E85 in our cars? Reply #1 – February 03, 2006, 11:59:27 AM Stock, no. With aftermarket injectors, fuel pump, and a tunable ECU, yes. E85 doesn't have as much energy in the fuel as regular gasoline (meaning it takes more to burn to equal the energy of gas). Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #2 – February 03, 2006, 12:04:02 PM http://www.turbomustangs.com/smf/index.php?topic=47094.0Here's a good link to more info. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #3 – February 03, 2006, 12:41:20 PM I had no clue what E85 was. Cool link. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #4 – February 03, 2006, 12:53:40 PM LocatorYou don't see a whole lot of E85 outside of the midwest, but here's a locator if you do have a FFV (flex fuel vehicle). I think it's going for about $1.90 a gallon around here. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #5 – February 03, 2006, 12:57:05 PM wow.. you think this would have started to become more popular much much sooner. "oh we can make as much feul as we want every year, and give american farmers money to actually GROW something, and not waste most of what we already grow. Then we can save money on fuel costs.. man.. i never would have thought of that!".. bueracracies taking for ever.. just wish my car could use it. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #6 – February 03, 2006, 01:04:39 PM It takes a ton of energy to produce E85 so many places do not see much advantage to it. Until more technology is implemented to bring down costs, it won't sweep the nation. Also, most vehicles equipped to take it get worse mileage with it and end up not saving much, if any, money. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #7 – February 03, 2006, 01:23:11 PM Quote from: SSXIt takes a ton of energy to produce E85 so many places do not see much advantage to it. Until more technology is implemented to bring down costs, it won't sweep the nation. Also, most vehicles equipped to take it get worse mileage with it and end up not saving much, if any, money.I dont know about your last sentance there about the mileage, my brother uses it in his 99 Cherokee and gets pretty good gas mileage. In the winter tho you had better have something to warm that stuff up, because it starts roughly due to its higher flash point than gas. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #8 – February 03, 2006, 01:58:17 PM That is why I said 'most'. From what I've heard they seem to be getting better, but I haven't done much research into it so I'm not that knowledgable. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #9 – February 03, 2006, 02:36:05 PM well, if it becomes more wide spread, the cost to produce will come down as more places make it, and as the manufactoring technology catches up.engine warmers aren't new.. that should help with winter starts, or i'm sure some chemist can come up with a winter additive that will help with that. or even as cars are built more to use it, i'm sure drivablity and milelage will catch up. if nothing else, oil is limited, and comes mainly from a place that hasn't seen peace.. well.. EVER! so if we can move forward to a different fuel, that our current infrastructure can support (for the most part) that will keep our oil based economy running until future energy sources are discovered/invented/delivered by the aliens.. even is it does nothing more that lengthen the time we use oil, even if you have to water the whiskey, your still getting wiskey.. blah blah blah.. okay. i'll shut up now. :) Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #10 – February 03, 2006, 07:13:21 PM Closest public station to me is 93 miles.....Not quite worth it yet.... Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #11 – February 03, 2006, 08:29:47 PM Switching a car from Normal gas to E85 WILL net you WORSE mileage than if you just ran on normal stuff.Think about it, you have to burn nearly 30% more of it to make the same energy as 87 octane. Sure, it's rated at nearly 106 octane or something like that, but it takes much more to make that power. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #12 – February 03, 2006, 09:44:56 PM Remember, Octane has little (if anything) to do with how much energy fuel holds. Octane is a measure of how SLOW the fuel burns. The higher the octane the slower the burn, which means it is more resistant to detonation. Faster burning fuel can explode, causing detonation, which can actually split engines in two if done right :DThe only way a person will get more power out of higher octane fuel is if they have forced induction and/or a knock sensor. A knock sensor will allow the engine to run more timing advance, thus increasing power. Force fed engines can produce more power with higher octane through higher boost and more timing.Any engine that does not have high copmression, a knock sensor or forced induction (in other words, every stock V8 or V6 fox 'Bird or Cat, or even any stock HO upgraded one) will not benefit from high octane fuel. At all. It won't produce more power. It won't idle better. It won't burn cleaner. It won't run smoother. It won't blow flowers out the tailpipe. You will receive ZERO benefits. If you fill with supreme and claim to notice a difference it's either because your car has a mechanical problem that the higher octane is helping to hide (timing too far advanced, combustion chambers carboned up, inoperative EGR system) or you have an active imagination that's trying to convince you you're not wasting your money.The oil companies will benefit, though, watching many people throw their money away for nothing.David is correct about the energy content though - E85 contains significantly less energy density than straight gas. Less energy density means that for a given energy rerquirement (such as steady state cruising) you will have to burn more fuel to achieve the same thing. You will get fewer miles out of a tank of gas. The only way you can compensate for the lost energy is to make the engine more efficient at using that energy, such as raising the compression ratio, increasing timing or turbocharging the engine to take advantage of that higher octane.I seem to remember the original Mach III concept was calibrated for E85 and produced very impressive numbers for it... Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #13 – February 03, 2006, 10:23:52 PM The milage gap is lessend (sp?) when you run E85 because of the higher octane. More timing is put in (takes less gas pedal to make power) without detonation. It has been a lot cheaper to run my parent't truck ('02 ranger) with E85. Quote Selected
E85 in our cars? Reply #14 – February 04, 2006, 01:01:56 AM Yeah the big problem is the idiots who price this stuff. Here in Rolla, we have one pump, and it's priced exactly the same as regular. I still plan on tuning for it though Just cause... Quote Selected
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