When to use Flex fuel/E85?

[Nick The Great]

On 12/2/2017 at 7:05 PM, Joshjuniorr said:

i've never owned anything that could run e85 lol. i might look into this and see if its worth it. Doesnt e85 gum up the fuel system though? At least thats the rumor down here in the south..

 

It's actually quite the opposite . . . E85 de-gums your fuel system 

 

TO answer the question I think you were asking, Flex Fuel vehicles are supposed to be designed to handle the higher alcohol content.  My wife's 07 Impala was FFV and it didn't handle the E85 very well.  Caused the fuel pump impeller housing to swell, and would have trouble on cold starts.  My 07 Silverado handled the E85 just peachy, though.  

[sdeeter19555]

Well, second tank wasn't much different...a lot of highway bucking a headwind, some back roads, and even a little offroad netted 11.91 mpg. Unfortunately the station I stopped at, while new, didn't have flex fuel and I ended up with 20 gallons of 93 octane.

Mileage home was well over 15 mpg on the blend of 93 and FF, but it's a down hill run from NW PA to SW PA...

So tonight I will top off with FF and try it again...hopefully I can get the tank more or less switched over to FF so I can get some better results.

In this 6.0l, it does run better on FF, no doubt in that assessment. Mileage is up in the air yet...probably lost some, not enough to stop me from using it.

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[sdeeter19555]

Ok, the best I get is around 60% alcohol...with that said, it drops me around 2mpg. I'm getting around 12mpg on flex fuel and around 14mpg with 93. Did another 280 mile trip today, same numbers with the slightly higher alcohol content.

Again, 6.0l...

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[Cowpie]

sounds like a win for E85 to me.  At least with more than a dollar spread between E85 and Premium that is currently in my area.   2 mpg loss and you are still far lower in cost per mile.

[cmysstailights]

sounds like a win for E85 to me.  At least with more than a dollar spread between E85 and Premium that is currently in my area.   2 mpg loss and you are still far lower in cost per mile.

I just did 50 miles hwy, 65mph e85 was 11mpg with my 6.0l. If i did 60mph i gain 2mpg

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[Cowpie]

15 minutes ago, cmysstailights said:

I just did 50 miles hwy, 65mph e85 was 11mpg with my 6.0l. If i did 60mph i gain 2mpg

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Sounds about right.  I get similar with E85 in my 2015 2500 6.0.

[cmysstailights]

Sounds about right.  I get similar with E85 in my 2015 2500 6.0.

I do mostly city driving 90%, happy if i see 8mpg lol. But e85 is 1.59gal 87 is 2.51

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[migizi]

On 9/13/2017 at 7:04 AM, Brian S. said:

Why wouldn't they believe they get a HP gain? GM advertises it, and I've seen dyno tests confirming. GM would never advertise it if it was not true, they don't need the class action lawsuits.

 

On the 4.3l you get 4.2% more hp, and 8.19% more torque.

 

On the 5.3l you get 7.04% more hp, and 8.6% more torque.

 

The 8% more torque is the difference in how it feels driving. E85 turns the 4.3l into the equivalent of the 2013 5.3l., which is pretty impressive.

 

 

http://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2013/May/Silverado-May-5/0505-silv-specs.html

 

285 / 212 @ 5300

(gas – SAE certified)

297 / 221 @ 5300

(E85 – SAE certified)

355 / 250 @ 5600

(gas – SAE certified)

380 / 283 @ 5600

(E85 – SAE certified)

Torque

(lb-ft / Nm @ rpm):

305 / 413 @ 3900

(gas – SAE certified)

330 / 447 @ 3900

(E85 – SAE certified)

383 / 519 @ 4100

(gas – SAE certified)

416 / 564 @ 4100

(E85 – SAE certified)

Recommended fuel:

regular unleaded or E85

regular unleaded or E85

 

 

 

 

 

edit--

 

found it - 

I had no idea the newer engines had improved HP and Torque with E85,

My 2007 suffered terrible when I used that stuff

 

Am I interpreting this latest revelation correctly to imply that the newer vehicles actually benefit from E85?

 

 

 

[jhbrennan]

On 12/1/2017 at 7:00 AM, Reuther said:

I guess that the following is not a real valuable information for you, but:

 

here in Germany you have either  Super ( = E95) or E85 gas.

 

The most of sold gas is Super with an octane of 95 (hope the words are correct, the 95 octane is) - E85 can have an octane of 107 - so much more compression could - COLD! - be availible , but even in a country with an huge amount of high compressed cars running, the sale of E85 is low. For high or very high compressed cars, a new kind of gas appeared called "Premium" with more than 95 octane and  of course a more expensive price.

 

All sales - besides Diesel - Super is the standard, E85 has a much lower sales rate, but all E85-User report a rise in consumption, ok, in Germany, it is not mpg - it is l/100 km - but the lower price of E85 does not fit to higher consumption.

 

Maybe somebody, who understood what I wrote may change this post in correct English, sorry for my poor knowledge in English .

 

By the way actual prices

 

Super: 1 Liter: 1,40 €
E85: 1 Liter 1,36 €
Premium: 1 Liter 1,46 €

Is Europe/Germany actually producing E85 in local refineries or is it imported?  Any government subsidies to the corn farmers?

[sdeeter19555]

edit--
 
found it - 
I had no idea the newer engines had improved HP and Torque with E85,
My 2007 suffered terrible when I used that stuff
 
Am I interpreting this latest revelation correctly to imply that the newer vehicles actually benefit from E85?
 
 
 

My 6.0l likes it, just still not easy to find...if I was a typical driver, and put 100 miles a week on, it would be ideal since that would be one fuel stop a week. But I put 100 miles a day back and forth to work, requiring a fuel stop every other day, and the station isn't right on my drive.

I'm starting to vary my path home to take advantage of the flex fuel, but it adds another 15 minutes and five miles to my trip home...



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[Reuther]

3 hours ago, jhbrennan said:

Is Europe/Germany actually producing E85 in local refineries or is it imported?  Any government subsidies to the corn farmers?

Hi,

 

first, reading my post a few days later again, I found, that there can be a missunderstanding: In The EU/Germany it is called E85, but tat means, it is 85% gas and 15  Ethanol, as well as E95 means, it is 95 % gas and 5 % Ethanol. This may have been unclear.

 

So, now your question:

The EU provides a very complexe system, supportinng local agriculture. Of course the crop growing is supported, most of the  ethanol EU production is (my knowing) made of rape seed. The production of rape seed has had a immens grow the last ten/fifteen years.

 

I have no glue, if there is an import of ethanol (maybe Brasilia can be a supplier) as well, I will check this.

 

At least, at the oil refinery in Ingolstadt/Bavaria, ethanol is added to gas but I´ve never heared up to now, that there are producing it.  I´ll check this as well - never thought about this two topics, sorry!

[jhbrennan]

10 hours ago, Reuther said:

Hi,

 

first, reading my post a few days later again, I found, that there can be a missunderstanding: In The EU/Germany it is called E85, but tat means, it is 85% gas and 15  Ethanol, as well as E95 means, it is 95 % gas and 5 % Ethanol. This may have been unclear.

 

So, now your question:

The EU provides a very complexe system, supportinng local agriculture. Of course the crop growing is supported, most of the  ethanol EU production is (my knowing) made of rape seed. The production of rape seed has had a immens grow the last ten/fifteen years.

 

I have no glue, if there is an import of ethanol (maybe Brasilia can be a supplier) as well, I will check this.

 

At least, at the oil refinery in Ingolstadt/Bavaria, ethanol is added to gas but I´ve never heared up to now, that there are producing it.  I´ll check this as well - never thought about this two topics, sorry!

OK - thanks for the explanation.  Ethanol rating designations are just the opposite here - E85 in the US is 85% ethanol and cars that are designed to use this are called flex fuel.  Most of the gasoline offered (usual octane ratings of 87, 89 and 91/93) is blended to be as much as E10. 

[Reuther]

So,

 

I found some statistics, Germany , 1 of 28  (soon 27 because the exit of GB) members of the EU has produced around 785000 tons of Ethanol in 2015, France, Spain, Italy (all EU-Members) produced a lot more of it. So my guess is, that the needed Ethanol inside the EU is mostly produced here.

 

All "added to gas ethanol" is not produced in gas refineries, it`s added as a merchandise. (That`s the way Ingolstadt works, as I did know).

 

Unfortunatly, I`ve found no statistics about the amount of imported Ethanol into EU/Germany - sorry for that.

[truckguy82]

On 8/16/2017 at 8:18 AM, jhbrennan said:

Anyone know definitively if my 2017 Yukon Denali 6.2l is flex fuel. No indications near the fuel filler or in the owner's manual to let me know. Thanks.

As stated its not

 

 but the fuel system is very compatible with it.

 

you have the option of slapping in the 5.3 e85 sensor and getting it tuned. That is way easier than the process most other vehicles have to go through.

 

if you get a performance tune with it, looking at like a 50-60hp bump

[jhbrennan]

49 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

 but the fuel system is very compatible with it.

Source of this info?  I thought all vehicles were clearly marked as "flex fuel / E85" with bright yellow script at the fuel filler cap and maybe elsewhere.  Not sure if I'd run E85 in my 2017 Yukon Denali while still under warranty.