E85

jonnny2006 · Mar 5, 2009

I have been using e85 in my 01 windstar now for over a year and a half, havent had anything go wrong. It is not designed to run e85 but it dosent seam to mind it. I did have the o2 censor kick on the check engine light once but i unhooked the bat for 5 mins and the light went out. I have put 30,000 miles on the thing and run it on e85 unless it is not aval. starts right up @ -10. I even run it in my farmalls and they love it! just adjusted the carb and timing. I think that if there were gonna be any fuel related problumes they would of come up by now. the engine has 140,000 miles on it and never rebuilt. My van is stock and i havent added any conversion kits at all. If you do try running e85 start off at 50/50 blend and work up from there. If the engine light comes on you went over the o2 limit on the sensor. My uncel runs 5 gals e10 to 20 gals e85 in his ranger and the 5 gal of e10 is enough to keep the o2 censor happy.

IH fan · Mar 5, 2009

Yeah, but what happened to your gas milage? My son-in-law has a "Flexfuel" Taurus and he had access to e85 on his way to work. Started using it when gas was high and e85 was cheap in comparison... lost almost 1/3 of his fuel mileage. Pretty much a wash at that time for overall price. Stopped one day and the e85 price had jumped "overnight" to almost the price of gasoline, so it was cheaper to use regular.
I started using e10 in our '98 Linc. Cont. and dropped 3 mpg... was not worth it. Have not tried in in the current car.
So unless you are willing to pay the extra to be "green", I don't see the advantage.
I remember from running a dirt track late model back in the '80s that using alcohol we burned over 1/2 again as much alcohol as gas.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 5, 2009

Bully for you. Ethanol sucks!

Anonymous-0 · Mar 5, 2009

Why does everybody think E85 has to be cheaper per mile to use I DONT GIVE A DARN ABOUT BEING GREEN but why cant we keep our fuel dollars in the U.S. instead of sending our moeny to rich overseas towel heads the biggest reason for poor results with E85 is the flex vehicles dont have the compression ratio to utilize the octane of E85 I just built a 377 ci small block chevy with the proper comp. to run only on E85 IT DYNOED 804 HP AND 645LBS.FT. support home grown fuels.

IH fan · Mar 5, 2009

I makeup for it by not shopping at Walmart.

garytomaszewski · Mar 5, 2009

IH,
I love you ethanol bashers. In your dirt tracker you were using METHANOL, completely different animal.
Our company demands we use E85 in our flex fuelers (car,van, p/u), fuel economy 1-2.5 mpg less than with gas over average 40,000 miles per year, the further the price difference the more economical the E85.
Maybe its a Ford thing: GM (Buick,Caddy,Pont.,& Olds) various engines and driving conditions and NO difference in E10 and unleaded(buy cheapest), but in a week of filling I'll use 10gal of alcohol and support my neighbor instead of the "global" economy.

georgeky · Mar 5, 2009

Can't now nor ever use your food supply for fuel.

dhermesc · Mar 5, 2009

Can't now nor ever use your food supply for fuel.

==================================================

I don't eat yellow corn - its pretty hard.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 5, 2009

Did anybody forget to reset your computers in your autos before making the switch??? Makes a big difference if the computer reconizes it right off the bat than to dribble it in and watch the milage drop cuase it thinks its still running on gasoline. The computers are self learning,, but we got to help em out too to start the learning curve to get the best results.

Ran 50/50 in a 360 Dodge ram, lost milage. Reset the computer by unhooking the battery for a half hour, then with my code scanner, erased any codes that was present, (if any)Then, started again. I still ost milage from gas, but it was only half as much this time. So it does make a difference if you know what to do or try. JMHO. If you dont like Ethanol,,,, quit drinking now. ChadS

rustyfarmall · Mar 5, 2009

It is only the starches from the corn that is turned into ethanol. The only other use for those starches would be to distill it into alcohol for human consumption, and there is NO shortage of that.

After the ethanol is extracted from the corn, the rest of it still goes for feed for livestock. Just the same as if the ethanol had never been cooked out of it in the first place.

F-Dean · Mar 5, 2009

Has anyone tried E-85 in their older dual-fueled Farmalls. I would think it would run better than distillate which worked pretty good in the old Ms and F-20s.

Oak dale · Mar 5, 2009

I live between two ethanol plants. One is 10 miles away and the other is about 25 miles in the other direction. Here is what they've done for me: We have two brand new cattle feedlots that have been built because of the access to "Distiller's Grain" - which is the fancy name for ethanol corn leftovers. After the starch has been converted to alcohol, the remaining corn becomes a very high protein cattle feed. Making alcohol does not make the grain 'disappear'. These feedlots are hiring people to take care of the cattle, do the marketing and etc.

Second, these alcohol plants have increased my local grain prices to the level of the 'river' markets. In other words, I can sell my grain to the alcohol plant at a higher price than if I sold it to my local elevator. I'm making money, there are more cattle on feed (more food, not less) and people have more and better jobs because of it. Plus, we keep the money for fuel here instead of sending it off to the middle east, where they don't like us. Growing fuel in America is OK. We should be doing more of it. Corn may not be the best choice, but for now, it is a good one. I also grow wood for my home heating fuel. I'm all for using agriculture to improve ourselves in any way we can - not just to make hamburgers with.

rustyfarmall · Mar 5, 2009

The manufacturing of ethanol and also soy bio-diesel is a win-win situation for ALL of us. I use the E-10 blend in everything I own that runs on gasoline, and have been since the late '70s early '80s. Never a fuel related problem whether it be a lawn mower, weed eater, chainsaw, tractor, car, or truck. This includes my 1940 Farmalls right up to my wifes 2008 Chevy Equinox.

John G. Hasler · Mar 5, 2009

> It is only the starches from the corn that is
> turned into ethanol. The only other use for
> those starches would be to distill it into
> alcohol for human consumption...

Not true. Livestock are quite capable of utilizing those starches, and chemical plants can and do convert them into corn syrup (and other things). While spent grains are fed to cattle, they don't have the feed value of shell corn.

John G. Hasler · Mar 5, 2009

> It is only the starches from the corn that is
> turned into ethanol. The only other use for
> those starches would be to distill it into
> alcohol for human consumption...

Not true. Livestock are quite capable of utilizing those starches, and chemical plants can and do convert them into corn syrup (and other things). While spent grains are fed to cattle, they don't have the feed value of shell corn.

PitCrew · Mar 5, 2009

"a 377 ci small block chevy with the proper comp. to run only on E85 IT DYNOED 804 HP AND 645LBS.FT."

804 Hp, that's a typo or one VERY happy dyno!

We have found that e-85 is okay at 13.5 to 1,dependant on camshaft design. Not sure i would try it with any more compression. Our Methanol injected SBC 14.2 to 1 which is about the maximum for methanol

sflem849 · Mar 5, 2009

I have not found it exceptionally palatable either.

John G. Hasler · Mar 5, 2009

> I have not found [field corn] exceptionally
> palatable either.

Ever drink soda pop?

mkirsch · Mar 5, 2009

Yes, but I'm sure you find the tasty cow/pig/chicken/turkey that ate the corn VERY palatable

The biggest problem is that producing ethanol requires almost as much fossil fuel to produce as it replaces. Under best conditions, the ratio is 1.3 energy units of ethanol out to 1 energy unit of fossil fuel put in. You need to burn fuel to haul in the seed and fertilizer, plow the ground, plant the corn, harvest the corn, haul the corn to the ethanol plant, cook the corn, and haul away the product and waste.

So, you're not keeping the money at home. It's just going through another set of hands on its way to OPEC.

georgeky · Mar 5, 2009

Almost everything you buy at the grocery store has high fructose corn syrup in it. Guess where it comes from? Yellow field corn.

The ethanol made from corn business is nothing more than a flash in the pan. Corn prices have plumeted here from what they where last summer.Many of the ethanol plants have already filed bankruptcy

LenND · Mar 5, 2009

My 2006 Buick Lucerne V8 recommends 10 percent alcohol right in the book that came with the car And it is not set up to run on 85% stuff.

dhermesc · Mar 5, 2009

I'd rather they used cain sugar, its healthier.

garytomaszewski · Mar 5, 2009

Do you suppose that fuel and fertilizer wouldn't have been used
if you were just growing corn AND selling it for way less if there
wasn't a ethanol market ? Your 1.3 ratio is out of date it is now
1.7 and will get higher as refining improves. Do you suppose
hauling gas from a refinery is free ? There is no WASTE it is
higher quality feed than the straight corn would have been.

IH fan · Mar 5, 2009

(quoted from post at 09:05:30 03/05/09) IH,
I love you ethanol bashers. In your dirt tracker you were using METHANOL, completely different animal.

I realize ethanol and methanol are different, but they are both forms of alcohol made from different products... BTUs are similar.
Not saying you guys all buy the Chinese stuff at Wally World, but I see a lot of people doing it, some even raise corn. You can say that the only product you can find is Chinese or Indian or whatever, but it started somewhere and if no one bought it to begin with, it might well still be "Made in the USA".
As for corn ethanol not being as efficient as sugar cain or switchgrass, I know for a fact they are working on increasing the sugar content of corn just for ethanol... I have a great niece, grad of Iowa St., that is working on just that for a seed company. Someday it will happen... just not sure it's that great right now.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 5, 2009

What amazes me is how you pop in every few months and stir up this old arguement! On these boards its a no win situation, youre right or youre wrong, or neither right nor wrong. No matter what, youre one or the other, and you get knocked for the "other".JM

jonnny2006 · Mar 5, 2009

The thing we need to remember is to keep an open mind. I was fooled into thinking that e85 would reck my engine, so i dint use it. Then one day I thought i would try a 50/50 mix. Din't hurt a darn bit. so i went to all e85 and guess what happened.....it ran just fine! I like supporting jobs in my state(mn) and would be willing to pay more for it then gas. I don't pay much attention to what unleaded is going for as i always fill up with alcohol. my van went from 17.5-18 down to 14.5 - 15.1 I don't care if i have to fill up more often i usually have to pick up milk anyways. Support bio fuels. my last tank e85 was 1.43 /gal I think gas was like almost 2

jonnny2006 · Mar 5, 2009

ya they need to quit putting that crap in everthhing! that is why we are so darn FATT nowadays. I try to buy stuff without it.

E85

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