e85 conversion?

[McGee2134]

I was wondering why no one has converted to e85 yet as this has done wonders for my LGT (gained 40wtq, 30whp)?

I didn't grow up around cars or people into cars so everything I've learned has been from the internet so I might be missing the obvious answer here.

 

[Vnuk1]

Might be an availability issue, not all fuel stations sell it. Unless you can switch between an E-85 and regular octane fuel tune and looking at a 15% loss in fuel economy its not really practical for daily driving use.

 

[McGee2134]

Might be an availability issue, not all fuel stations sell it. Unless you can switch between an E-85 and regular octane fuel tune and looking at a 15% loss in fuel economy its not really practical for daily driving use.

When you combine a 25% discount in price with a 15% loss in fuel economy you come out ahead with e85.
Around here there are plenty of e85 stations but I heard that there are a lot more of them here in the midwest than the rest of the country.

 

[yamahaSHO]

I don't think anyone has tried it yet due to the DI fuel pump and injectors. There's not much for aftermarket in that department.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

I live in Iowa in the Summer... "THE Ethanol & E-85 Capital of the WORLD!"

#1. Loss of mileage and efficiency levels varies depending on how your engine is designed. My understanding is that the average engine loses more like 20-25% in fuel mileage.

#2. The real percentage of ethanol in the fuel MAY NOT BE 85%, but can be considerably less, down to the 50% range when outside temperatures require it to be less, so that your vehicle will start when using it.

So.. under ideal conditions, it might improve your horsepower and performance, much like a W/M system, but the potential gains are unreliable.

#3. Consequently, do you want to take a chance on running a fuel that is NOT recommended by Ford.

#4. Since our EB engines aren't designed to compensate for the HUGE variation in Ethanol levels, that running E-85 will bring, you are likely taking a much bigger risk, than those who only do a basic tune package.

Good Luck! And let us know how it works out.

 

[yamahaSHO]

You won't see 50% in an E85 blend. Winter blends will contain about 70% Ethenol in E85 as Ethenol does not like to fire up in cold temperatures, however, this is dependent on location as some won't drop as low as that. Within that range, the small variation is somewhat compensated by the extra richness of gasoline, So as long as you got a decent-safe tune, you'll be fine.


E85 in power gain and safety is MUCH more constant than water/meth injection.

As far as "recommended by Ford"... Modding goes against everything recommended by Ford, but a proper E85 setup would make more power and be safer than anything done on these cars so far, however, the transmission may disagree.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

I will agree with you... after someone tries it successfully in their EB engine...

As for safety & power gains... since I am logging my WOT runs with W/M, I'm not exactly sure why you say E-??? 70-85??? is more constant... My experience, at least so far, is that my W/M system is very consistent...

E-85 is very corrosive, as is Methanol. At least the W/M system I'm running never approaches the 85% level. It also is sprayed into the aluminum intake & then burned, rather than circulating thru the entire fuel system.

 

[yamahaSHO]

It is consistent as it is handled by your fuel system. Of your fuel system fails, you'll know instantly. As for the mixture, the change between winter/summer blend is pretty small and as you decrease ethanol, the fuel mixture goes up which will actually richen the mixture for the same pulse width.

I've been running meth for years on my SHO as my ONLY form of detonation control. The STi is on E85... I've been considering switching the SHO to E85 and wet compression.

Yes, ethanol is corrosive, but your fuel system will handle it just fine. Your system is designed with ethanol in mind. Lots of Subaru guys are running E85 with just a pump and injector swap.

 

[Saucemaxx]

For me it's an availability and price issue, E-85 costs between 8-15% less than 89 octain and in my Silverado I tend to drop from an average of 20mpg to 9mpg, so I hafe found it not to be worth the money on an NA setup, however with turbos I agree the performance gains are great, but with fuel economy so poor and E85 being relitively rare, I won't be using it until I know it won't restrict the usability if my car.

 

[yamahaSHO]

Is your truck made to run on it? That's a more drastic drop than it should be considering E85 has 30% less energy by volume.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

I tried it in my lawnmower last summer! Only took 10 min to mow my entire lawn. LOL

 

[Saucemaxx]

Yeah, it's a flex fuel 2011 Silverado

 

[jc2001s]

My '06 Stratus isn't flex fuel, I stupidly put E85 in (over 7/8 of my tank was e85) and it only dropped 2 mpg, but I cannot say I noticed any thing else change. It is possible that I am set up to run E85 already but I doubt it. Also in my manual it says to change oil more often when runing E85 (since my manual was written for both). I'll just stick with the 90/10 mixture I find around here.