Hey Guys,

I just noticed a new gas station opened up by my house that sells e85 ethanol for $0.30 cheaper than gas.

Do I have to run my current tank to empty before filling up? Also, is the gas Mpg the same?

 

No, you don't have to wait to empty your tank.

The MPG will drop about 30%.

Also check the maintanence guide as you will also need more frequent oil changes and you will need to run a tank of "regular" gas every so often. They also say it may be hard to start in the winter.

 

You can run the 85 at anytime but yes the mpg will go down hence no savings.

 

There usually is no cost benefit to E85 unless it's 50 cents cheaper than gas.

 

Ya that's not cool the mpg goes down that much. I'll stick with normal gas lol

 

I've been tracking my mileage over the last 8k miles with mixed E85 and regular.....

So far, I've found that I've been getting about 70% efficiency out of E85, and that is roughly what the cost differential is.

If E85 is 70% or lower than Regular Unleaded, then I'd say go for it....otherwise, no.

 

Read the following artice to understand why ethanol:

1) increases smog
2) decreases mpg
3) will destroy your car

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...514_058678.htm

 

Living in the midwest- farmers all around, i am always asked why I dont run E85. I tell them the following.

I did run 3 tanks full ( thats a little less than 108 gallons, having a 36gal tank not running to E )
Here is what i found.

*MPG sinks.
*Cost savings is not that much, and is wiped out when you figure out what your MPG goes down too.
*power gains are not noticable

I believe ethanol is a good additive in fuel. but is not a very good 'fuel' alternative. Besides all of the water and power used to make it , seems pointless, even more so when the government subsidies run out. kind of like the soy diesel. i do beleive soy- diesel ( as an additive ) not as a straight fuel. makes sense , to help add back the lubricity of the product after most of the sulfur is taken out.

There are pros and cons to everything. i dont run it personally.
i drive a 09 plat 4x4 - stock everything
runnin 89oct with 10-15percent ethanol, i am getting 16.5 avg true pump fillup avg.

running E85, driving as 'nice' as i can, i at most got 14. most of the time avg on screen and fillup was 13 real world..

and i did not invest in any of tha plants here in the area. So for me ,, not worth it in the least.

 

i think i would stay with the normal stuff i haven't to many posts from you lately hope truck is running ok for ya.

 

I have a question for you guys. I am seeing a lot of pumps in my area that say this pump contains 10% ethanol. Is that the same as E85? Will it give you much worse mileage than a pump with just regular gas?

 

No, it's a blend of 10% ethanol with 90% gasoline.

E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gasoline.

It's pretty hard to find guaranteed 100% gasoline today. Most pumps state that the fuel could contain up to 10% ethanol.

I'm sure an % of ethanol is going to decrease MPG (compared to 100% gasoline), but I don't have any numbers.

 

I ran hundreds of gallons of E85 and never had any issues on my Chevy. Drove 120,000 and probably half or more was with E85. Never an issue. I lost mileage like everyone else did, but around here I could find it for 40 to 50 cents less, and I figured I was breaking even. However, I did like the performance over 87 octane. E-85 is 105 octane rating, so your computer will bump the timing up some, and gives the engine more snap without pinging. The chevy felt more responsive when I ran consecutive tanks of E85. and the exhaust smelled sweet.

I don't think it is the answer or replacement for fossil fuel, because it takes to much energy to make it. If they can figure out a different way to make it, then maybe, but there is no way we can grow enough corn for that and to eat at the same time.