E85 fuel!

[lamerem]

Okay, here it is. I didn't drink the koolaid but I am a believer. My '11 Tahoe LT runs a bit sluggish after 30 min of driving. Changed plugs and did a full tune up. All factory parts were used. So the other day I decide to hit the E85 pump. Gas light was on so it was pretty empty. Filled up and headed out to work. Before it would studder at a stop light a bit. This time I hit the gas a it was like a new truck again. Full power, and peppy. Runs and idles great, no lifter tick. I have about 74,000 miles on the engine.

Now I understand the fuel economy trade off, but it responds and runs better than even the best unleaded fuel. I spoke with a chevy tech and was told that those engines are meant for ethanol and actually down tuned to use unleaded. After some research I see ethanal actually increases horsepower.

Thoughts?

 

[Mondo]

I have recently been doing the same I notice better idle. But not vastly noticeable difference in power.

 

[ezdaar]

You have a difference in power because your engine is pulling timing due to spark knock and or super high intake temps.
The E85's high octane and cool burning properties are stopping the engine from pulling timing.
Hence the extra felt power.


Change your plugs to ngk TR6, part number 4177 and make sure your cold air intake is properly sealed and pulling air from a outside source.

If your engine wasn't pulling timing due to knock and or super high intake temps, you would see very little to no difference in power going from premium fuel to E85.


Also E85 has NO EFFECT on lifter tick. IF you had a noise that sounded like a ticking sound running normal fuel that went away with E85, it's due to pre detonation, aka knock.
That is BAD.

 

[JennaBear]

My TVS2300 loves corn....

 

[ezdaar]

My face loves buttered corn! Mmmmmmm

 

[lamerem]

I have certainly noticed a mileage decrease but not enough to stop using. It really feels like a new truck again. I love how it runs, doesn't feel bogged down. Perhaps longer interstate driving I may go more unleaded for the mileage factor, but I'm still impressed.

I have an '11 Malibu with the 2.4 ecotech and she loves the vegi-juice too.

 

[ezdaar]

If you can deal with the overall mpg drop, by all means, feed that lovely stuff to those engines.
Wea wary of the potential side effects from it tho. It's highly anti corrosive and at same time corrosive.
Meaning a flex fuel vehicle designed to run it will be ok as far as parts corrosion internally.
But, any deposits, carbon, oil, anything. That old crap fuel left in the fuel system, take port and combustion chamber will be dissolved and flushed out the system.

This can clog pumps, filter and injectors.nthey are all easy fix' just be wary that if in a couple months you have sluggishness again or a missfire. To immedialty change filter as it's probably clogged.

E85's corrosive side is on older non flex vehicles, as it attacks bare aluminum and old school raw rubber causing them to break down and clog everything.


Good luck!
Btw, get a tune, while on norm fuel, and on e85. You will see even more improvements.

 

[JennaBear]

On another note: be sure to pay attention when swapping from E85 to gas and vice versa. The newer vehicles do not have an alcohol sensor, and as such have to rely on the computer to make adjustments. When switching fuel, one should drive a minimum of 7miles for the computer to readjust.

 

[TowGMC]

I'd tried E85 at one point when towing, figured the extra power would be beneficial. But since my Denali requires 93 octane the difference in power was there but very slight. However my towing mileage dropped close to 2 mpg, I was having to stop every 120 miles to refill which is a pain when everyone else in the group was able to go 200+ miles on a tank of fuel. But one of these days I'll try E85 again when not towing just for the sake of comparison.

 

[ezdaar]

Always remember this, E85 requires aprox 30% more Raw fuel through the injectors to equal the same air fuel mixture as standard gasoline..
That in its self is the MPG decrease.

Take that into account when looking at fuel pumps, fuel line size, injector size, etc..

 

[08grey]

I am mixing 3 gallons of e85 with every fill up of 93 on my non flex fuel truck.

 

[ezdaar]

How are you monitoring your AFR's?

 

[JennaBear]

So long as he puts less than 5gal in there, he is fine. The fuel trims are more than capable of handling a small amount.

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

there is no reason whatsoever to put E85 in yer vehicle especially if its non flex fuel youd be better off putting 3 gallons of piss in there
E85 is a friggen joke youd think that since running e85 cuts yer mileage in half in some cases that it would be significantly cheaper then regular gas but its not here in phoenix its around 2.19 reg is 2.70 when u factor in the big loss in mileage it actually costs more to run E85 here in the phoenix area
gasoline outs out about 114000 BTUs per gal and E85 only puts out 81000 BTUs per gallon thats like watered down booze dont get nearly as drunk costs just as much and still got a massive hangover

lol why cant we just all run nitrometh LOL

 

[ezdaar]

Lol, maybe for is cleaning properties?
Maybe because the couple extra gallons raises octane level a point or two and guys pushing timing can gain a little power from it?
Maybe because some of us in extremely hot conditions with very hight IAT's can benefit from E85's anti knock properties to keep our tuned or even stock engines from knocking and pulling timing, aka keeping our power levels what they should be on a hot day?

Maybe because we want to and don't give two turtle ***** what other people think about how we fuel, drive and tune our rides?

Or maybe, just maybe to troll guys who come in and spew nonsense as in your post above?


There's some thing a lot of us was thought as a kid that you obviously wasn't.

If you don't have anything nice or constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.

Have a great day.

 

[lamerem]

It was stated before, we didn't buy these road warrior beasts based on fuel mileage. If you did, your not right in the head. However, E85 is a step in the direction of lowering or need for foreign oil. Brazil offers 100% ethanol at all of their pumps, it's the law there to have the choice. This country utilizes the Monopoly theory. You buy a frachise and they dictate what you can sell.

It burns better, cleaner and I have noticed a performance difference.

JennaBear, can your tuning be worked around ethanol? What kind of improvements can be made there?

 

[JennaBear]

Yes, tuning for E85 can be done.

Sent from my fone.

 

[BruteForece]

The problem with ethanol here in the states is that it actually costs more to refine than crude oil. The only reason it is cheaper at the pump than regular gasoline is because it is subsidized so much by the government and the corn prices go through the roof, which in turn drives up our grocery bill. There is absolutely no need to be using any other countries oil, when we have plenty of our own much cleaner crude oil that we should be refining, I digress.
I try to avoid running any ethanol in any of my engines as much as possible, especially my small engines that weren't designed to run it, also my personal preference, but it is getting harder to do. I don't doubt that you can get more HP with ethanol, I have seen the numbers on modded vehicles proving that. E85 is harder to find in my area unless I go into the city, so I have not tried it, only 10% blend is what is available.

 

[jetmech]

E85 or ethanol in general is not an end all to foreign oil, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. At least there are programs being developed to offset the importation of foreign energy supplies. Ethanol fuel is a renewable energy resource, while currently developed from corn (feedstock type, not table) there were projects on going to produce it from switch grass, unfortunately the technology is lacking and the yield isn't that great. I think we will find an alternative source eventually, we will have to milking dry oil wells and fracking will only take us so far.

 

[Blumax]

Nitro.....LOL! I have an RC car that runs 60% nitro and it will smoke the tires. I love the smell of nitro in the morning.