Tried a search sorry if his has been covered.

Curious on users thoughts on E85/Ethanol.

Have not had a ton of success with it in previous vehicles - all rated for use- poor gas mileage, low on power etc.

However have recently tried a tank in the truck and it seems to be running fine.

2017 F150 3.5NA getting around 20 mpg with 1300 on the odometer.

E85 returned same MPG with no discernible changes to driveability over a mix of city and highway.

Thoughts?

 

There isn't a lot of discussion here about E85. I do think it requires special "maintenance" if you use it regularly. Check your manual; I think Ford recommend running regular gas at every oil change (or something like that).

It's not available around me, but my EB can't run it anyway. I'd try it if I could (for grins and giggles), but everything I've read about Ethanol is it isn't worth it on any measured level.

 

I like to use it on the Highway, but not in town. City MPG's take a dive when using it. I mainly use E15 now, but that is more of an Iowa thing.

 

It has its place but to me for a daily driver it will not happen. I did run it in my Eclipse GST and with the right tune it sure made a huge difference.
You will generally get around 20% less mileage because it uses more fuel per cycle than regular 10% fuel. So unless you can find it for more than 20-25% less than regular fuel you won't save any money.

 

As much as I liked the additional horsepower, it's just to expensive here in the southwest to run on a daily basis.

 

I have a 2013 Durango with the 3.6L V6. It is rated as flex fuel for E85. I tried it for a freeway run. That tank dropped my mileage from 20 to 15mpg. That's a 25% reduction in mileage! Don't use food (corn) for fuel! Jag

 

Corn is just feed that hasn't been turned into steaks yet.

 

They don't use the food part for the fuel, and the food part becomes a very, very efficient food source for cattle, who are fed corn anyway.

The price really does make a difference. In Iowa, we are lucky to have a $0.35-0.40 difference between E85 and E10 (87). That is what makes it feasible here.

 

Here in California we also have a $.35 discount on E 85 fuel. So it only saves us about 15% compared to a 25% loss in fuel economy. That is why you see very few of the E85 fueling stations. And, when you do see one, there is nobody using that pump. There is virtually no demand. So, to artificially create demand, the CA legislature has repeated introduced legislation that would require all gasoline to be the E85! Thank you government for trying to rip off the consumer once again. I think the only winner in the ethanol game is the farmer who has converted all of his land into supplying corn to be used as ethanol. They are very happy and have a huge lobbying presence in Washington.

 

It doesn't work like that, I'm not a fan of corn squeezin's in the fuel either. HOWEVER, Farmers grow field corn for cattle feed, they always have. Very, very little is used as "human food".

The ethanol industry strips out the starch to make ethanol before it is fed to the cattle, the remainder is marketed as DDGs, or distillers dried grains and, fed to the cattle same as they always have. The opponents of the ethanol industry try to cultivate the idea in the minds of the average person that "food for people" is somehow being diverted into greedy profits. It's not like that at all, and farmers are some of the hardest working folks around, and about the only industry I'm aware of that have to purchase everything at retail but then sell at wholesale. Don't get pissed off at farmers, your ire should be directed where it belongs.

If you look at historical corn prices, at some point corn was around $2 a bushel in the 1930s. And the 1940s. 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and 1980s and 1990s and 2000s and 2010s. As of today Sep. corn is $3.76 a bushel. Can you think of anything else that costs about the same in nominal terms as 80 years ago?

Everybody bitched about farm subsidies, so congress got rid of a bunch of 'em. Corn prices went up - surprise! - and then everyone started bitching about that. LOL!!

 

You aren't going to find a farmer that plants all corn all the time.

Also, there is no need to "convert" your land to plant one crop over another.

 

Thanks for your insight. Would you agree that more land is devoted to growing corn now than it was 10 years ago? The information I have seen shows that normal vegetable prices are higher for all of America because less produce is being grown and when you restrict supply price goes up. On another note, many old car enthusiasts are very worried about E85. It has a nasty habit of eating up rubber hoses and seals throuout the fuel system. In vehicles that do not have modern components, serious fuel leaks are bound to happen. Therefore, in California we are trying to stop the mandate for fuels to be E85! Jag

 

Interesting. You are the only person I've known to have claimed better performance from Ethanol. Everyone says the performance and mileage goes way down on E85. I myself have never tried it. I've heard you can't just switch back & forth without problems.

 

I'm just one guy that tried it a few time. There are a lot of hot rodders that run e85 for the higher octaine. It's cheaper than racing fuel.

"POWERTRAINS
2010 EPA-ESTIMATED FUEL ECONOMY4
HORSEPOWER TORQUE 4x2 4x4
ENGINE TRANSMISSION (hp @ rpm) (lb.-ft. @ rpm) CITY HWY. CITY HWY.
4.6L 2-valve V8 4-speed auto. with Tow/Haul 248 @ 4750 294 @ 4000 15 mpg 19 mpg 14 mpg 18 mpg
4.6L 3-valve V8 6-speed auto. with Tow/Haul 292 @ 5700 320 @ 4000 15 mpg 21 mpg 14 mpg 20 mpg
5.4L 3-valve V8 (gas) 6-speed auto. with Tow/Haul 310 @ 5000 365 @ 3500 14 mpg 20 mpg 14 mpg 18 mpg
5.4L 3-valve V8 (E85) 6-speed auto. with Tow/Haul 320 @ 5200 390 @ 3500 10 mpg 14 mpg 10 mpg 13 mpg"

Notice the 2 different specs for the 5.4 from the brochure. Only 10 more horsepower, but an additional 25 foot pounds of torque. I only ran 2 full tanks the first time I tried it, the second time I was pulling a heavy loaded trailer in heat of the summer and ran a tank and a half. But the fuel mileage dropped way to much for me.

 

First of all, the octane rating of any fuel including gasoline has nothing to do with it's energy content. Octane is a measure of the fuel's resistance to knocking under high compression. The higher the compression, the more power (heat) is extracted from the fuel.


Horsepower is created from heat. Heat is measured in British Thermal Units (Btu's). One horsepower is equivalent to 2,544 Btu's per hour.


E10, which is what most of us use contains between 112,114 and 116,000 Btu's per gallon.


E85 contains between 81,850 and 93,050 Btu's per gallon


Straight Ethanol (E100) has 57,520 Btu's per gallon.


Diesel has 128,500 Btu's per gallon. One of the reasons diesel engines are so efficient.


As the percentage of ethanol in the gasoline goes up, the energy content goes down. It is possible to compensate for this in a small amount by increasing the apparent compression ratio since ethanol has a higher octane rating. This is done in flex fuel vehicles by fiddling with the ignition timing.
No matter how you cut it, adding ethanol to gasoline decreases its energy content and therefore your miles per gallon.
But at least the engine won't knock.