Tried a tank of E85 in my 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
314
Location
Indiana
A few days ago I pumped about 13.5 gallons into my 20 gallon tank so it was about 2/3 E85. The OEM onboard trip computer showed a drop of about 4 MPG. Just did some computing on my calculator and figured it cost us about 2 cents per mile more in fuel cost with E85. The E85 pump price was 20 cents per gallon less than regular unleaded at the same station. Also, by my calculations the E85 would have to be around 35 cents per gallon cheaper than reg unleaded to break even. And that was with about a third of a tank of reg unleaded mixed with the E85. With 100% E85 in the tank, it may require even more price difference to break even. I'm all for helping out with the oil situtation, but using E85 would cost me over $500 per year more in fuel for just this one vehicle. Not much of an economic incentive.
frown.gif
 
Your Grand Caravan is a flexible fuel vehicle right?

Your experience does seem to reflect other experiences I have seen on this site with E85. Before I would close your judgment, I would do the MPG math on a calculator when you do your next fill up. On board trip computers are notorious for being inaccurate.
 
Quote:


Your Grand Caravan is a flexible fuel vehicle right?

Your experience does seem to reflect other experiences I have seen on this site with E85. Before I would close your judgment, I would do the MPG math on a calculator when you do your next fill up. On board trip computers are notorious for being inaccurate.




Yes, the van is approved for E85. The fuel cap door has a decal that says so, plus the 8th digit of the VIN is a "G".
I was not aware that OEM trip computers were known to be inaccurate. If I do this again, I will fill up with E85 when I am close to empty, and calculate the milage myself when I fill up again. Thanks.
 
Quote:



I was not aware that OEM trip computers were known to be inaccurate.




Well, some are more than others. The only real way is to check mileage at the start of the fill and then after, and even then there can be variances (different pumps shut off faster when topped off, etc.). I think it is more accurate to do it the old fashioned way.

You are going to see a decrease in MPG though, no doubt about that. E85 has less energy per gallon the regular stuff. Sounds like you understand that.

Keep good records and report back if you can. I am always interested in seeing this type of data. Then again I am pretty anal retentive about tracking MPG:

100233534-M.jpg
 
Try a few more tankfuls back to back. It does take some time for the PCM to learn what fuel you're running. My dad just bought a '06 Dodge Ram FFV and when he first went from gasoline to E85 after the freebie gas from the dealership ran out, it dropped MPG quite a bit the first tank, but then started to climb back up somewhat. Now, he's been running E85 for a good 4000 miles straight, and it's delivering ~14.5 MPG in mixed driving. EPA rates this truck at 13/17 burning gasoline, so getting those numbers with E85 was impressive.
Here, E85 is cheap...There's a local ethanol plant that has a handful of their own stations that sell E85 for usually a buck a gallon cheaper than regular gasoline. As I'm typing this, regular unleaded is $2.839/gal., and E85 is $1.999/gal.
 
Well, if a severe gas shortage ever hits again... like back in the 1970s and the lines at the pumps were loooong and some stations ran out of gas.....

you may be glad to have an alternative fuel that a horde of others are trying to buy.

May be a nice thing to fall back upon if needed.

Look for old fat ugly guys with a hungered appearance thumbing a ride.

You may be helping out Old Coot

or some homeless bum.
 
Help me understand... Corn is subsidized, oil is taxed. If we (USA)start consuming ethanol like gasoline then this will have to change somehow or gov treasuries will go broke subsidizing our fuel, and then what will be the price of E85? I don't know the whole picture, fill me in.
 
Quote:


Help me understand... Corn is subsidized, oil is taxed. If we (USA)start consuming ethanol like gasoline then this will have to change somehow or gov treasuries will go broke subsidizing our fuel, and then what will be the price of E85? I don't know the whole picture, fill me in.




Uh Oh!! Somebody is thinking logically instead of just thinking green! "Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave this thread...."

grin.gif


Seriously - if we stick to corn, this problem is a big problem. Like you said, the gov't is paying us to use E85, while taxing us if we use E10.

We need to get the cellulosic Ethanol production in high gear. Once we can use waste cellulose, grasses, etc for Ethanol production, and if it turns out as efficient as they say it will, the picture will change.

Also, remember this is at relatively cheap prices for crude oil. If crude should double in price in a few years, that would help the Ethanol cause too.

I'm glad E85 is gaining popularity and I want to see it at least AVAILABLE in at least every moderate-to-major metro area around the country. It is good for the environment, and it does help our independence from the Middle East. I live in Cleveland and right now I'd have to drive 45 minutes to get to a place that sells it.

But it will take a major runup in crude and/or major advance in ethanol production to make it worthwhile for the majority of Americans to use.
 
The market will eventually equalize the per mile cost of any fuel, once it becomes widely used, if it starts out cheaper than gas.
 
Last edited:
We should just ignore ethanol and invest in butanol.

Market won't do anything if controlled by government.

Ethanol has lobby power and brain dead eco-weenie support. So many narrow sighted decisions made by morons makes me wonder how much longer this country will last. Energy ignorance is just one problem.
 
As a side bar we got 24 mpg in 2006 Ody during the trip to OR and back, that including 4 fat Seminara's, two FULL coolers, and tons of khrap gear. Including some city driving.

I was impressed. I like the Ody much more now. I'm pretty sure the WIX AF helped. We run lowest test fuel, XL 5W-20 and EaO.
 
Hopefully your Ody says that it can take this fuel Pablo. I called my dealer when I passed a station that had E85, talked to a tech about running it in my 2007 Pilot, and he said sure, go ahead...if you want to destroy your engine. He also went so far as to say that none of the Honda engines are designed for this fuel.

Please tell me that he is full of something brown and thick, or are we stuck with petroleum!??!
 
OH I didn't mean to imply that I used E85. I don't think the Hondas are designed for it. Certainly not labeled as such. Will it ruin the engine?? Without thinking about the fuel system seals, I don't see instant death....hmm.....
 
Ethanol is such a stupid idea!
"umm we have all this GMO corn and no where to put it"
"there are starving people around the world-"
"shut it! until those starving people fork up the natural resources they aint gettin #@$%!"
"I just want to know how we can we turn this surplus of food into oil company profits"
 
Quote:





I'm glad E85 is gaining popularity and I want to see it at least AVAILABLE in at least every moderate-to-major metro area around the country. It is good for the environment, and it does help our independence from the Middle East. I live in Cleveland and right now I'd have to drive 45 minutes to get to a place that sells it.





Ethanol cannot be transported via pipeline, due to degredation factors. Therefore it for now has to be trucked, so oil used.
To grow more corn, more fertilizers are used. Fertilizer is produced using oil, more oil used. Insectisides are used, worse for the environment, and use oil products in ingrediants as well as energy to produce. More Oil used. Less energy content, less fuel efficiency, more oil used. Transportation of grain from field to silo, silo to processor, processor to pump, more oil used.
So how does ethanol decrease dependance on foreign oil again?

In limited use in near makets I can see how some ethanol may be a benefit, but as a major player in national energy, it is junk science.

http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20070503.html
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3130684&page=1
 
^ jmac, why it almost seems like the point of ethanol is to put on a show of enviromental action whilst simultaneously using more oil! All the while occupying that corn so that you don't have the obligation of feeding the starving with it! Seems like a great plan to me, if I were an oil company. They sure think theyre smart, or they know we're pretty stupid.
 
Hi Max, if I commented further it might end up in the forbidden political zone. I'm sure somebody knows that the general populace is pretty stupid though. I you read or watch the interviews with Ex/mobil exec however, they are not going into ethanol production citing land use, transportation and EROEI issues. most if not all oil companies are buyers/consumers of ethanol they use to produce the pump blend. ADM seems to have the majority stake in that market, receiving the largest share of subsidies and funneling a large portion of that money back to campaign contributions.
 
My question is a simple one...Sure, the corn that's being used to produce ethanol could feed the starving, but....
Would it?

My guess is no. Not unless it were air-dropped to impoverished areas.

As for the hungry in this country...You can't tell me that someone couldn't scrape together a quarter and go to the closest Wal-Mart and buy at least two packages of Ramen noodles. A little boiling water (more or less free) and you got yourself something to eat that's actually quite tasty.

But this thread is about ethanol and E85 performance...I'll shut up now so it can get back on track.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top