I drove by the gas station today and saw Unleaded was $3.99 and E-85 was $2.48. My 06 is E-85 compatable but until today I never considered using it. Do I need to do anything before using E-85 like different plugs or just fill it up? I also have an Edge programmer. Will the it work the same on E-85?

 

Wow, didn't realize E85 was so much cheaper. If you have the E-85 compatible motor, you can just go ahead and fill her up. E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. No need to run it down to empty. The E85 may be a little more diluted if you mix it with ordinary fuel. Ethanol is corrosive, so it can't be run in a ordinary truck. Your fuel lines, pump, tank have a special lining to protect it from the acidity.

As for the Edge programmer, no clue. I would send a quick email off to Edge.

 

I also cant comment on the Edge, but....For 2.48 a gallon your damn right I would be trying out the E85...and probably continue to use it unless the truck ran like *** or I only got about 10mpg with it.

 

At that price differential, even 10 mpg may be more economical.

To be safe, I'd load the stock tune back in.

 

Your Edge Evolution has canned tunes for gasoline. With your engines knock sensors, the programmers at Edge have written their tunes to run up to perhaps 10% ethanol. Not 85% ethanol. Ethanol has a different octane rating and a different amount of energy. You will need to run your truck on it's stock tune. Your next step is to place a call to Edge, or a company that writes custom tunes and speak with them about a tune for E85. If you have a local speed shop who does dyno tuning, that may be your best bet. You may need to get a hand-held flash device that you can load custom tunes with. Many are available. SCT X-Cal II, SCT X3 Power Flash, Diablosport Predator, Gryphon, et cetera. There is another forum on this site where the members will nag you to death about which custom tuner is the best.

 

Indeed...at 1/2-1/3 cheaper than gas, you can pretty much afford to loose about 1/2-1/3 your milage and still make it worth it.

 

According to CarandDriver, you should see your fuel mileage diminish by 25-30%. I think you're back to square one if the E85 is about 30% less.

 

Here in WI the E85 is $3.07 compared to $3.97. I thought E85 was suppose to be sooooooooo much cheaper!

In my case if I would only save about $8.42 to get the same mileage distance with E85, not worth the hassle for me! But in your case in MN you would be saving $24.81 well worth it!!!

I do not understand why E85 has gone up and is as expensive as it is, since it was suppose to be better and easier for us to make! The state of WI is probably one of the worse states when it comes to gas prices (note I said one of the worse so don't harp on me if you are from CA or other high states!) We have one of the highest gas tax, and now we pay thru the azz for it! This does suck, and for those of us with only one vehicle and need the truck it makes you want to start looking for somone's head to roll!

I am now done with my rant for now, and will step down from my box....

 

I have heard of anywhere between 7% and 35% difference in gas mileage - it depends on the specific vehicle and what the formulation is of the "gas" you are using to make the comparison to.

 

Yup...the mileage loss will vary quite a bit from vehicle to vehicle. Some are better than others and some are worse. I don't plan on running it in my 97 non-E85 truck since it's not widely available in ND anymore, and I don't have plans on buying a flex-fuel Ford until it's available in quantity up here again at a decent price.

As for ethanol being harder on a fuel system. There's oodles of debate out there on it. I haven't run into any detrimental effects by using it in several of my vehicles (when we could still get it in ND and whenever I get to SD) but others swear up and down that it was the cause of problems...and maybe rightly so.

This being a late-model Ford forum, I won't go into too much detail on my non-Ford rides but my 90 Nissan 4x4 had run E85 just fine for 40,000 of it's 180,000 miles with no problems and a 3mpg loss in mileage (14 compared to 17 with E10). My 93 Tempo won't run E85 very well since it's ECM doesn't adjust the WOT fuel mixture...but for just putzing around town at partial throttle it was fine too. No problem with the fuel system getting eaten away in the Tempo either. Carbed engines...it's a simple timing and jetting tweak to get them running great on E85, and if it's an older high-compression engine you'll see less powerloss compared to regular or E10.


A flex-fuel Ford shouldn't have any problems with E85 and I wouldn't hesitate to try it, especially at that much price difference. I know several friends in SD that are running E85 in flex-fuel Fords but I'm not sure what they're getting for a power/mileage difference.

I agree with going back to the stock tune first though.

 

One more thing...
If you've got a truck with quite a few miles on it and might have crap in the fuel system already...be prepared to change out the fuel filter more frequently for a while. E85 does a good job of cleaning the varnish and other crud out of the tank and lines!

 

In my experience with an 07 5.4, E-85 reduced MPG about 25%. At your price, it's price beneficial to go with it.

Also note that in the owners manual, it does recommend using the heavy duty schedule when using e-85 more than 50% of the time.

 

Understandable - alcohol can really dilute the oil, it won't burn off like gas.

 

I have a 2006 with the 5.4 flex-fuel and have ran E85 since day 1 (65,XXX miles now), When I origionally installed my Edge (at around 100 miles) I called the company and they said they didn't test with E85, but that it shouldn't be a problem. With that I ran level 2 for a few months. After that I figured that there was no reason I couldn't run level 3 as it is 100 octane. I have since started playing with settings and actually bumped the timing up some.

The truck is 5.4, 4x4, 3.73 gears, 305/55-20 and I get 15 mpg city and 20 highway. If I put my 33x12.50 on stock 18" rims I get about 22 highway (still about the same city)

So long story short, your perfectly fine running your edge with E85 and your get better economy then E85 on stock settings.

Hope this helps!

Oh and for the record I moved to San Diego this last spring. $4.59 for 87 and $3.59 for E85!

 

Where are you guys getting the flex fuel ratings/compatabilty on your trucks?
I've got an 05 SCrew 5.4 3V and I thought I read somewhere it ran on flex fuel but looking through my manual I can't find it.