 in E85 fuel refers to it's ethanol content, not it's octane. The octane rating of E85 is usually between 105 - 110

 

[Fallon]

Turbos offset the Colorado altitude. You can get away with 85 octane here for a normally aspirated engine as we lack oxygen. But if you have an ecoboost or other turboed engine, that partially makes up for the altitude. Running 85 with a turbo is a recipe for problems.

 

[caver]

Keep in mind the 85 in E85 fuel refers to it's ethanol content, not it's octane. The octane rating of E85 is usually between 105 - 110

Well that's why I made the comment about not many places carry it or I might switch to E85 in the mountains. I tend to get out into really remote areas. Now last year I was in AZ and it seemed everywhere I stopped had 87 octane.

 

[cqaigy2]

E85 is hard to find around here. Not really looking for it, I've seen at two stations, 1 in Chehalis and another in Olympia WA. I've used it in my Ford Ranger probably 7 times or so. Seat of the pants measurements was slightly better acceleration, better lug ability, slightly worse mileage. Sometimes the price difference is enough to actually be a slightly better deal with the E85.

I forgot to mention almost sea level altitude.

 

[3gunr]

I get it on my way to the farm . It is about a buck a gal cheaper, The truck runs just fine, But i do think i get less MPG,

 

[dcarman]

Does anyone have personal experience with E85 "Flex Fuel"? I did a search which turned up a lot about ethanol production but very little on the subject of engine performance.

I bought gas at Sheetz this morning and noticed E85 (85% ethanol) was around a buck per gallon cheaper than regular E88 unleaded (15% ethanol). E85 has always been cheaper but I've never seen this big a difference before. I suppose it makes sense since the price of ethanol doesn't necessarily keep pace with the price of oil.
My 2012 GMC pickup burns E85 Flex Fuel. I kept careful mileage records and found it almost a wash as to which fuel was more economical. I used the E85 mostly because it was the "green" thing to do or so I thought, but I didn't care for the loss of mileage & performance.

I don't want to start an endless debate on the environmental impact of ethanol. Instead, I'd like to hear from others about how well E85 performs in your equipment. I'm considering a new vehicle and I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying another that uses

Does anyone have personal experience with E85 "Flex Fuel"? I did a search which turned up a lot about ethanol production but very little on the subject of engine performance.

I bought gas at Sheetz this morning and noticed E85 (85% ethanol) was around a buck per gallon cheaper than regular E88 unleaded (15% ethanol). E85 has always been cheaper but I've never seen this big a difference before. I suppose it makes sense since the price of ethanol doesn't necessarily keep pace with the price of oil.
My 2012 GMC pickup burns E85 Flex Fuel. I kept careful mileage records and found it almost a wash as to which fuel was more economical. I used the E85 mostly because it was the "green" thing to do or so I thought, but I didn't care for the loss of mileage & performance.

I don't want to start an endless debate on the environmental impact of ethanol. Instead, I'd like to hear from others about how well E85 performs in your equipment. I'm considering a new vehicle and I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying another that uses flex fuel.

Ethanol has 76,000 btu/gal while regular non-ethanol gas has 100,000 btu/gal so you get less power out of the gas with the ethanol. When I use the gas with 10% ethanol I see mileage reduction of about 7 - 8% - to be expected. It takes more throttle to get the same horsepower out of the engine.

 

[MossRoad]

Ethanol has 76,000 btu/gal while regular non-ethanol gas has 100,000 btu/gal so you get less power out of the gas with the ethanol. When I use the gas with 10% ethanol I see mileage reduction of about 7 - 8% - to be expected. It takes more throttle to get the same horsepower out of the engine.

Did you mean to sayyou get more power out of the gas than with ethanol based on the BTUs being much higher with gas VS ethanol?

Because if you did, you'd be mistaken.

I encourage people to watch this fuel comparison of different octane gasolines, then compared to E85. There is virtually no power gain amongst the different octane gasolines (as expected, because octane doesn't boost power), but a noticeable gain in power when going from gasoline of any octane to E85 ethanol.

Very interesting.

 

[Blue Mule]

Does anyone have personal experience with E85 "Flex Fuel"? I did a search which turned up a lot about ethanol production but very little on the subject of engine performance.

I bought gas at Sheetz this morning and noticed E85 (85% ethanol) was around a buck per gallon cheaper than regular E88 unleaded (15% ethanol). E85 has always been cheaper but I've never seen this big a difference before. I suppose it makes sense since the price of ethanol doesn't necessarily keep pace with the price of oil.
My 2012 GMC pickup burns E85 Flex Fuel. I kept careful mileage records and found it almost a wash as to which fuel was more economical. I used the E85 mostly because it was the "green" thing to do or so I thought, but I didn't care for the loss of mileage & performance.

I don't want to start an endless debate on the environmental impact of ethanol. Instead, I'd like to hear from others about how well E85 performs in your equipment. I'm considering a new vehicle and I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying another that uses flex fuel.

In my pickup trucks, I see a 3 MPG decrease on E85 fuel. However, the engine runs noticeably smoother and there is more power. Ford motor company specifically rated the increase at 15 horsepower on the 5.0L engine in their press materials, but it sure feels like more.

I do notice that in winter E85 created hard start condition. So I tended to use regular fuel in winter.

All of the guys running high performance street cars around here use E85. It's "poor man's race fuel" to them. Allows much more aggressive engine tuning.