Thought I would try E85 ethanol in my 06 5.4 flex fuel. what a joke!! $2.60 a gallon little bit of a savings but gas milage went right to the toliet! couldn't get over 9.6 mpg in town and 13.6 on the road!! Finally used it all up 210 miles filled truck back up with 87 octane gas and milage is back to 15 in town and 17.6 to 18 on the road. Hey guys keep your ethanol!! Gary

 

So lets see you saved 35cents per gallon but your mileage fell in 1/2. Doesn't sound like a winning proposition!

 

I reciently read an article about ethanol, good news is hp doesn't drop, bad is mileage does. Soap box time-Guys don't you agree that something that can be so abundant shouldn't be $2.00+ a gallon? Ethanol should be massed produced to get the prices back to where they should be, $1.00-1.20 a gallon. Then, we could live with mileage dropping from an alternate fuel. I know manafactures are promising more availability, but you have too many oil companies and politicians in control over the supply. Realistically, our great country shouldn't have to worry about high prices on fuel, when there are so many alternatives for alcohol-corn/sugar, ect. I live in Louisiana, one of, if not the largest producer of sugar in the US. Farmers would get a boost, we get good low prices on a product that we absolutely must have, people are happy again to live the american dream. As it stands, I'm not driving as much, no vacation, no stations here selling E85. It affects us all down the road, we will all be hat'n, stressed out, taxed out, sub-humans when this is all over with.
2005 F150, Lariat crew-I love it!

 

Man, that sucks! That really makes E85 make no sense!I have another thread going on the same topic where I requested some real user data on running E85 - there was one other guy that was able to run E85. His MPG drop was not as drastic as yours, but it was in the area of 19% reduction in MPG. The average discount on E85 (compared to gasoline) from the websites I have seen is 15%-20% price discount. At best it seems like you might break even. I'd be interested in any other users posting the MPG drop and the relative discount they paid on E85. With ethanol pricing remaining high (due to demand from gasoline blends and refining capacity still coming on line) it seems the time is not right for E85 - I can only hope that the dynamics change and E85 pricing starts to deliver a bigger discount to regular gasoline. They just approved putting 3 ehtanol plants here in Oregon, so I might be able to actually get it on a regular basis instead of when I head to SD for my fall hunting trip.

 

First of all the demand for E85 out weighs the supply. In my area there are atleast 3 ethanol plants being built within 30 miles of eachother. Hopefully they will be up and running soon to get the prices down under $2.00.
Next heres my real world experience with E85. I have run it in "non flex fuel vehicles" at a 50/50 mix with regular gas. This includes my 99 F-150 4.2 4x4, 79 F-150 460 2wd and 98 Dodge Stratus. They all ran fine plus had a little extra power. I mostly drive on the highway and my range typically lost 20 miles per tank. E-85 is about $.40 cheaper than regular so I figure its actually a savings for me. Not much but a little. I ran 100% E85 in my 79 F-150 and it chugged pretty bad at slow speeds. I advanced the timing to see if it helped but it didnt make a difference. I think it needs bigger jets.

 

I doubt that if your vehicle was not setup for E85, with the 50/50 mix you had more power. In order to get more power your ECM would have to have the spark and fuel curves changed to accomodate the ethanol combustion characteristics! Sorry I don't buy it. BTW the reason the exotic car companies want it, because they can raise the comporession, change the fuel and spark curve to squeek out more power from a given set if cubic inches while allowing the owner not to have to purchase premium fuel!
I am even surprised your vehicle not equipped to run on E85 even ran!

I doubt the prices will come down anytime soon, since the rest of the country is now just converting over to ethanol blended fuel less than E85.
With a blend of 90/10 if mileage suffers as what is being told, it could put more of a strain on petroleum oil. Less mileage more useage to go the same distance, at 90% mix of petroleum, more demand!

 

How do farmers get a boost selling their product for next to nothing, relatively speaking?

Once upon a time, Ethanol was a pretty good deal. Then, someone got the bright idea to index its price to be right up there with gasoline--because they could, of course.

So, do those farmers seem like good folks after all knowing that?

Yeah, it's a doozy when people are out there trying to make a dollar...

 

I have to say the performance gain was marginal but untill the price drops to under $2.00 per gallon, you won't see me using it. Right about the time of the Katrina hurricane E85 was about $2.00 when gas was $3.15 now all of a sudden the price is up dramatically!! Thanks oil companies!

 

Lariat06: Your results differed greatly from mine. From what I saw, highway mileage is unaffected at 15.5mpg, and in town mileage drops a couple MPG. This is in a 2006 F150 XLT, 3.55 gears, with the 3 valve 5.4L flex fuel motor.

 

When I filled my tank I did the math just to see if the computer monitor was accurate and the average was 11.1 mpg! Highway and town. 5.4 flex, 3.73 gear, Supercab 2wd, stock 18" tires and wheels. $1.50 a gallon and I wouldn't mind so much but not at the current rip off price. Gary

 

I was going to try it for the first time the other day as well. We only have about 4 stations here in Denver and I was close to one when I need fuel. The price for E-85 was the same for mid grade. So I passed, I was really hoping to use the E-85 when ever possible but I'm not going to put it in for the same price and lose 20% on the MPG side. It is was 20% less I would be happy to use it.

Sounds like price fixing to me.

Later
Joe

 

I read the above comments and wonder what the results would be if the truck was a TRUE E 85 FLEX FUEL..I have been looking at several 06 King Ranch The flex fuel is new and now manditory from factory.I have found some of each .I used E 85 out west last summer because that was all that was offered.It didn't do to bad...04 5.4 eng w/25000 miles 3.73 gear 17 "tire.
It could be that you are comparing apples to oranges If the truck is NOT built for it.
caddy 53 chuck

 

Trust me this truck is a true flex fuel vehicle I have all the info in the the glove box and I might add the warnings from Ford the fuel milage will decrease!! E85 is not the answer right now. Maybe at 1.50 a gallon and maybe if Ford can come up with a better program! Gary

 

Uncle says there is a 4MPG difference in town and 5 on the highway; go to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm to compare.

 

Not to get political or anything but thanks Mr Bush! This is what we want, pay more get less!! Once an oil man, always an oil man!! LOL!