e85 Ethanol Mixing (anyone doing it?)

[Doolin-Dalton]

For those that do NOT have an e85 Flex Fuel truck (which for 2019 line-up is almost 90% of us unfortunately, except for the WT Fleet Silverados)

 

Just curious is anybody mixing e85 with their 93 Octane pump gas?  If so, how much, how far have you taken it?  I think most of our trucks have the 24 Gallon tanks.   (4 gallons e85  w 20 gasoline or?? )

[Black02Silverado]

Yes, I'm doing it.  Basically going as much as a 50/50 mix.  No issues. 

[Doolin-Dalton]

24 minutes ago, Black02Silverado said:

Yes, I'm doing it.  Basically going as much as a 50/50 mix.  No issues. 

Awesome, I suspected as much.  I've been doing  6 gallons e85 and 18 gallons gasoline, for a roughly e30 blend.  Truck hasn't skipped a beat, no issues for last 1000 miles and been doing it since my first tank.

Was thinking about taking it up a notch to 50-50 mix (12 gallons each) which would be an e48 blend.  Eventually when the commercial market comes up with a Sensor & Tune, going to run the full e85.    I do have the JET Stage II Module installed now, which advances the timing.  

 

I use the Wallace Racing calculator http://www.wallaceracing.com/ethanol-mix-calc.php

 

 

[Moend]

Just a curious  why you want to run e85

[HeySkippyDog]

Just a curious  why you want to run e85

I think it's cheaper most places.

It's about 30 cents less here in Central Florida.

But you lose a bit of fuel mileage with it, so it's probably a wash in terms of saving money.

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[Moend]

Fair enough. Because unless your truck is programmed to accept e85 I don't think you get the performance gain. It might be worst. I guess you can argue it will clean up the engine

[HeySkippyDog]

Fair enough. Because unless your truck is programmed to accept e85 I don't think you get the performance gain. It might be worst. I guess you can argue it will clean up the engine

Personally, I wouldn't run E85 in a truck not set up for it. I had a 2014 5.3 E85 and now a 2017 5.3 E85, and both had noticeable gains in power.

The only difference on the K2 pickups between an E85 and non-E85 was (I believe) a sensor to detect ethanol level, which adjusts ignition timing and fuel injector pulse duration.

People here have made the conversion and it's plug and play, your ECM is already capable of reading the input from that sensor.

Since E85 and fuels higher in ethanol content than E10/E15 (regular gas) require a timing adjustment, I would not use it unless the truck was set up for it. Incorrect timing is bad for your spark plugs (fouling) and bad for your valves.

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[CamGTP]

Seems pointless to run anything more than E10-15 in a non flex fuel vehicle. The factory stoich settings have been 14.1-14.2 for a few years now to go with mostly standard E10 fuel ratings. (E0 fuel in 14.68)

 

Running a greater alcohol content shouldn't be doing anymore for the engine when it doesn't know that. If you were computer savvy and knew what parameters to watch on a nice live data scanner you'd likely notice the computer doing more work to try and bring the fueling back closer to the stoich value already set from the factory. That's just the tip of it, it also can't properly adjust fuel flow through the injectors for the extra fuel required at full throttle for the greater alcohol content.

[HeySkippyDog]

Seems pointless to run anything more than E10-15 in a non flex fuel vehicle. The factory stoich settings have been 14.1-14.2 for a few years now to go with mostly standard E10 fuel ratings. (E0 fuel in 14.68)
 
Running a greater alcohol content shouldn't be doing anymore for the engine when it doesn't know that. If you were computer savvy and knew what parameters to watch on a nice live data scanner you'd likely notice the computer doing more work to try and bring the fueling back closer to the stoich value already set from the factory. That's just the tip of it, it also can't properly adjust fuel flow through the injectors for the extra fuel required at full throttle for the greater alcohol content.

Exactly. The timing won't be optimized and neither will the injector pulse. The E85 capable trucks have a sensor that detects the ethanol and adjusts those two parameters accordingly.

It will not run better with added ethanol without this, in fact it might work worse. Ethanol has less energy per volume than gasoline does.

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[Black02Silverado]

To me it burns cleaner and since around here it is a dollar cheaper per gallon than premium it cost the same to use gallon per mile wise. 

[TXGREEK]

To me it burns cleaner and since around here it is a dollar cheaper per gallon than premium it cost the same to use gallon per mile wise. 

I wonder if just a couple gallons worth per tank would actually benefit any just for cleaning purposes?


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[diyer2]

I believe the mixing of fuel is a good idea. 

It would keep the motor cleaner.

Around here it is not readily available or I would run it mixed and not mixed.

[TXGREEK]

I believe the mixing of fuel is a good idea. 
It would keep the motor cleaner.
Around here it is not readily available or I would run it mixed and not mixed.
[emoji4]

Have you ever mixed the fuels on your non E85 compatible 5.3 or 6.2?


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[becker87]

I hate they took the capability away to run E-85. I always run E-85 in my 6.2 because not only is it a better fuel it's grown by a local farmer and I would rather support them then an oil company. I get about 10 mpg on e85 in town and got about 12 mpg on premium. Here premium is well over $1 more than e85

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[TXGREEK]

I’m going to add a few gallons into mine just for the sake of cleaning, hopefully I don’t have to take the 91 tune off


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