The "E85" Ethanol Topic

[Aaron1085]

Well leave it to the communist commonwealth....ahhh my home state has out done my expectations ;) haha.

 

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[chuckl1218]

With all of this talk about E85, I checked local stations to try it and there is only 1 in Austin, TX (of course it is 20 miles across town)...too many refineries in Texas, I guess...

[TxTruckMan]

FYI, this is the best site I've found for E85 stations. It's run by the government instead of a private company, so it's more accurate and has no advertising. They even have an app you can download on your phone.

[Aaron1085]

Good link, thanks!

 

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[nvrnuf4me]

Thought I would share my E85 experience with the group as well.

 

I have put in well over a dozen tanks of 87 from Chevron with a lifetime average of 18.5 with 10,800 on the odometer. By way of full disclosure, I purchased the truck as a demo with 4300 miles on it.

 

My last two tanks were E85 and figured by hand, my average was only 15.4 and 15.5 for the two tanks.

 

My take on E85 is, not really worth it. E85 in my area is anywhere from $2.75 to $2.79 at Kroger and HEB grocery stores.

 

When I filled up this morning using my normal Chevron with 87, by the time I made the 48 mile drive to work, my DIC was showing 23.1 on the average screen. Much better than the 16 or 17 shown with E85.

 

So, the results of my definitley nonscientific test, I would say unless there is some underlying long term benefit to using E85 over 87 or even 93, I will be sticking with 87.

[MikeNH]

The underlying benefit is more power.

[nvrnuf4me]

The underlying benefit is more power.

That's what I thought Mike, but I got to tell you, I couldn't tell much difference. I remember reading a post that stated that someone had to adjust their driving habits because they were chirping the tires and had better acceleration. However, I did not see it, sorry, feel it. My teenage son and my wife couldn't notice a difference either.

 

Maybe I should have run more than 2 tanks of E85 before concluding it was just not worth the extra HP, but I just couldn't justify it. I know it is an octane issue, 87 versus @ 100 with E85, but the power did not make that big if a differnece for me.

 

With that said, I am sure if I had the standard bolt ons and a tune, the truck would better take advantage of the HP found in using E85, but that will need to wait a little bit longer.

[MikeNH]

I'm on my phone so I can't see your location right now but with my tune, I find the difference most notable when the outside temp is like 45-60. No idea why it's so specific but when it's like that out the truck runs considerably better than when cooler or warmer, especially on corn juice.

[nvrnuf4me]

I'm on my phone so I can't see your location right now but with my tune, I find the difference most notable when the outside temp is like 45-60. No idea why it's so specific but when it's like that out the truck runs considerably better than when cooler or warmer, especially on corn juice.

I am in Houston, Tx. The temps have been fairly moderate lately, but warming. lately it has been in 60's in AM and low to mid 70's in evenings.

[iCryWheniGoPoop]

I'm on my phone so I can't see your location right now but with my tune, I find the difference most notable when the outside temp is like 45-60. No idea why it's so specific but when it's like that out the truck runs considerably better than when cooler or warmer, especially on corn juice.

Weird

[bboyce536]

I've been running e85 in my 14. Love it! Definitely notice the added power, truck actually stays in v4 mode much more. Back road driving 55-65 it stays in v4 until it times out. I was getting over 20mpg until I hopped on the freeway then it dropped down. I noticed about a 20% reduction in my mileage, but when you're getting it close to 30% cheaper...it more then makes up for it. Honestly, even if it were a wash I'd choose e85 purely for the added power. If I had to describe the power, I'd say it felt more torquey...holds gears better.