use E85 or not?

Would a tank of E85 (in a car designed for it) work as a carbon cleaner for the pistons and combustion camber? Will it clean fuel injectors?
 
Originally Posted by Thunderball
Would a tank of E85 (in a car designed for it) work as a carbon cleaner for the pistons and combustion camber? Will it clean fuel injectors?


Nope but it will remove water and sediment from a very old gas tank and possibly block your fuel filter
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by Thunderball
Would a tank of E85 (in a car designed for it) work as a carbon cleaner for the pistons and combustion camber? Will it clean fuel injectors?


Nope but it will remove water and sediment from a very old gas tank and possibly block your fuel filter


If you've been using E10 there won't be any water or crud to clean out. If you've been using E0 it's a good possibility.
 
The car in question is a Buick Lucerne that a little old lady drives once a week to get her hair done. All it ever had is E10.
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by Wolf359


Technically you could just figure it out the cost based on the btu content of the fuel although some claim they get slightly better mileage



BTU content ignoring octane is a very poor way to calculate fuel economy,
if it was accurate there wouldn't be the,
"My car looses 33% of its gas MPGs on e10"
folks on every site.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/12/study-finds-cer.html

I've never lost anywhere near 20-30% when I have run e85, in hot weather my economy is within 1mpg, cold worse.

Vapor Pressure inflection point, cooling effects and octane can have large effects on fuel economy, e85 tracks positively on all those metrics.

That said when fuel is expensive and e85 is a buck a gallon cheaper I usually ran e30 because my fuel economy would remain unchanged compared to RUG. Scientifically e20-e30 nets much better economy than BTus alone would account for anyway which explains it.

I've run ethanol fuels a long time and view it as a worthwhile test, if you have a flexfuel car, start tracking your MPGs then switch to e20 30 or 85, if those fuel are much cheaper and don't drop economy off a rock go for it. At that it becomes a simple math problem for or against.

It's not equivalent to E0-E15 gasoline because it's not really gasoline. It's generally more efficient per BTU because the ECU can advance the timing. It's like 105+ AKI octane if it has the maximum ethanol. There lies the rub. Slightly less ethanol will result in slightly higher fuel economy, but the maximum performance comes from higher ethanol. You're adding oxygen to the mixture that's easier to compress and I understand it helps to cool down the charge air. So overall there's more oxygen, and an engine is really just an oxygen pump.

There's going to be a sliding scale where there's the tradeoff between performance and fuel economy. I think if the ECU was limited to advancing the timing no more than for 91 AKI octane, the fuel economy would be proportional with the energy content. But it's not that simple because of the increased timing. If one could use 105 AKI octane (usually leaded I think) racing fuel and an ECU could advance the timing, that should also be more efficient relative to the energy content compared to 91 octane.
 
Another issue that came to mind is that with people driving less right now and vehicles using less fuel there is a possibility that after a week or two it could settle out. The e85 isn't savings friendly if the cost of the vehicle was raised a few grand to be able to handle how abrasive it is to car parts. Someone told me it affects the oil change duration and its not very good in winter startup. I think it would be fun to try but I'm not sure it's can sustain itself as a alternative fuel source or even break even with all that goes into making a gallon of it. I could care less if people use it just as long as I don't have to.
 
Bought a 2011 Ford Crown Vic a month ago is Flex Fuel but the closest Flex Station to me is 45 miles one way .. Have a Flex 2013 Buick Verano and only used E-85 once on a road trip doing about 80-85 to give it a clean up .. 60,000+ Miles on it and has done just fine on E10 87 ..
 
Originally Posted by Thunderball
Would a tank of E85 (in a car designed for it) work as a carbon cleaner for the pistons and combustion camber? Will it clean fuel injectors?


Only one tank won't make so much difference, but if you keep using it i think it will clean. Not sure about the injectors, it could remove any gunk left by the gas, but it can still be clogged. The more % of ethanol the better.

And for those worried about their fuel lines: yesterday i replaced the lines that connects to the tbi of my neat ethanol car (the area around the hose press started leaking after i accidentally forced it ), and they were still looking great after 26 years running only E100.
 
Finally not worth it right now.
I ran several tanks through my flex fuel Ranger and compared mileage.
I saw close to a 15% drop in mileage with E85.
However, I liked how the truck performed with it.
I calculated that there would have to be a 70 cent price differential in favor of E85 to make it financially favorable to run it.
Right now, E85 is 20 cents more per gallon than RUG where I am.
 
My Yukon with 6.2L isn't flex fuel rated but I like to put in 6-8 gallons per tank to economically bump up the octane. Vehicle is noticeably more responsive and I haven't noticed any difference in MPG whatsoever compared to plain gas.
 
Back
Top