E85

[eagleswhite44]

Will an occasional tank of E85 hurt the 5.7? There is a gas station near my office that has E85 for 2.89. I was wondering if I filled up with E85 once every 5 or so fill-up will it hurt anything.

[razman131]

shouldnt hurt.... just remember that the E85 prolly wont give the MPG you are used to (could be less, could be more).

Methanol will eventually eat all your rubber fuel lines so be careful with that.

back in 2002, i took a road trip to Iowa from Cali and pretty much used the local gasahol stuff for over a week in my Dakota R/T.... didnt notice any diff between that and good ole straight gas....YEMV

[Arch Stanton]

Yes, it will hurt your engine. DO NOT burn E85 in a car that wasn't specifically designed for it.

Even in a flex fuel vehicle though, it costs even more than gasoline to burn the stuff. Why anyone buys it is a mystery to me.

[Smoove06CSRT]

E85 Will hurt your car... run 5 tanks and see what ti does to the internals of your fuel pump module.....

Good Luck. You'll need it..

[Pushbutton]

E85 is one of the most stupid ideas that the Congress has ever supported...and that's saying something!

Have you noticed what has happened to the price of food lately; Bread, milk, beef...anything that used to eat/use corn to be produced? We have already had food riots around the world due to the use of foodstuffs to produce fuel. And, according to some sources, it takes more oil/natural gas to produce a gallon of ethanol that a gallon of gas/diesel/home heating oil. On top of that it delivers rather poor fuel mileage because the engines are not tuned to take advantage of its inherent natural higher octane.

Maybe the OPEC nations will eventually feel guilty...nah!

[GasGunR]

Lots of misinformed statements so far in this thread.

1st, there has been alot of discussion on what it will do to components of our fuel systems on these boards. Truth is, nothing.

The only real reason I can see for running it is it is 105 octane, so it is a cheaper alternative to race gas, IF your car is tuned for it.

The big PROBLEM with running E85 on a car not tuned for it, is that the car will be runing very lean. DANGEROUSLY lean, 85% ethanol requires aproximately 30% more fuel and your car is not tuned or capable with the stock injectors of delivering this much fuel. You'll lean out your engine and destroy it.

If you want to run it for its octane advantages, get it CMR tuned by a good tuner and enjoy. Otherwise, it is a recipie for disaster.

Don

[Arch Stanton]

Lots of misinformed statements so far in this thread.

1st, there has been alot of discussion on what it will do to components of our fuel systems on these boards. Truth is, nothing.

Ethanol in that concentration isn't damaging to components not designed for it? Not even the Ethanol industry itself says that. They claim that you can run as much as 30% or so with no ill effects, but not more than that. If they thought it was fine to burn in any car out there they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.

Regardless of all that though, its even more expensive than gasoline in most places so its all a moot point anyway.

[wantit]

the owner manual says NO MORE THAN 10% ethanol, these cars are not designed for any more than that. the vehicle has to be certified "flex fuel"
to be able to use E85.

[GasGunR]

Arch, do me a favor and don't quote partial posts of mine into yours. It takes what I had to say out of context. I never said the compnents in our cars were incompatible with 85% ethanol, (other then the size of the injectors), and there have been several threads on this board that have discussed the ethanol vs components, do a search please.

Ethanol in that concentration isn't damaging to components not designed for it? Not even the Ethanol industry itself says that. They claim that you can run as much as 30% or so with no ill effects, but not more than that. If they thought it was fine to burn in any car out there they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.

Regardless of all that though, its even more expensive than gasoline in most places so its all a moot point anyway.

Its NOT more expensive than Race gas anywhere that I know.

the owner manual says NO MORE THAN 10% ethanol, these cars are not designed for any more than that. the vehicle has to be certified "flex fuel"
to be able to use E85.

Because your car will run lean...

[Arch Stanton]

Arch, do me a favor and don't quote partial posts of mine into yours. It takes what I had to say out of context. I never said the compnents in our cars were incompatible with 85% ethanol, (other then the size of the injectors), and there have been several threads on this board that have discussed the ethanol vs components, do a search please. Its NOT more expensive than Race gas anywhere that I know.

Because your car will run lean...

I know you didn't say that they were incompatible. I guess I still don't trust that all hoses, fittings and metals in newer cars are compatible with that high of a concentration sitting in it 24/7. Even if they are though, the end result is the same since the injectors aren't and running so lean will do damage as you said.

I also realize that it isn't more expensive than race gas. But it's being sold on the streets and it IS more expensive to burn in your daily driver than the gasoline that it's touted to replace.

[blake]

I would not try it, but if you must good luck.

[lafrad]

All the hoses, fittings, and metals in almost all modern cars can run E85 without a problem.

This has been this way for 15-20 YEARS (yes, that's 1988).

Find a Cork float or a natural rubber fuel hose on your car. I dare you.

Fact of the matter is: The car companies use parts for these cars that ARE used on flex fuel vehicles. at that point, it is just CHEAPER to use the same parts, lines, hoses, and fuel injectors. Also, the new materials are just better built, and create less liability for car companies down the road.

Where Car companies DO save, is: for flex fuel to properly run, you need an Ethanol (Oxygen sensor) in the fuel supply line, you need all the tuning in the computers (which our LX computers DO have tables for, but are not properly populated), and you need the appropriate SIZE injectors. WOT fueling for E85 requires QUITE a bit more fuel. Well, larger injectors have the possibility of not idling as smoothly, and costing more.

So, they save costs and only "enable" cars that make sense to enable, for the price point.

For your HEMI: Unless you spend the money on the bigger injectors, and either install and rig up the Fuel Line sensor and get it tuned, or, you just have a single "CMR Tune" for running the E85 and you just flash back and forth... don't run it, damage due to lean-running may result.

[eagleswhite44]

It sounds like I will stick with regular 89 octane.

[MikeEast]

I learned something today, that's for sure..

Mike

[GasGunR]

Good idea

I plan on a street tune for premium gasoline and a track tune for E85 w/ nitrous. Two seperate CMR tunes. The gas tune wil likely require a great deal of injector scaling because of the larger injectors the E85 will require.

Don