Should I try running E85? Or stick with unleaded.

[adriver]

So forgetting about the cost difference for a second, at the least you get... about 50 miles less per full tank?/ Which means filling up more often, something I wouldn't want to do this time of your year, or before or after work. More importantly, if you had a road trip/extended drive planned, you would want to run 3-5 tanks to clear the e85 out? I have a 26 gallon tank, I sware I have read that you have 2 or 2.5 gallons in reserve after the light comes on, but not sure how much of that would "already be in the lines"... I have put 26.8 gal in before...

 

[Fless]

You gave me the ingredients to find your answer. If you average 14.5 mpg on 87 and it costs $2.39 right now, divide the cost into the range and we get $.1648 cents per mile.

James, a couple of friendly math corrections. Divide the cost per gallon BY (not into) the mpg. Another way to say that is to divide the mpg into the cost per gallon. And the result is 16.48 cents (no $ sign) or $0.1658, not 16/100 of a cent per mile. (My discipline is to use either the dollar sign or the word cent, but not both. That minimizes my confusion.)

 

[Scottydoggs]

So forgetting about the cost difference for a second, at the least you get... about 50 miles less per full tank?/ Which means filling up more often, something I wouldn't want to do this time of your year, or before or after work. More importantly, if you had a road trip/extended drive planned, you would want to run 3-5 tanks to clear the e85 out? I have a 26 gallon tank, I sware I have read that you have 2 or 2.5 gallons in reserve after the light comes on, but not sure how much of that would "already be in the lines"... I have put 26.8 gal in before...

flex fuel cars/trucks can run a mix of e85 and gas with no issue, the truck has a content sensor, it will figure out whats in the tank all on its own and make the necessary adjustments.

 

[Fless]

And know that when you buy E85, you may not get 85% ethanol. Pumps are usually marked "up to" 85% ethanol content.

 

[swathdiver]

I have a 26 gallon tank, I sware I have read that you have 2 or 2.5 gallons in reserve after the light comes on

For GMT900 with 26 gallon tank, the low fuel light comes on when 4.3 gallons remains in the tank. It takes fewer tanks of gasoline to minimize the alcohol content, usually 2; as you know it already contains up to 10% ethanol.

James, a couple of friendly math corrections. Divide the cost per gallon BY (not into) the mpg. Another way to say that is to divide the mpg into the cost per gallon. And the result is 16.48 cents (no $ sign) or $0.1658, not 16/100 of a cent per mile. (My discipline is to use either the dollar sign or the word cent, but not both. That minimizes my confusion.)

Thanks, I could not figure out why some people were confused by my math! LOL

And know that when you buy E85, you may not get 85% ethanol. Pumps are usually marked "up to" 85% ethanol content.

Only with E85R can one get 85% alcohol, the other 2% is best explained by this quote, "The 85 percent doesn’t refer to pure ethanol, but to denatured fuel ethanol which already contains 2% hydrocarbons to make it “unsuitable for beverage use under a forumla approved by a regulatory agency to prevent the imposition of beverage alcohol tax."

http://injectordynamics.com/articles/e85/

 

[adriver]

flex fuel cars/trucks can run a mix of e85 and gas with no issue, the truck has a content sensor, it will figure out whats in the tank all on its own and make the necessary adjustments.

So if you ran even just the one tank before down to the reserve light, then filled up with gas, at the most you would lose 10 miles or less of total range per tank?

 

[Scottydoggs]

low light has about 4 gallon reserve, wont make a difference to the truck. why its called flex fuel, you can mix 1/2 a tank of corn and 1/2 gas if you wanted to.

so roughly 4 gallons of e85 with a tank of gas wont likely hurt the mpg to much.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I see about 3 MPG less burning E85 compared with 93 octane gasoline on average. It costs about $.04 less per mile to use E85 than 93 octane over the last thirteen months. The current spread is even greater as E85 around here has fallen in price a little more than gasoline.

With fuel prices always fluid, pun intended, E85 is not always the best value but the motor loves it, drives different and makes more horsepower and torque.

I have found this to be the case with my '04 Suburban. Just for fun, I put in a full tank of E85 before going on a camping trip. This trip required me to pull a 3500lb trailer through Eisenhower Tunnel (the highest point on the US Interstate Highway system, 11,000' above sea level.)

With E85 it felt like rocket fuel compared to the rot gut E10 I normally use! It didn't hurt that it was $0.60/gallon cheaper.

Then, on the way back home, just for fun I put in a tank of 91 octane (91 in Colorado is the same as 93 in the flatlands, higher altitudes reduced the octane so 91 is our "premium..") for the trip back over Wolf Creek Pass (10,600'.) Unlike my E85 experience, I did not find any comparable benefit to running 91 octane over 85 (our low octane, equal to 87 at lower altitudes.) And the cost was $0.80 MORE than 85 octane E10.

It depends on the cost of E85. Sometimes it's a saving, sometimes its not.

Since I obsessively track my MPG I have developed a rule of thumb that goes like this: In order to have an equivalent "cost per mile", E85 needs to be at least $0.65/gallon cheaper than E10. There are only a few local stations that have E85 and I keep track of them on the Gasbuddy.com app. Right now the delta between E10 and E85 is $0.50 or less, so it makes sense to run E10.

But if I were to be headed over the mountains with the trailer, I'd put E85 in just for the extra power going over the pass.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I am kind of dumb as i had assumed was 85 octaine. My dad liked to put a little in his non e85 truck every now and again. He said it would clean out the motor. He is not a mechanic but rather a chemist. I think biggest concern with non e85 motor is it burns hotter right? Could damage valves in theory on a non e85 motor?

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[Scottydoggs]

I am kind of dumb as i had assumed was 85 octaine. My dad liked to put a little in his non e85 truck every now and again. He said it would clean out the motor. He is not a mechanic but rather a chemist. I think biggest concern with non e85 motor is it burns hotter right? Could damage valves in theory on a non e85 motor?

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

burns cooler iirc. i know a lot of people who run e85 on non flex cars. requires a injector upgrade and tuning. what it comes down to is, any engine can run it if you set up its needs.