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So....used E85 yet?

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Victor Ferreira Enthusiast

Victor Ferreira

Posted
Posted

As I posted in another thread, to help the math, general rule to knowing if E85 is more financially viable than gas:

 

The liter of E85 has to be at least 30% cheaper than the liter of gasoline, otherwise it's not worth it, financially.

 

Personally, I've used E100 on several cars and never liked it. E85 isn't common in South Florida, and not cheap enough when I do find it so I have never even considered it on the truck.

 

As for HP gains, there is a gain, and I'm sure it is noticeable, but I find it hard to believe that it gets to something in the 20hp range.

 

I have seen dozens of different cars running E100 and the gain is usually 5hp at most. Granted, those engines I'm used to seeing are much, much smaller than the massive V8s in the trucks, so that may come into play.

 

 

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bigsapper Enthusiast

bigsapper

Posted
Posted

E85 is a product, subsidies or not. This is a technical discussion regarding the use of E85 fuel.

 

You're comments regard the political aspect of the government (i.e., taxpayers) subsidizing the production of ethanol fuels, Q.E.D., is not a technical discussion. If you really want to air your point of view on this subject, start your own thread and quit hijacking this one.

bigsapper Enthusiast

bigsapper

Posted
Posted

As I posted in another thread, to help the math, general rule to knowing if E85 is more financially viable than gas:

 

The liter of E85 has to be at least 30% cheaper than the liter of gasoline, otherwise it's not worth it, financially.

 

Personally, I've used E100 on several cars and never liked it. E85 isn't common in South Florida, and not cheap enough when I do find it so I have never even considered it on the truck.

 

As for HP gains, there is a gain, and I'm sure it is noticeable, but I find it hard to believe that it gets to something in the 20hp range.

 

I have seen dozens of different cars running E100 and the gain is usually 5hp at most. Granted, those engines I'm used to seeing are much, much smaller than the massive V8s in the trucks, so that may come into play.

 

 

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More like 25% since practically speaking, only E10 is available anymore.

 

You would be wrong; its well documented.

 

Interestingly enough, GM does not recommend more than E85 concentration in their Flex Fuel vehicles.

Victor Ferreira Enthusiast

Victor Ferreira

Posted
Posted

 

More like 25% since practically speaking, only E10 is available anymore.

 

You would be wrong; its well documented.

 

Interestingly enough, GM does not recommend more than E85 concentration in their Flex Fuel vehicles.

Not surprised about the first part, since the 30% ground rule is for E100 (pure ethanol), and not E85. So as long as ethanol is ~25% cheaper than gasoline, it is advantageous financially.

 

For the gains though, that is really interesting. Guess the size of the engine does play a big role.

 

 

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bigsapper Enthusiast

bigsapper

Posted
Posted

Any of the tuners out there, including the canned tunes, will get 20+ HP on 91+ octane. That's all that's going on with E85; it's a factory tune. The fuel itself doesn't add horsepower; it allows more timing advance which creates more horsepower.

 

There are two other aspects to consider when calculating the financial viability of E85...

1) Compare to the price of 91+ octane as that is the spectrum you are moving to.

2) Not everyone is using E85 for cost savings ;)

drenolov Enthusiast

drenolov

Posted
Posted

Ok I put e85 in my car by accident and the shop says that was the cause of in locking up could that be the cause

 

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Victor Ferreira Enthusiast

Victor Ferreira

Posted
Posted

Ok I put e85 in my car by accident and the shop says that was the cause of in locking up could that be the cause

 

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If your car's ECU isn't tuned for it, the engine won't respond well to it. Damage may or may not occur, and the extent of it varies.

 

A friend of mine put E85 by accident on her non flex fuel Jeep Cherokee and had no issues other than the car needing to have the fuel tank drained. Runs fine now.

 

All this discussion about this fuel reminds me of when they renamed it "Ethanol" a few years back from "Alcohol" because of stupid people drinking it because it was cheaper than booze. Ah, the memories. (Mind you, of course this didn't happen in the States).

 

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Rawyzf Senior Enthusiast

Rawyzf

Posted
Posted

Because I run premium gas or e85, I compare those two values to make sure there is at least a 25% gap.

 

E85 is 1.29 right now and 91 Premium is 1.89.

 

I'd run e85 full time probably, but I wanted to give my truck a few tanks of 91 to see how it drives with the tune.

 

I'll go back to e85 after 5 or 6 tanks of 91.

 

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bigsapper Enthusiast

bigsapper

Posted
Posted

Another thing to bear in mind is availability.

 

I have an E85 pump a few blocks from my house in Plano. But if I travel to visit family in Lubbock or College Station, I'll be hitting an E10 pump to make the round trip.

 

Also, also, if you run E85, when your low fuel warning comes on, you better be finding a pump most riki tik! ;)

POS VETT Enthusiast

POS VETT

Posted
Posted

I ran E85 almost exclusively in my previous '15 with 5.3l since I didn't like the way the PCM calibration running the engine when on 93 (sluggish). I could not care any less about the differences in fuel consumption rate, the fuel prices, and the politics behind it. The engine ran so much better and it even sounded differently. It had two to three fill-ups of 93 and I went back to E85 and never looked back.

 

I wish my '16 could utilize E85 :(

davidio840 Enthusiast

davidio840

Posted
Posted

Okay this isn't exactly on topic but it involves gas.. The 5.3 says to use regular unleaded.. Is it worse for the engine to use a higher octane like 91 or 93? I can't imagine it would be but reading POS VETT's comment above made me wonder this.

 

I have been using a higher octane just because I thought the engine would run better off of it and I have always been told a higher octane is better for your engine long term....

Rawyzf Senior Enthusiast

Rawyzf

Posted
Posted

Okay this isn't exactly on topic but it involves gas.. The 5.3 says to use regular unleaded.. Is it worse for the engine to use a higher octane like 91 or 93? I can't imagine it would be but reading POS VETT's comment above made me wonder this.

 

I have been using a higher octane just because I thought the engine would run better off of it and I have always been told a higher octane is better for your engine long term....

 

There is absolutely no harm to the truck in running a Premium fuel in the truck when it states to use regular unleaded. Really, I think these trucks should run Premium. They run so much better with it. Only harm is to the wallet, but really....not much in comparison to the price of the trucks.

 

You can covert to Flex Fuel as well, look at my thread for details: http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/179602-tuned-and-converted-to-flex-fuel-2015-silverado-53l/

freerider14 Enthusiast

freerider14

Posted
Posted

I work for a Ethanol company, all of our vehicles run on nothing but E-85, my current truck (Chevy 1500) has 168,XXX, and never had any issues related to fuel or really anything major at all.

 

The key to running E-85 is to decide if you want to run it, and stick to it. It's when you switch back and forth that really gets hard on the motor and mileage

 

 

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