E85 Experiment.

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I was in TX for a week and ran a couple tanks of E85. Fuel economy was down 4-5 mpgs on the second fillup. Torque Pro showed a tank ethanol content of 72% on second fillup. 49% on first. Cost was 12% less than 87 but economy was 25% less. Definitely not economical to run E85 at DFW prices. My butt dyno didn't notice anything.
 
Originally Posted by hatt
I was in TX for a week and ran a couple tanks of E85. Fuel economy was down 4-5 mpgs on the second fillup. Torque Pro showed a tank ethanol content of 72% on second fillup. 49% on first. Cost was 12% less than 87 but economy was 25% less. Definitely not economical to run E85 at DFW prices. My butt dyno didn't notice anything.


There is only one reason to use ethanol in any quantity in fuel and that is to provide a new market to corn growers, the need is "Strictly" political.
 
They should have Jack Daniels and Seagrams and Cutty Sark pumps
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If we all drank the qty of hard liquor are parents and Grandpappy did we wouldn't have to burn the Aqua Vita

Can you get replacement livers at Autozombie? How much is the silver grade?
 
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
They should have Jack Daniels and Seagrams and Cutty Sark pumps
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How much is the silver grade?


The Silver grade is Gentleman Jack. Hence the silver label. Filtered twice, otherwise exactly the same.
 
Originally Posted by Pelican


There is only one reason to use ethanol in any quantity in fuel and that is to provide a new market to corn growers, the need is "Strictly" political.


I know that serious WRX/FXT tuners tend to go E85.
It's not even available in New England AFAIK.
 
I use to run a blend of it in my Mustang for high octane purposes only.

I wasn't concerned with gas mileage, just with keeping my ignition advance intact.
 
Originally Posted by hatt
I was in TX for a week and ran a couple tanks of E85. Fuel economy was down 4-5 mpgs on the second fillup. Torque Pro showed a tank ethanol content of 72% on second fillup. 49% on first. Cost was 12% less than 87 but economy was 25% less. Definitely not economical to run E85 at DFW prices. My butt dyno didn't notice anything.


You cleaned your engine a bit, so thats good...
 
The turbo and supercharger crowd love the stuff even though it contains less energy per unit. It allows much higher boost levels as the fuel provides a large cooling effect and resistance to knock. There are conversion kits available to retrofit Non E85 vehicles to run it for this reason.

Personally I'm not a fan of subsidizing the food to energy conversion crowd and the reality ignoring greenies either.
 
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E85 is amazing. i run it in all of my vehicles 2014 durango, 2008 Dodge avenger, 98 dodge neon (street car and Race car) and my 2001 dodge ram 5.2L. I havent found anything negative about it with my vehicles. i get it for usually 2$ a gallon and my engines love it. High Octane, Burns cleaner and cooler, i substitute it for racing fuel as i have 13.5:1 compression in my neon otherwise id have to run 8$ gallon race fuel. Ive never had replaced a failed fuel pump in any of my vehicles since switching or any fuel related parts. They even start right up in below zero temps. The only downside ive found is cold starting anything below freezing i have to allow the engine to warm up for 1-2 min before i take off or it can be hesitant. My Avenger and ram i had to "convert" by installing new fuel injectors. Other than that E85 has been a blessing to me. My neighbor also has a avalanche with a 6.0 turbo and he also runs ethanol and he loves it. Best part in my opinion my money stays right here in michigan and not going to the filthy rich oil companies that buy their crude from the middle east.
 
The ethanol industry runs on oil. From start to finish. You aren't impacting the oil industry in any meaningful by buying ethanol. You're just paying more middle men.
 
Works for me. E85 cost a little less for me to run most of the time and depending on price i break even. Even if it comes out even i will continue to run it because its a much better fuel IMO.
 
If it weren't for the tax subsidies, E85 would invariably be worse value for the money at point-of-sale. Probably even more expensive per gallon.
 
It really is all relative to local pricing and availability. E85 has run 80-90 cents a gallon less that regular E10 in my area, and well over $1 less than regular E0 for quite a while. My pickup truck has been on E85 exclusively for about 1.5 years.

On E10 regular, my Silverado 2500 6.0 would average about 13-14 mpg for all miles. On E85, it has averaged about 11 mpg for all miles.

E10 is going to about $2.60 in my area. At the average mpg of 14 on it, that would would about 18.6 cents per mile fuel cost.

E8t is going for About $1.79. At 11 mpg average, that is about 16.3 cents a mile fuel cost.

So.... that is why i use E85 exclusively.
 
Originally Posted by AP9
If it weren't for the tax subsidies, E85 would invariably be worse value for the money at point-of-sale. Probably even more expensive per gallon.


Not sure what subsidies that would be. Ethanol is traded on the commodity exchanges just like petroleum fuels. It gets the same Federal and State Vehicle Highway Tax put on it as gasoline. Ethanol subsidies were eliminated in 2011. Futures contracts play into the prevailing price of ethanol in various areas.

Now to be fair, ethanol has to be transported instead of being piped, so that can significantly change the cost balance. And the level of Ethanol in E85 varies depending on the season, with lower blends like 51% being the norm in cold months with 71+% being the norm during warm months.
 
Nope, it's the opposite of what the last part of your post reads Tired Trucker.

Ethanol has significantly higher volatility than finished motor gasoline, and the warm months are where VOC air pollution from higher volatility is most problematic. Thus, E85 has LOWEST ethanol concentration in the warmer months due to volatility controls. Conversely, E85 has the HIGHEST ethanol concentration during the colder months, with less evaporative losses at lower ambient temperatures. Sensibly, finished motor gasoline specifications have the highest volatility limits in the colder months, opposite that in the warmest months. In both cases, seasonal volatility regulations result in lowest energy density gasolines in the coldest months, opposite in the warmest months.

I used to blend 1.5 to 2 million gallons of motor gasoline daily.

The graph at this link helps give a pictorial reference regarding the semi-logarithmic relationship between volatility and temperature. Diagrams of vapor pressure vs temperature are known as Cox Charts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility_(chemistry)

Hopefully this helps understanding of fuel volatility, why fuel volatility specifications are seasonal in one aspect, and how volatility honestly varies rapidly (non-linearly) with respect to temperature.
 
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Originally Posted by Nyogtha
Nope, it's the opposite of what the last part of your post reads Tired Trucker.

Ethanol has significantly higher volatility than finished motor gasoline, and the warm months are where VOC air pollution from higher volatility is most problematic. Thus, E85 has LOWEST ethanol concentration in the warmer months due to volatility controls. Conversely, E85 has the HIGHEST ethanol concentration during the colder months, with less evaporative losses at lower ambient temperatures. Sensibly, finished motor gasoline specifications have the highest volatility limits in the colder months, opposite that in the warmest months. In both cases, seasonal volatility regulations result in lowest energy density gasolines in the coldest months, opposite in the warmest months.

I used to blend 1.5 to 2 million gallons of motor gasoline daily.

The graph at this link helps give a pictorial reference regarding the semi-logarithmic relationship between volatility and temperature. Diagrams of vapor pressure vs temperature are known as Cox Charts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility_(chemistry)

Hopefully this helps understanding of fuel volatility, why fuel volatility specifications are seasonal in one aspect, and how volatility honestly varies rapidly (non-linearly) with respect to temperature.


Tired Trucker-don't listen to any of this. You are CORRECT when you stated that E85 has the HIGHEST concentrations of ethanol in the warmer months and the LOWEST concentrations in the colder months. Regardless of what this guy comes back with I promise that you are correct.
 
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