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e85 mpg drop

fred walters

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ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

With the amount of drop in mpg in my 6.2 the price difference has to be $.70 a gallon cheaper for E-85 before I'm running it. I lose at least 3 if not 4 mpg running it and it beats the crap out of your engine oil too.

 

It's hardly ever a pay off around here, where I am. For a few weeks last summer is all it helped and if I got out of the city, I was screwed at finding it at the pump.

 

Last week Shell 93 was $3.37 a gallon. E-85? $3.09. Yeah, blow me a kiss next time Obama. LOL.

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RyanbabZ71 Senior Enthusiast

RyanbabZ71

Posted
Posted

It's not apples and oranges for the 6.2, it's e85 or 93 hence the comparison

 

 

Ryan

 

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AgDoctor Senior Enthusiast

AgDoctor

Posted
Posted

i have been running ethanol free and cant tell a statistical difference over time. i have been running it for about the last 9 or 10 tanks and expected more. i hear E85 will feel the same or better than regualr gas on the ole butt dyno. not much around south GA to try, they just run it a good 10 percent in all fuel except a select few that carries ethanol free.....for boats, atvs, and so forth.

oldmann Senior Enthusiast

oldmann

Posted
Posted

E-85 is for people who think they can save the planet. Does not make any sense to use it financially. I don't think they can even make it in the manufacturing process without a lot of help from the gov.

RyanbabZ71 Senior Enthusiast

RyanbabZ71

Posted
Posted

Nbs

 

You do know the gov subsidies have ended for e85

 

Also I do not run it as a green fuel so me it is performance and cost related

 

 

Ryan

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

With the amount of drop in mpg in my 6.2 the price difference has to be $.70 a gallon cheaper for E-85 before I'm running it. I lose at least 3 if not 4 mpg running it and it beats the crap out of your engine oil too.

 

It's hardly ever a pay off around here, where I am. For a few weeks last summer is all it helped and if I got out of the city, I was screwed at finding it at the pump.

 

Last week Shell 93 was $3.37 a gallon. E-85? $3.09. Yeah, blow me a kiss next time Obama. LOL.

 

 

Depressing to thing about how much gas has risen in a few weeks but as of this morning regular was $3.99/gal and E85 was 3.29. I filled up and blasted down 94 to drop my brother off at the airport and came right back and did a few in-town trips to pick up more stuff for the new apartment. DIC says 13.3 MPG right now and I was averaging just under 16 before the move. I let it idle lots in the morning and I have a heavy foot so my expectations are fairly low. Right now the cost difference means I about break even or maybe a marginal advantage with E85. But this is like ~150 miles into one tank so I got to keep it going longer. Not to mention the switch back to summer blends may change things too.

MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

Yeah so I'm on my 3rd tank of E85 now. Truck absolutely has better throttle response and seems to idle smoother too. I also came up with 70 cents cheaper being the break even point but the range issue is killing me. I drove from my apt in MI to Purdue University and I had to buy gas on my way there. This will probably be my last tank of E85 for a bit. I'll start running it before any dunes trips but that's about it.

MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

What were you doing down at Purdue?

 

 

Still here and will be till tomorrow most likely. I'm a field service tech for a company that makes lab equipment and I'm setting a machine up there this week.

ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

Yeah so I'm on my 3rd tank of E85 now. Truck absolutely has better throttle response and seems to idle smoother too. I also came up with 70 cents cheaper being the break even point but the range issue is killing me. I drove from my apt in MI to Purdue University and I had to buy gas on my way there. This will probably be my last tank of E85 for a bit. I'll start running it before any dunes trips but that's about it.

 

 

Yup, I run it in the summer mostly but I have the same exact issue. If I run up to either of the properties up north, I'm screwed because nobody up that way sells it and one tank of E85 won't make it up there and back, for me.

RyanbabZ71 Senior Enthusiast

RyanbabZ71

Posted
Posted

What were you doing down at Purdue?

 

 

Still here and will be till tomorrow most likely. I'm a field service tech for a company that makes lab equipment and I'm setting a machine up there this week.

 

 

Ah cool. I am about an hour south of Purdue.

 

Hey there is a family express right off I65 just out of west lafayette (I forget the exit number) that has E85 if you are looking. Also Meijer in town should have E85 too.

Morgan1986 Senior Enthusiast

Morgan1986

Posted
Posted

What were you doing down at Purdue?

 

 

Still here and will be till tomorrow most likely. I'm a field service tech for a company that makes lab equipment and I'm setting a machine up there this week.

 

Interesting job.
MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

Yeah Ryan two of the tanks were Meijier. There is one literally right up the road from my apartment and I stopped at one somewhere on I65. The other was outside Lansing, MI when I had dinner with some friends Monday evening. But like I said I'm going to go back to normal gas next fillup as this range issue is going to kill me.

 

 

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ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

$3.35 a gallon for corn fuel and $3.99 a gallon for 93 octane petrol up here. Stayed with 93 for now. Again, with the way that the 6.2 likes to drink E85, I've got to have a full $.70 spread just to break even let alone get ahead and it's rarely a $.70 difference here.

 

Heck, earlier in the winter, when fuel prices were around $3.39 a gallon, E85 was only $3.09. You'd be loosing money by running it.

MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

E85 was $3.29/gal near me but it's now $3.35 I think. Like I said, I have to do lots of freeway driving now (next week I need to visit Champaign, IL, Detroit and Bowing Green, OH- all by Wednesday...) so the reduced range is just too much of an inconvenience. My last E85 tank (probably half city) was 11.36 MPG. Before that it was 12.76 and 12.3, which is about what I got on 87 towing the damn trailer out here from NH. :lol:

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