Ford also manufactured the pinto and then said it was safe.

Like I said, dyno or bs.

 

The way government regulates business, there's no way Ford would be able to publish blatant lies. And besides, why would they? And that is not a rhetorical question. I want you to answer it.

 

wow... seriously??? You need to watch king corn. And beyond that, there are TONS of vehicles that don't dyno consistently with their factory rated power numbers. Look up the mazda RX-8 and the whole debacle with that.

 

I sure haven't. So I would love to hear what Ford's incentive is to rate an engine higher on ethanol than on gas.

If ethanol did not provide some sort of performance advantage, Ford would not have invested R&D into that "bobcat" engine that was ethanol injected and doled out diesel levels of torque and horsepower. Look it up if you are not familiar with the engine.

 

speak the truth brother
x1,000,000
the stuff is worthless. E85 is a feel good tactic that uses smoke and mirrors to make people feel good about "reducing" our dependancy upon foreign oil

nevermind the negative effects it has on food prices
1. Per the Ford Maintenance Manual, if you run E-85 in your FFV (Flex Fuel Capable Vehicle), you must change your maintenance intervals to the "EXTREME" interval. That means oil changes and fuel filter changes at 3K miles and.

2. $1 cheaper per gallon, but 4-5 mpg less per gallon. Do the math. E-85 is utterly worthless. If I get bored enough, I'll dig up a spreadsheet I did on this 4 yrs ago when I had my FFV F-150
I'm firmly with you on the E-85 sucks part...but

The early FFV trucks had entirely different fuel systems (pump and injectors and lines). Later Ford FFV trucks and non FFV trucks all had the same systems. I got lucky with my FFV truck and my blower. The Supercharger required a better fuel pump with higher volume. Luckily the FFV pump can handle the higher fuel demand, whereas the non FFV couldn't.

In addition, the FFV vehicles have dual fuel maps in the PCM. There is the 87 octane map, and the E-85 map. The fuel system has a sensor that detects the ethanol percentage. Once it determines you have E-85 in the tank, the PCM automatically converts to the E-85 maps to utilize the higher energy content. It's been proven repeatedly that vehicles make more power on the E-85.

I know many Mustang guys who are/have converted their fuel systems to E-85. This allows them to run higher boost levels. The higher octane rating of E-85 aids in avoiding detonation at higher boost levels. I sold my KB Boost A-Pump to a gentleman who made almost 100+ extra RWHP just by converting to E-85 and appropriate tuning. It's not completely worthless in that respect I guess

To save assembly line costs, Ford now puts the same components in them all
The extra maintenance alone kills E-85 as a viable alternative

Add the much lower MPG's and now you're talking about how worthless it really is
Ford rates them higher because they do make more power. No trickery there. It really amounts to a sales tactic IMO....the extra power is there, but nothing worth even bragging about to me

 

All well said! I feel the same way and the public should be fully informed of the cons of E85 and not just the governments idea on the matter.

 

What Tylus said about performance, and performance only is exactly what I was saying. I originally said that the ONLY advantage of ethanol comes from the POSSIBLE performance figure gains...again, what Tylus said.

Tylus, thank you for not calling me a lier. As for it being a sales tactic, I wouldn't call it that because I have never seen Ford market it. You have to dig for this info in product specification sheets that hardly anyone ever looks at. It is not like they had a $1,000,000 SuperBowl commercial explaining that one spec. If they did, it would be reasonable to call it hyped and in place as a sales tactic. Ford has done zero bragging.

 

If they would get rid of E85 the gas station across the street from me would have a pump open up that they could sell something useful like turbo blue or C16. Or diesel!

 

I know for biodiesel you need to upgrade all fuel lines especially rubber because it eats away at the rubber, also you need to upgrade any o rings in your fuel system. Not sure if flex fuel is exactly the same but I'm pretty sure it will have a similar effect. That is why up until recently companies like Ford and Chevy only approved 5% biodiesel(b5) in the trucks anything else voided warranty.
There is lots of information on this over the internet