Used E 85 and...
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From: Clitherall, MN.
Used E 85 and...
A fella I work with has a 2014 non Eco 4x4 screw and has claimed that the E 85 caused him to get worse mileage on 10% gas. Said he was getting 20 on the highway and now is down to 17. Said he burned 2 tanks of E 85 before switching back. I am not familiar with these newer trucks and am wondering what would cause the drop in mpg. Anyone got some info or ideas on this issue? Did an advanced search and didn't come up with much. Any help is much appreciated.
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I've got a 5.4 Expedition that I just bought about a 2 months ago and have run exclusively e85 as an experiment. I've kept a spreadsheet on MPG.
The station I've been going to just quit carrying it, so apparently next fill-up is when I'm switching to gas. I'll keep you posted, but about 10% is what I expected. My plan was to test this theory out now while gas is cheap instead of $4/gal
The station I've been going to just quit carrying it, so apparently next fill-up is when I'm switching to gas. I'll keep you posted, but about 10% is what I expected. My plan was to test this theory out now while gas is cheap instead of $4/gal
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From: Clitherall, MN.
I guess what I was looking for was, why does he get worse gas mileage now on the 10% after using the E85. Did the high ethanol cause some sort of damage to the engine?
Gas is pretty reasonable nowadays. Was down to 1.44 a gallon a month ago. Now at 1.99.
Back when I drove OTR I had a cow when diesel went to 1.03 a gallon. Oh well. Oh well, guess that's why he wants to squeeze every mpg he can.
Gas is pretty reasonable nowadays. Was down to 1.44 a gallon a month ago. Now at 1.99.
Back when I drove OTR I had a cow when diesel went to 1.03 a gallon. Oh well. Oh well, guess that's why he wants to squeeze every mpg he can.
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From: Dallas-Ft. Worth
How much E85 is still in the system? I used to switch back & forth all the time in a previous truck, and it was never a problem. It CAN clean the system and knock stuff loose though -- I wouldn't expect a 2014 to be too nasty though. Perhaps it just needs to "relearn" that it has E10. I assume these trucks have a similar sensor that my old one did where it could sense the mix and adjust the injection events accordingly. You migh have him try pulling the battery cable for a bit and see if it will force a relearn with the E10 in it, but that shouldn't be necessary.
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From: Clitherall, MN.
Thanks for the replies guys. I don't think there is much E85 left if any. Been a few months now. Didn't know about the sensor for fuel types. A relearn could work for him. I'll mention it today. It will be interesting to see what the mpg difference is between the two fuels.
Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
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From: Laramie, WY
Ethanol only has about 2/3 of the amount of energy of gasoline. So you have to burn more to go the same distance or speed. That is why your fuel mileage is down.
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Post Fiend
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IIRC, ethanol contains its own extra molecule of oxygen, so you use more fuel & less air, which is why the PCM needs to know what the mix of gasoline to ethanol is. When I ran it, I found about a 10-15% hit on mileage when on a full tank of it. But back then, it was about 30% cheaper, so the math worked in my favor. I haven't looked lately, but I seem to recall E85 being similar to the price of reg gasoline. I wouldn't touch it at that price. However, it has a much higher octane level than gasoline -- somewhere around 100 at the E85 mix IIRC. So with the right tuning setup, you can gain some power.
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did he reset the MPG display?
if not, then the display is still calculating the MPG with the e-85 included in the total.
for what it's worth in my 2010 my 3-tank e-85 mileage was 13.8 mpg (hand calculated) while my 3-tank average e-10 mileage was 16.1 mpg.
more interesting than that, was my 3-tank e-15 mileage was 16.6 mpg.
these were all back-to-back-to-back tests while trying to keep the daily use as consistent as possible (total mileage of 2914 miles across all three fuel types).
if not, then the display is still calculating the MPG with the e-85 included in the total.
for what it's worth in my 2010 my 3-tank e-85 mileage was 13.8 mpg (hand calculated) while my 3-tank average e-10 mileage was 16.1 mpg.
more interesting than that, was my 3-tank e-15 mileage was 16.6 mpg.
these were all back-to-back-to-back tests while trying to keep the daily use as consistent as possible (total mileage of 2914 miles across all three fuel types).
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From: Clitherall, MN.
Hmmm. I don't know if he did that or is even aware of being able to. Darn cars and trucks these days are just rolling computers.
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Cargo Master
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on my wife's old '07 she lost about 3 mpg when running e85. In order to break even I think E85 had to be around $.50/gallon cheaper than regular gas. There rarely is that much of a price difference around here so we rarely used it.
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From: Sioux Falls Area
however, it is better to look at the economics in terms of percent, rather than a hardline of $0.50.
that 3mpg is an 18%hit. so if the price at the pump is cheaper by 20%, its a win.
at $2.00/gal, you can figure e85 needs to be about 40cents cheaper and then you are at least breaking even.
at $4.00/gal it would have to be 80 cents cheaper, so if you bought it at 50 cents cheaper you left some money on the table.
what I don't get is how they are establishing the e85 price. they say it is based off market value rather than input cost, but they never seem to have it less than gasoline by enough to make the sale. it's always a little cheaper, but unless it is about %30 less, most people won't bother. you'd think they'd pick up on that and pick up the sales along with it.
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From: Central KY
From everything I know about performance in V8 engines, and the agricultural economy, it sounds to me like E85 is a win not because it saves you money, but rather because you gain power, help the national economy instead of helping OPEC, and cost-wise it comes out a wash because the price vs. MPGs lost works out in the math.
In short, you're not saving or losing money either way. But you ARE gaining horsepower and helping America.
It's a shame there aren't more stations around that sell it. In my geographic area (25 mile radius) there is one station.
In short, you're not saving or losing money either way. But you ARE gaining horsepower and helping America.
It's a shame there aren't more stations around that sell it. In my geographic area (25 mile radius) there is one station.
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From: Maine, Virginia
From everything I know about performance in V8 engines, and the agricultural economy, it sounds to me like E85 is a win not because it saves you money, but rather because you gain power, help the national economy instead of helping OPEC, and cost-wise it comes out a wash because the price vs. MPGs lost works out in the math.
In short, you're not saving or losing money either way. But you ARE gaining horsepower and helping America.
It's a shame there aren't more stations around that sell it. In my geographic area (25 mile radius) there is one station.
In short, you're not saving or losing money either way. But you ARE gaining horsepower and helping America.
It's a shame there aren't more stations around that sell it. In my geographic area (25 mile radius) there is one station.
Gentlemen, please make sure that we don't spring board off this into a political discussion. All blends of fuel have their place and purpose. It comes down to preference. Frankly, I prefer pure gasoline.