I see Chevy has been advertising new cars and trucks using E85 Ethanol and I see Ford has FFV cars and small trucks.How will this fuel run in a older car or truck?

 

Dont try it unless your fuel system is designed for it. If you do kiss your o-rings good bye. They use different materials in the fuel system of the E-85 vehicials to prevent this problem.

 

Thanks Hillbillywagon

 

Ford has been doing this for some time, I'm not sure when chebby came out with it but they're advertising it like they invented it or something.

Anyone know when Ford put out its first ffv vehicle and when chebby put out its first e85 engine?

Its been on the 3.0l vulcan forever..

 

If you build a F-150 on fords site, in the 5.4L you have a choice of normal or flex fuel.

 

How will this E85 fuel compare to gasoline?

 

Thread moved to Alternative Fuels forum.

-Matt

 

sorry Matt.

 

Not a problem. That's why we are here.

-Matt

 

Not at all. Common gasoline in my area is 10% ethanol. So 90% gas and 10% ethanol

E85 is, can you guess? 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

On the new engines that are E85 rated, the HP and torque numbers are the same. So the power is there.

Farmers will love it. Most ethanol is produced from a refined version of fermented corn.

 

With E85 you will get less miles per gallon because it takes more of this fuel to get the same power out of the engine. It also takes a different computer and additional sensors to factor in the amount of E85 + Regular gas mixture to provide the right fuel-air mix. DO NOT use it in your vehicle unless it is specifically designed as a flex-fuel vehicle. The E85 will eat elastomeric (read rubber seals) materials and you will leak flammable fuel and be a fire hazard. Also, most gas tanks are made of nickle-zinc plated steel and the E85 will corrode the zinc. Flex-fuel vehicles use either polyproplyene or stainless steel fuel tanks. They also use stainless steel fuel lines, not the zinc plated stuff you normally see. The seals and hoses in the entire fuel system are prone to attack from the 85% ethanol. This includes all flex hoses, fuel injector seals, fuel pressure regulator diaphrams, etc. Nice stuff as it gives you options on fuel choice when the price of gas goes through the roof or there is a shortage because the pipeline broke; BUT it also complicates the vehicle maintenance and parts issues.

Win some, lose some and some get rained out. Just like baseball in stadiums without a roof.

That's my nickle's worth.
Phil

 

what about an old truck? that was rebuilt? 73 with a 460? is that safe tank lines and engine?can you run less of a mixture say 50/50?

 

we all are being sold a bill of goods ethanol is very corrosive and inefficent...all about poplitics

 

Tommie, there WAS a bill of goods sold, and you just might have bought it. Ethanol is not very corrosive, but its close cousin methanol IS. Ethanol can also match gasoline on a miles per gallon basis, and ethanol can be made from corn, something the US of A has lots of, more than we can use. Ethanol can also be made from sugar cane, sugar beets, sorghum, just about anything. Unfortunately, the politics come in to play most of the time. The American Petroleum Institute is absolutely panic stricken that drivers might find out that there are alternatives to their products, and some of the alternatives are very VERY good. Because of that fear, the API is busy spreading lies and dis-information about ethanol and E85 every chance they get. Where did you get the idea that ethanol wasn't efficient ? DF

 

do your home work on how ethanol ruins your engine continued use...btu's only 75 (by far not equal to gas) thats why when the ethanol season comes around gas mileage drop for instance my 4 vehicles from 34mpg to 16mpg....the corn lobby are wanting this !!!! its all politics....are you a far lefty?